[GSBN] The Mechanical Ventilation Debate

[Bob Theis]

Fascinating discussion, and very thought provoking. 

I'd like to follow on a point of John's: 

buildings at their most basic are  FILTERS.  The roof filters out the rain from the air, the windows filter the sunlight from the air, the floor filters out the gravitational support from the dampness of the soil, etc. 

As we get better at this filtering, it becomes our new baseline.  We demand desert dryness inside, or our books will start molding. We expect cold beer and hot showers. 

And the big shift underway ( that we are part of here )  is the effort to replace fossil fuel inputs with newer,  better filters. Solar heat instead of burning something.  ( Is a PV panel filtering energy from sunlight? That may be stretching things. ) 

An HRV is one of these new filters. Fresh air with the cold filtered out. And buttoning up a building  gives us the choice of where the air filtration takes place. 

I suspect if HRVs were as simple an addition to the house as a refrigerator  - set it down, plug it in, and it's done -  we wouldn't be having this discussion.  But having to consider yet another system, and one related to our addiction to oxygen at that,  gets us feeling suspicious and imposed upon. 

Bob


On Mar 22, 2013, at 7:37 AM, John Straube wrote:

> I agree completely. You are category three: dealing with creating social change. I am not as ambitious. 
> 
> But we are both trying to minimize environmental impact I think.  
> 
> I don't believe that massive social change is needed to minimize impact and so I am taking the easy route: I don't ask people to change their comfort expectations or lifestyles I merely ask for a hanger in design that leads to massive reductions in impact. 
> 
> Some on this list are aiming higher:80 or 90% reductions are not enough (all I can get with my approach) and they are tackling the remaining 10 to 20 per cent. 
> 
> My point was that I am dealing with a different group of problems than you, a man with no fridge.  
> 
> I am pretty sure you won't be able to make the societal change you will need but I respect you and others for trying. Me I am changing a few thousand houses each year to be a lot better not even trying to change the expectations of comfort and lifestyle that most have decided they think they need.  
> 
> Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone.
> 
> From: Feile Butler
> Sent: Friday, March 22, 2013 09:27 PM
> To: Global Straw Building Network
> Reply To: Global Straw Building Network
> Subject: [GSBN] The Mechanical Ventilation Debate
> 
> Hi John
>  
> I accept that you were "implicitly discussing the 99% of homes 1 billion people live in the western live in. There are literally billions more people lined up trying to build and get into this type of housing, so the conversation, and the understanding of different types of housing is really important for the environment."
>  
> I also know the mechanical ventilation debate has opened up a much bigger discussion than the original posts intended. We are looking at this from different angles.
>  
> The big wheel is turning. You say that 99% of people want/need passivehaus housing. The supposition is that this is the direction that the construction industry/public desire is going and it has gathered so much momentum that it cannot be stopped.
>  
> To borrow from Robert Riversong's email again -
>  
> That we don't have much of a choice today in the necessity of mechanical ventilation in well-insulated homes is evidence of the cul-de-sac that our "progress" has driven us into.
> 
> I suppose I am questioning (maybe naively and idealistically) whether there can be a shift in societal expectation?
>  
> I know when people started building with straw bales, the wider masses thought they were crazy. It was so simple and so cheap - it couldn't be possible!!! Now it is a well-established, well-researched method of building. Just because the "mad" 1% were doing it, didn't put them off. And with time it continues to gain a bigger and bigger foothold in the mainstream.
>  
> A lot of our work is about bringing people back to simplicity - to start with the people - to change their perceptions - and then a different type of building becomes possible. This type of work may only be affecting the 1% at the moment (maybe even less), but there is potential for it to grow. I suppose I am trying to say that it is important that we do keep other options open - that there is not just one holy grail. (And I accept that this is not what the original thread was about).
>  
> If we decide to hang on to the wheel and turn with it, then it is critically important that the best quality buildings are produced for this style of construction - which is what you are promoting. I suppose some of us are deciding to jump off the wheel (and hope it doesn't roll over us and squash us to pieces).
>  
> Hmmmmm
>  
> Feile
>  
>  
> Féile Butler
> MRIAI B.Arch Dip. Arch Conservation Grade III
> Mud and Wood
> Grange Beg, Skreen, Co. Sligo, Ireland
>  
> T:  +353 (0) 71 930 0488
> M: +353 (0) 86 806 8382
> E : feile at mudandwood.com
> W: www.mudandwood.com
>  
>  
>  
> 
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