Housing responsibly
Bryan Regele
Issue date: 4/17/09 Section: Opinion
For decades the American dream has consisted of owning a home with walk-in closets, a perfect lawn, and a shiny car. More recently, dreams have grown to enormous proportions to include home theatres, saunas, gyms, wine cellars, and Hummers. We have undoubtedly crossed the line from wanting necessities to a level more closely resembling conspicuous consumption. It is our irresponsible actions that have caused our current multitude of problems of unprecedented foreclosures and a looming energy crisis.
Rather than getting easier, it is set to become a lot more complicated. The strongest indicators of this lie in current population growth and the quickly deteriorating supply of fossil fuels. At the current rate of growth, the world's population is set to double within the next half of a century. It is also predicted that we are on our way to burning through our nonrenewable fossil fuel supplies in the same time range. Simply put, the American dream will be in jeopardy as property becomes scarce, roads become congested, and our fossil fuel power plants and cars become obsolete. If global warming and the high gas prices have not affected your consumption, these real issues should. By acting now, however, we can progressively lead ourselves into an environmentally friendly and economically sensible lifestyle. I believe that sustainable condominium complexes are the first step in this process.
Born and raised in Massachusetts, I have been educated about New England's strong waterways that have long served as a resource to industrial mills and factories. Both the Merrimack and Blackstone Rivers, for instance, are littered with brick warehouses, turbines, and waterwheels along their banks. Markets have since shifted from the Industrial Revolution, making these structures obsolete in the business arena and have left the waterways largely untapped.
Many developers have bought up these historic mills, converting the structures to loft style housing. Though this is progress in recycling existing materials and preserving history, I would like to take this idea a bit farther by suggesting the reigniting the hydropower systems of these plants. Since these rivers once provided the fuel for our Industrial Revolution with the technology of the early 1800s, I would argue that with the advanced hydroelectric systems of today, enough energy would be generated by the waterways to substantially, if not entirely, take a condominium complex off the power grid. Alternative energies of wind and solar power could supplement this waterpower when available, and since currents are fairly constant where these plants exist, it would be a dependable source of electricity, heat, and cooling. Such a system not only makes environmental sense, but also economic, as it would lessen utilities nonrenewable and dollar costs to near zero.
Rather than getting easier, it is set to become a lot more complicated. The strongest indicators of this lie in current population growth and the quickly deteriorating supply of fossil fuels. At the current rate of growth, the world's population is set to double within the next half of a century. It is also predicted that we are on our way to burning through our nonrenewable fossil fuel supplies in the same time range. Simply put, the American dream will be in jeopardy as property becomes scarce, roads become congested, and our fossil fuel power plants and cars become obsolete. If global warming and the high gas prices have not affected your consumption, these real issues should. By acting now, however, we can progressively lead ourselves into an environmentally friendly and economically sensible lifestyle. I believe that sustainable condominium complexes are the first step in this process.
Born and raised in Massachusetts, I have been educated about New England's strong waterways that have long served as a resource to industrial mills and factories. Both the Merrimack and Blackstone Rivers, for instance, are littered with brick warehouses, turbines, and waterwheels along their banks. Markets have since shifted from the Industrial Revolution, making these structures obsolete in the business arena and have left the waterways largely untapped.
Many developers have bought up these historic mills, converting the structures to loft style housing. Though this is progress in recycling existing materials and preserving history, I would like to take this idea a bit farther by suggesting the reigniting the hydropower systems of these plants. Since these rivers once provided the fuel for our Industrial Revolution with the technology of the early 1800s, I would argue that with the advanced hydroelectric systems of today, enough energy would be generated by the waterways to substantially, if not entirely, take a condominium complex off the power grid. Alternative energies of wind and solar power could supplement this waterpower when available, and since currents are fairly constant where these plants exist, it would be a dependable source of electricity, heat, and cooling. Such a system not only makes environmental sense, but also economic, as it would lessen utilities nonrenewable and dollar costs to near zero.
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