Alex was in New York for meeting of the Municipal Art Society about preparing the city for future emergencies like Hurricane Sandy. Here’s an excellent summary by Dan Miner, who blogs at BeyondOilNYC.

The historical data is showing huge increases in intense storm events, especially in the Northeast and Midwest. With our insufficient progress in reducing carbon emissions, climate related disasters will keep increasing. The green building community will increasingly have to meet the need for resilient design, learn how to build net zero energy homes, and to apply those design principles to entire communities.  Environmentally aware folks will get this instantly, but an appealing message for non-environmentalists can simply be that these homes will keep their family safe. “Even Rush Limbaugh could like that.”

One thought on “NYC sustainability advocate blogs about Alex Wilson”

  1. Instead of building ‘New Net Zero homes, the emphasis should be on updating (energy wise) older homes to Net Zero (or better). It can be done – I have done it for a 1970s home at 5900 ft elevation in Northern Colorado with both summer and winter temperature extremes.

    New home leave the old problems unadressed. Adopting an older home from the “home orphanage” and properly raising it to be Energy Positive will truly help the climate situation… as well as the resources situation.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *