Page 14 RAIN August/September 1979 family home. The common walls of a typical row house represent 40 percent of the building's exterior. Whiil' burying 40 percent of the single-family dwelling would achieve nearly the same thermodynamic results as common walls, it would be at greater COst. There appears to be a range of optimum building forms and scaks dependent on usc. In housing, these optimums not only are more cost effective for solar applications but seem to coincide with the requirements of efficient transit for higher density developments. In addition, the low-riSe, high-density housing forms are more suitable for district heating and usc of the waste heat produced by electrical generation (cogeneration). The use of appropriate glass orientation, thermal mass, shading, and passive'solar systems can significantly improve the performance of all forms. However, the single-family dwelling demands more extensive and therefore more expensive modification to provide for its consistently higher energy requirements. There arc many examples of excellent passive designs for single-family residences but very few for multiple-family applications. This is not because passive solar is inappropriate for these building types; in fact the reduced loads tend to make this application morc cost effective. Lack of development is due to both common preconceptions and gowrnment policy about passive solar feasibility. Higher density housing and mixed-usc planning also address the larger social issues surrounding the decay of American cities. Ironically, the solution of those urban probil'ms may be more energy efficient than solar. Climateresponsive design, including solar systems where applicable, can have its greatest impact in urban centers. Some recent development plans, focused more on creating humane and vital town centers than energy or resource conservation, present many of theSe ecological features. The recently adopted Capital Area plan for Downtown Sacramento calls for mixed, low-rise residential and commercial development in a zone dominated by office buildings evacuated every day at 5 :00. Although the plan calls for energy conserving features in buildings, conservation was not used as a major rationail' for the land usc. But these mixed-usc high-density plans will minimize the transit, infrastructure, distribution, heating, and cooling requirements of these areas. The primary image of solar suburhan development, in con trast, has been a decen tralized, do-it-yoursel f, smail-business alternative to massive technologies. In a direct way, the solar home reinforces the notion of living autonomously and therefore diminishes the sense of interdependence necessary for comprehensive solutions to interactive environmemal probil'ms. The alternative to singil'-family detached solar homes is not necessarily il'isure condominiums or high-rise housing projects. Individual expression in a planned high-density context is J\:monstrated in residential areas of many older cities where architectural diversity, visual eompil'xity, and personal uses still exist. In Vermont, some individualized high-density bousing was developed by commonly building a foundation (with correct solar orientation) and allowing individuals to build as they pleased on any purchased section. Row-house zoning allows cohesive development by individuals. Residential cooperatives offcr an opportunity for groups of individuals to participatc in designing complexes which arc normally left to speculative dcvelopcrs. It is clear that the infrastructure, pattern, density, and transit networks of residential developmcnt can have greater impact on resource conservation and energy consumption than any alternative technology. Development must be seen in a social, political, and environmental context in which solar and other alternative technologics arc tools for new settlement patterns rather than compensations for the faults of the old. DOD "Heprinted from tbe April 1979 issue of Progressive Arcbitecture. WOOD HEATING NEWS By Bill Day The year 1979 is going to be historically significant as the year alternative energy use first received an honest acceptance by the citizens of the United States of America. Numerous nuclear accidents and ncar disasters have begun to embarrass the Department of Enngy as the majority of its research and development money has been wasted in this field for over twenty years. Consumers and small independent businesses have developed economically feasible hardware which effectively harnesses wind, direct solar radiation, and direct biomass fuel combustion to produce needed energy. /I. recent report of special significance was delayecl in reaching the public. The report: "Assessment of Proposed Federal Tax Credits for Residential Wood Burning Equipment" prepared by Bouz, Allen & Hamilton, March 21. 1979 (EC-77-C-03-1693), was financed by the Department of Energy. Its contents indicate that every aspect of a tax credit would be favorable. The report takes into account such items of significance as: 1. Historical Sales & Market Trends 2. Equivalent Oil Savings Vl:rSUS Tax Revenue Loss 3. Safety & Performance Standards 4. Environmental Impacts 5. Resource Availability 6. Balance of Payments Impacts 7. Consumer Economics 8. Employment and other Social Impacts In each area, the "Booz-Allen" rl' c: port indicates a positive benefit of tax o... credits designed to accelerate the use of OJ -s.. wood fucled home heating equipment. 3 It is easy to understand the extreme '" embarrassment of the D.O.E. caused by their political, hureaucratie hungling
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc4NTAz