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 Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 9:55 am Post subject: GREEN roofs and ROOFTOP GARDENS |
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Green roofs?
B.C. 'BILLIES can't be trusted, say insurers.
The Vancouver Sun
Real Estate Flier
Insurers put the brakes on green roofs
By Frances Bula
April 14/07
| Quote: | ...No one who works in the green-roof industry had heard of any other jurisdiction in North America or Europe where insurers were refusing to insure green roofs. But in B.C., where problems with leaky building envelopes in condo buildings provoked a major crisis among consumers and the construction industry, anything involving water in proximity to residential building walls provokes nervousness.
"There are some issues that should be considered in the particular context of British Columbia before further application of green-roof systems in residential developments proceeds, in order to avoid another potential systemic building envelope failure," wrote Ken Cameron, CEO of the homeowner protection office, to municipalities in his warning letter.
Cameron also said the problem with green roofs on condo buildings is the question of whether strata councils have the skills to make sure they're maintained properly. There is no issue at present with commercial, institutional or residential rental buildings getting insurance for green roofs, since single owners are presumed to control maintenance standards. (emphasis added) (-- p. A12) |
| Quote: | | * Note: ...As you know, under the Homeowner Protection Act (Act), all new homes constructed for sale must be built by a Licensed Residential Builder and be covered by home warranty insurance, unless the home is exempt under a provision of the Act. Home warranty insurance is provided as a private contract of insurance by one of the four insurers authorized to offer this coverage by the Financial Institutions Commission (But see also Canadian Council of Insurance Regulators, yet another tier of the hopelessly opaque insurance industry). The willingness of private insurers to provide such coverage for multi-unit residential projects featuring green roofs is limited at this time and in fact some have indicated they will not provide coverage for buildings that will incorporate a green roof design. In addition, there are some issues that should be considered in the particular context of British Columbia before further application of green roof systems in residential developments proceeds, in order to avoid another potential systemic building envelope failure. (Excerpt from the Jan. 16/07 letter signed by HPO CEO Ken Cameron) |
Link to this entry
http://bccondos.ca/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1081#1081
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| Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 10:00 am Post subject: |
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From Protecting the Environment - B.C. 'BILLY-style:
Canadian Geographic
Canada-wide Vancouver Real Estate Flier
Queen of green
Inspired as a girl to make the world a little more environmentally friendly, Cornelia Hahn Oberlander has taken her cue from nature to become Canada's premier landscape architect and green-roof champion.
September/October, 2007
By Sarah Scott
| Quote: | ... The three-block-long park is planted on top of an office building that stretches between Robson Street and the Vancouver Art Gallery. Designed to look like a concrete sky-scraper lying on its side, the building houses the Provincial Law Courts, a UBC satellite campus and government offices. The roof has hanging gardens, pine trees and rhododendrons, three waterwalls to block out sounds of the city, plus a rink that was once iced over for skaters but is now used by skateboarders and salsa dancers. Robson Square, as it is known, has been celebrated for the interplay between the soft contours of Oberlander's roof garden and the sharp geometric lines of architect *Arthur Erickson's construction. It is a place where lawyers and provincial bureaucrats do their daily business, but it has also become an oasis for anyone seeking an escape from the city's concrete core.
Yet today, as she drives past lines of pink dogwoods loaded with blossoms, Oberlander knows her award-winning roof garden is not altogether intact. The trees, bushes and vines were uprooted from the building in early 2006. The roof had been leaking. It leaked so badly that the entire garden had to be replaced. Oberlander and Erickson insisted that at least 40 of the 101 mature trees - mostly pines, maples and dogwoods - be rescued, while the rest were composted. When the repairs are completed in 2008, the architects will have installed a $21 million green-roof system that should not leak.
... Some people in this coastal rainforest suspect green roofs are bound to leak... (emphasis added) (-- pgs. 88-89) |
Link to this entry
http://bccondos.ca/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1082#1082
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editor
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| Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 10:10 am Post subject: |
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The Vancouver Sun
Daily Real Estate Ad Flier
Going Greener
The University of British Columbia plans
to build 'the most innovative and high-performance
building in North America'
By Glen Bohn
July 27/06
p. B2
| Quote: | An environmentally-innovative $36-million building the University of B.C. wants to construct in east Vancouver doesn't have a small footprint, but its proponents hope it will teach the world how to step lightly on the land. The first goal of the proposed Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability is to design a building that requires almost no off-site energy, water or waste-water system to function. Its backers want to put up the "greenest building on Earth.
"The building basically lives within its own footprint," says John Robinson, a UBC geography professor who has been working on the project for five years.
A system of pipes under the building would cool and heat the three-storey, 6,00-square-metre building. Almost all of the electricity consumed - Robinson won't commit yet to a specific percentage - would be generated by photovaltaic cells that harness the sun's rays. (Opening six inches of the story). |
Yes, all well and good, but will the darn thing at least be able to keep out the weather?
