Green Building Elements

"Greenfear" is a term I first recently came across in an article on The Daily Green: ‘Building Green? Your Neighbors May Block You. Is It Greenfear?‘ The premise is that people are afraid of new and green technologies, and that they will act to block it. In this particular case, a couple in Marin, California wanted to build a house with a number of green features. Neighbors raised objections that "the modernist home would severely clash with the more traditional feel of the neighborhood. Some dubbed it ‘trailer like.’ A petition against the home was launched."

While the green elements of the design may not have endeared the plan to the neighbors, the objections seem less about the fact the house was incorporating green technologies and more about just the appearance being out of character with the rest of the neighborhood. In this particular case, the house in question is a rather attractive, contemporary, modular home. It includes such green features as "solar panels, recycled materials and a living ‘green’ roof." But, it is more likely that the resistance against this house was based on its general appearance, rather than specifically wanting to prevent a house from having the green features that its owners wanted.

NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) attitudes have been around for decades. It applies to everything from opposing commercial expansion to constraining the appearance of a neighbor’s house. Concern about anything new is bound to arise. There will never be a situation where new construction is not going to be objected to by someone.

While some technologies for developing greener buildings are neutral to the building’s appearance, other elements are tied to the building’s form. Green buildings do not have to look "weird" in order to be efficient, their appearance often responds to a wider range of factors. Elements such as adding more insulation to a home to increase its efficiency will work well for any given building. Very few people will look closely enough to tell whether the glass in your windows is an uninsulated single pane or triple-pane, Low-E glass. But some features are going to respond to external requirements and site conditions. Passive solar buildings need to have windows along the south elevation. They don’t need to have the entire south wall covered with windows (that would lead to overheating in almost every circumstance). Solar panels are going to be at their most efficient when they are placed at the appropriate sun angle for a location’s latitude. Designs that incorporate passive cooling methods may have projections through the roof for solar chimneys.

In the case of the Breezehouse in Marin, the local board ultimately voted unanimously to permit the construction of the house. Limiting the appearance of houses is an issue that goes beyond green building. It applies to neighborhoods that have covenants with all manner of restrictions. Tract builders promote developments with covenants and restrictions that impose limits on the materials that may or may not be used in constructing a house. But these restrictions are increasingly coming into conflict with green values. Clotheslines are prohibited in some communities by these deed restrictions. Alternative power systems such as wind and solar are going to come into conflict with neighbors who find them unsightly. Designers can take some steps with the appearance of green elements. But greater familiarity with the new features of the greenscape of the 21st century is going to require a greater understanding and acceptance of the range of features that our homes and buildings are going to have.

 Image source: Michelle Kaufman Designs

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