I agree with bryan. At present here in Massachusette r-19 walls and r-30 ceiling are on average the minimum. New construction and additions/renovations require a "Masscheck"energy audit form(available online). this system allows you to trade off less insulation for more efficient heating systems. or more efficient windows. whatever you need for the situation. What to note is they are looking at the house as a system as well as defining minimum levels of construction details.
r-values alone are not an accurate measure. I believe the construction industry is and has been moving to a unified building code. this allows for regional demands and practices. Local inspectors are still the interpreters and inforcers. thank you, joseph Message: 12 Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2003 11:08:22 -0600 From: "Bryan Brah" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: RE: food for thought Would this law arbitrarily apply to EVERY new building nationwide? What about Hawaii, where many people don't have heat or AC, and drafty, semi-permeable walls are desirable? If you can grant an exemption for Hawaiians, then why not for Floridians? Even if the law was passed, how do you propose enforcing it? Currently building code enforcement is a local jurisdictional responsibility which many communities' may resent being usurped by the federal government. Additionally, building inspection departments in small communities could be overburdened by additional inspection requirements. An unfunded federal mandate of this nature would exasperate state and local budget shortfalls unless there was some provision to pay for additional inspectors with federal tax money. Assuming that you could overcome these problems, there would still be the problem of fair application of the law. Since building codes are local, they vary widely. In some communities, building a new structure utilizing even a single wall of an existing structure constitutes a remodel, even if the rest of the structure is demolished. To avoid this problem you would have to "Federalize" all local building codes to prevent builders from skirting the law by declaring their projects "remodels" rather than "new constriction." Then there is the question of penalties. Since it would be a federal crime to build a wall that is not R45, does the commercial construction company building an office complex incur the same penalty as the back-to-nature guy building a cabin from salvage and scrap lumber? Sorry, but the only food for thought your suggestion provides is pie in the sky. We're not going to find solutions to any of our problems in new laws, particularly one-size-fits-all federal laws. If you insist on a government solution, then offer meaningful tax incentives to those individuals and companies that build responsibly. -BRAH -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, December 31, 2003 9:05 AM To: biofuel@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [biofuel] food for thought In a message dated 12/29/2003 9:55:00 PM Central Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Just imagine if the building codes in this country were changed so that every new building had to be whole wall rated at R45... how much coal burning could be eliminated by making such a small change. So much so that over time a lot of the really horribly polluting electric plants that run on coal could be decommissioned. When last I was in Finland, they lived 2.6 people per room in large state-run apartment complexes, a "Green dream" for saving energy, particularly with no elevators. Let's just pass a law ;-) [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/index.php?list=biofuel Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark Printer at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada. http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511 http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