Designing the Exterior Wall:
An Architectural Guide to the Verical Envelope
Hardcover
By UBC Architecture professor Linda Brock
Link to this entry
http://www.bccondos.ca/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1083#1083
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| Posted: Mon Oct 29, 2007 1:08 pm Post subject: |
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Green Roof - A Case Study
Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates' Design for the Headquarters of the American Society of Landscape Architects
Hardcover
By Christian Werthmann
| Quote: | | Note: Editors at www.bccondos.ca were the first to review the text at both Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.ca, though interestingly, Amazon.com has so far declined our submission. See the review below. |
| Quote: | | ... In the search for technical solutions, the rationalists always answered the question of how to build a green roof by looking at new materials and technologies, as well as the employment of new substances for roofs and soils. The opposing faction argued that flat roofs leaked and that even a child knows that a proper house has a pitched roof. This controversy, led by technical mock arguments between modernism and traditionalism, was finally ended by the rather cumbersome achievement of technical perfection. Flat roofs are in the meantime up to par even in climates with long winters and rainy summers. - Peter Latz, Amertshausen, January 2007, Introduction, p. 15) |
| Quote: | | Roof gardens and green roofs both belong to a type of roof that supports vegetation. In general, the planning profession draws a clear distinction between the two types. Roof gardens are installed to be accessed and enjoyed. They are the most cost intensive to construct, heavy in weight with deep soil profiles (more than six inches), and maintenance intensive. In contrast, green roofs cost a fraction of a roof garden, are lightweight with thin soil profiles, and require minimal maintenance. Most green roofs are inaccessible, and they are mainly installed for environmental performance and visual improvement. Green roofs are descended from the vernacular architecture of various countries in all parts of the globe, whereas roof gardens are known as luxury items of the affluent since the famous hanging gardens of Babylon (600 B.C.) (From The Reclamation of Roofs, p. 18) |
| Quote: | If roof-top use remains a privilege of the wealthy living in historic districts, the democratic promise of the modern movement to build roof gardens for everybody has obviously failed.
Thereby a variety of factors played a role. The biggest factor was and is the considerable additional expense of a roof garden compared to a regular roof. One must not forget that the flat roof is attractive to a developer because it is less costly than a sloped roof. The addition of a roof garden eradicates those savings. It is not the additional cost of the garden that has to be paid for but also the reinforcement of the whole structure that has to hold the weight of the garden. There is also a considerable financial commitment to maintaining a garden that is mostly out of sight from social supervision. For the average developer who has a revenue expectation of seven years, the increase in value of the property through a roof garden does not occur fast enough to be profitable, moving the roof garden into the realm of a luxury item.
Other factors had considerable influence as well, like the exodus of the middle class into low-density suburbs that drained the city of people who could have asked for and afforded a condensed archiotecture of roof gardens and terraces. On top of this, technical shortcomings like the leakage problems of early roof gardens created an aura of suspicion and avoidance - prejudices that persist up to today. Finally, it has to be acknowledged that a majority of buildings do not have the programmatic need for intensive roof gardens, such as industrial buildings, warehouses, most commercial buildings, and residences in low-density areas with too low a population to profit from a roof garden or with too much open space around.
About 30 years ago, the desolate sight of these bare flat roofs triggered a counter movement in the German-speaking countries of Europe. Methods of exchanging the gravel of ballast roofs for a thin coat (three to five inches) of growing medium were tested. The low weight of the soil made structural reinforcement of the existing roofs unnecessary, thus substantially reducing costs. They also found that the minimal type of a "roof greening" (the direct translation from the German) provided similar environmental benefits as a traditional roof garden. The thin coatings retained and cleaned rain water, cooled and humidified the surrounding air, filtered dust, reduced noise levels, insulated against heat, provided habitat for flora and fauna, and prolonged the life expectancy of the roof. The technology was widely implemented as a remedy against many problems of urban density, such as frequent flooding, water and air pollution, and high energy consumption. (emphasis added) (III The Shattered Dreams of Modernism, pgs. 21-23) |
| Quote: | Stephan Brenneisen, a Swiss green roof specialist and ecologist, claims that many of the thin substrates on sedum roofs lose their effectiveness over time. Some of the used substrates tend to become acidic and do not sufficiently provide minerals and nutrients for the long term health of the sedum plants. Owners rarely fertilize their sedum roofs on a regular basis and the plants suffer after a couple of years. Brenneisen also found that many sedum roofs have minimal positive effects on storm water retention, energy use or the urban climate - core arguments that have been used to justify the implementation of green roofs. Moreover, ecologists attribute rather limited biodiversity values to sedum roofs and prefer roofs that offer a secondary habitat to endangered plant and animal species.
... Brenneisen believes that his roofs will get richer in biodiversity over the years. He likes to show the potential long-range benefits of his designs by referring to a green roof in Zurich that is now ninety years in service.
