The topic of this article is conservation of energy in residential buildings. When we talk about conservation we are not talking about little things like turning off the lights when we leave a room. We are talking about big things like the conservation principles of energy and matter that preserve our universe, the process of homeostasis that sustains the conditions for life on our planet, the laws of thermodynamics that order the distribution of energy in our universe, and the environmental processes that distribute the nutrients of life to every living creature on board. These principles and processes tell us how this planet conserves and recycles both energy and life.
Our choice is to either cooperate with, or oppose these laws. When we oppose, we are in a zero sum game against nature that we will lose. Buildings that cooperate with the 2nd law in particular, will collect energy, while those that oppose it will disperse energy.
Earth is an energy capture devise that maintains an average surface temperature of 59*F, converts energy into its many different forms,and is the only known conservatory for life. She is our perfect model of how to collect, convert, and conserve energy.
Buildings can be designed to replicate the activity of the planet in order to collect and convert energy that can be conserved and recycled exactly as the planet does. Buildings can be designed to conserve and recycle, rather than consume and disperse energy.
The dominant ordering principle of our world, however, is the consumer economy. That is the matrix of our thinking, the index our vocabulary, and the most popular reality. The American home, automobile, and lifestyle are designed to burn energy as quickly as possible. Buildings turn tricks for the electric company by violating all of the principles described above. But the passive conditioning techniques that were abandoned because of the energy glut can be reinstated. The physics is still valid, and the practice is still common throughout the world.
Our species has attained escape velocity from Planet Earth, and hearsay has it that some will be moving to Mars soon. A few more have moved back off into the woods and "off-grid", but most people aren't that tough anymore. For those leftovers that are still looking for a way out of a world that is pretty well both paved and electrocuted, there is the path of conservation that is based in equilibrium state conditions for energy. This is the The Way of the natural world.
The organizational principle of any species is energy. Our species is energy poor! We think we don't have enough when in fact we have too much. We convert all of our resources into electricity because of its convenience. We have exceeded our energy budget, overextended our populations, and upset planetary homeostasis. We can reduce our electrical dependence by eliminating the need for air conditioning in rural low-rise homes.
Knowledge is one of our most precious resources. As expected, it is managed by those that manage the means of production. The reality that we know is as manufactured as any other product on the shelf. Product availability is determined by profit curves rather than by what benefits the people or the planet.
