THE LOOKING GLASS

 

Ever since I became a LEED AP for New Construction, I’ve been surfing the web to find out just how Green the State of Florida is and what is being done to catch up to more developed states such as California, New York and Oregon. I watched Gov. Crist’s convention back in 2007 when Gov. Schwarzenegger was the keynote speaker. I admit I was in a way relieved that Florida’s governor was indeed paying attention to the problem. Something needs to get started, not only done, but started. And where should we start? Here are some stats that I hope will make up your mind:


- "In North America, the building industry accounts for about 30 percent of carbon dioxide emissions, 35 to 40 percent of ozone depletion, 20 to 30 percent of municipal solid waste, vast quantities of natural resource consumption, and dramatic loss of open space each year. The construction of the average house generates 2.5 tons of waste including wood, drywall, masonry, plastic and foam, fiberglass and other materials" -

I believe architecture should be at the forefront of this new change. And it has been doing so at a slow and steady pace. Although I must admit there are PLENTY of kinks and wrinkles that still need to be ironed out, such as start-up prices, but that will hopefully be included in a future post.
So architects and engineers are the flag carriers of this change. The way we build and the way our buildings work are the crucial part of this equation. But now back to Florida.

We at Eurohabitat have been planning our next project for quite some time now, a very modern-style, single family residence in the Village of Pinecrest, which will at least reach LEED Silver certification. In our search for the right personnel to get on board I have noticed something that has quite simply baffled me. There seems to be a mysterious invisible line that runs close to the Ft. Lauderdale area which almost signals “This is where the green revolution ends”. A magic looking glass alla Alice in Wonderland. I will attach a little diagram I made to better explain what I´m talking about.

Taking demographics into consideration, it would seem intuitive to presume that South Florida (Ft. Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and Miami as a whole) would have the most amount of Green oriented workforce (MEP contractors, architects, GC´s, etc) and yet, this isn´t the case. As a matter of fact the complete opposite occurs. Each LEED symbol on the graph represent a Green oriented “service provider” that I have been able to get in contact with. Most of them, or to be more precise, the more veteran and experienced ones seem to reside north of our little imaginary line. Sarasota, Cocoa Beach, Bonita Springs, Sarasota, Tampa…all of them included in the graph, but to find one that lives in Kendall or Coral Gables is somewhat difficult. I feel that an architectural project deserves to have its personnel close to the job site, not 150 miles away. And meetings should take place once a week if not more often, and not once a month.

So in wrapping up, Florida as a whole should get a move on in the Green movement, but South Florida? Maybe a warp drive would help us catch up with the rest of the country? At any rate, South Florida please wake up! This is for all of us…


At the end of every post I would like to add a few web pages and articles that, don´t necessarily blow my hair off since I have none left, but at least my socks. The first one is a graphic version of the old 2.2 version of the LEED NC exam (3.0 coming soon!) and with which ironically I came in contact with AFTER I passed my test. Thank you, Murphy…always by my side.

http://leedvisual.com/


The second is an article that I find interesting, even though I don´t agree with everything. Simply felt like sharing…Enjoy!

http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/4801/