Ecological Design - The 5M Rules, Part 4

(Part 4 of a 4-part series)

First Principles

One important behavior for a conscientious designer is to take any design problem back to first principles. The first principles of a car are to transport people and their cargo from point to point within boundaries of speed, comfort, cost, privacy, and convenience. They must do this using an existing network of roads that have particular characteristics of width, curvature, slope, and roughness. Many of the design parameters of a modern automobile have little to do with these principles, but much to do with the manufacturer’s stock price.

Two important parameters for the auto manufacturer are apparent value and sales effort. Put simply, consumers will pay proportionally more for a big, loaded vehicle than a small, basic one, with the same cost of marketing and sales per unit. The manufacturer is also interested in maximizing the return on investment in factory equipment. This means that designs requiring radical changes in manufacturing technology will be delayed. American auto manufacturers bank on most consumers buying a new car about every seven years. If cars were to become more durable, or American buying habits should change due to financial constraints or social pressures, this might extend to eight, nine, or ten years. The drop in income would be disastrous for the industry as it is now structured.

This might explain why we use 4,000 pound wheeled boxes of steel and glass with operating ranges of 300 miles or more to move 100-300 pounds of us and a few pounds of groceries back and forth to the supermarket. The motive force for these vehicles is a device with hundreds of moving parts operating at high temperatures, plus sophisticated electronic controls and a set of (usually) automated gears in the drivetrain. Most are designed to run exclusively on highly processed liquid fossil fuel at less than 20% efficiency. This should prompt some questions. Why 4,000 pounds? Why use steel? Why build asphalt roads at millions of dollars (and gallons of oil and cubic feet of gravel) per mile? Why use the gasoline engine? Most importantly, why isn’t the grocery store within walking distance?

The last question brings up an important point. Every technology must be analyzed within a context. The answer to a technological problem may lie in that context rather than in the technology itself. The 5M standard for transportation may be best served by looking at urban planning rather than vehicle design. Going back to the basic question, “What are we actually trying to accomplish here?” allows us to simplify our approach. We can solve the problem with a minimum of energy and materials, rather than trying to make complex modifications to the dead-end system we have inherited.

A good example

If you want an example of truly sustainable housing in America, look for a mid 19th century farmhouse. It was constructed using human and animal labor, using virtually all local materials, which themselves were harvested using human and animal labor. The only semi-high-technology materials in the structure are the window glass, some iron door hardware, the nails, and perhaps some tar paper in the roof. The building was originally heated with wood, also harvested and processed with human and animal labor. Often the owners would use simple design techniques to make the house more comfortable. They would put a deep porch to the south to block the high summer sun, but allow in the low winter sun. Likewise, they would plant (or leave in place) deciduous trees on the southeast and southwest corners of the house. In the summer, the leaves would shade them, and in the winter the bare branches would allow the sunlight through.

Although this house would not meet modern building codes and standards for comfort, especially during the winter, it shows that people can build a habitable structure with virtually no use of non-sustainable inputs. It is worth investigating how close we can come to this paradigm while maintaining acceptable boundaries of comfort, cost, and safety.

One of my personal mottoes for designing sustainable housing is “Never use a pump if a brick will do.” The solar houses of the 1970’s tended to have complex active systems. They pumped fluids or blew air through gravel beds, slabs of concrete, or containers of water. Timers and electronic sensors controlled all of this activity. Much of the collected heat leaked out through thin walls and leaky window seals. Most of these systems failed and were torn out. From this experience, designers have come to rely on energy conservation strategies first, such as thick walls, good air seals, and good site work. The input is from simple systems of south facing glass heating exposed dense building materials such as concrete, brick, stone, or even gypsum board. There are no moving parts and minimal use of heavily processed material.

Briefly: Clarify your purpose. Simplify your methods. Minimize your consumption. Localize your range.