Minimise The EcoCost of Buildings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Building is the third most resource consumptive human activity, after the military industrial axis and transport.  Buildings are the biggest single things we make, and we make a vast quantity of them. They have an astronomical EcoCost, both individually and collectively. 

 

Buildings have always been the most obvious and long lived statements of a culture's values.  If, in the making of our buildings, ways are found to lessen the consumption of resources, this engenders not only a reduction in the detrimental impact of our culture directly, but also affects the way things are done in other areas.  Ecologically sensitive buildings could come to symbolise a more mature environmentally aware culture. 

 

The EcoCost system is a principal foundation to achieving real measurable improvement in lessening the impact of building.  The development and application of an EcoCost system for building materials as well as for all consumer products allows a non-anthrocentric evaluation of the ecological cost of getting what you want.  It is essential that full, absolute, non-anthrocentric evaluation systems are used in determining minimal environmental impact strategies.

 

So … Rule of Thumb … Assess the ecological impact of your building and apply minimum impact strategies to it to reduce its EcoCost.   Design proposals should be smaller, more profoundly integrated and serviced, use less material and less damaging materials and less of the earth's limited precious resources. 

 

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