The lake water filtration plant Moos built in 1914 was a product of engineering excellence of the time. Water from the lake of Zurich is pumped into the building and is cleaned to drinking-water as it slowly filters through a layer of sand. It was the first reinforced concrete building in Zurich and was outfitted with a nine-acre (3.6-hectare) earth roof for temperature moderation.
During its ninety year lifespan, the roof had to be reworked only on its edges; the rest of the waterproofing remained functional.
The three-inch- (7.5-centimeter-) thick concrete ceiling is sealed with a three-quarter-inch (two-centimeter) mastic asphalt membrane and then overlaid with six to eight inches (15 to 20 centimeters) of topsoil. Today, the roof supports a stable meadow community with 175 different plant species and six thousand specimens of a rare orchid. Many plants are on the endangered or rare species list of Switzerland.
The protected location of the roof and the continuous maintenance regime of the meadow preserved a plant community that does not exist on the ground anymore. (Discuss this project online at Arichitecture Week.) (-- pg. 35) |
Our Amazon.co.uk review:
| Quote: | The most revealing feature of this book is the author's glaring omission of what experts now refer to as the new 'failed housing economy,' which depends on housing stock pre-destined to fail, thereby requiring major repair/renovation/reconstruction/redevelopment within a period of five to 10 years. Govts worldwide have embraced this type of development, sacrificing consumers to keep the profitable (for some, including the author and his sponsors) real estate wheel grinding along its destructive course.
Notable examples include the leaky condo crisis in Vancouver, British Columbia and New Zealand's mirror-like weathertightness crisis. In places like California, construction failure (usually becuase of leaks) became so prevalent, the state enacted legislation to give contractors a chance to repair their brand new yet failed building before owners take them to court.
Not surprisingly, perhaps, developer and contractor sharpies, already the stuff of legend in the new failed housing economy, now appear as thick as ants at a picnic, anxious to exploit predictions of global warming and undiscriminating media reports of the new green/sustainability revolution. The question, then, is how to distinguish between fraudsters and legitimate, well-researched solutions?
Books like this one certainly offer no help. Yes, there are examples of champion-sounding projects in places like Germany and Switzerland, but what standards, procedures, technologies and skilled workers would ALSO be required to ensure successful implementation in other jurisdictions - especially those with as yet unresolved issues of epidemic building failure? Quite simply, if the locals are unable to design or construct a building that can at least keep the weather out reliably, who in his right mind would trust them to experiment with anything as costly and maintenance-intensive as a green roof or worse, a roof garden?
Frankly, the omission of any discussion about these essential variables makes this book little more than an exercise in self-promotion for the author and his sponsors as opposed to a fair, critical analysis of complex new procedures. What's worse, it invites authorities, who prefer to overlook rampant building failure, to continue to do so with devastating consequences. How easy it is already to picture governments rewarding the green roof industry with the usual array of business advantages. Sadly, this codswollop will make it even easier.
Books on green roofs and rooftop gardens should NEVER be translated from German unless we import the standards, enforcement and construction expertise imperative to success! |
Link to this entry
http://www.bccondos.ca/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1094#1094
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editor
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| Posted: Thu Nov 01, 2007 10:11 am Post subject: |
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Uh-oh. Despite a shameful, unresolved history of 'leaky condo syndrome,' B.C. 'BILLIES forge confidently ahead with risky new technology[/color]
Here's what local 'experts' had to say about standards:
| Quote: | ASTM’s Green Roof Task Force, North America,
E06 subcommittee on sustainability http://www.astm.org
Active Standards
• E2396-05 Standard Test Method for Saturated Water Permeability of Granular Drainage
Media [Falling-Head Method] for Green Roofs
• E2397-05 Standard Practice for Determination of Dead Loads and Live Loads
associated with Green Roof Systems
• E2398-05 Standard Test Method for Water Capture and Media Retention of Geocomposite Drain Layers for Green Roofs
• E2399-05 Standard Test Method for Maximum Media Density for Dead Load Analysis of Green Roof Systems
• E2400-06 Standard Guide for Selection, Installation, and Maintenance of Plants for Green Roofs
Work Items
• WK575 Practice for Assessment of Green Roofs
• WK7319 Standard Guide for Use of Expanded Shale, Clay or Slate (ESCS) as a Mineral
Component in Growing Media for Green Roof Systems
Materials Standards - ASTM
School of Construction and the Environment
Centre for the Advancement of Green Roof Technology |
How GREEN would it feel, we wonder, to harangue with strata councils and disgruntled neighbors - everyone anxious to sell - over LEAKY CONDO repairs AND a LEAKY GREEN ROOF in imminent danger of collapse?
Link to this entry
http://www.bccondos.ca/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1096#1096
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editor
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| Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2007 11:53 am Post subject: |
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The Irish Times
Top-notch daily trombone
On God's green earth
US evangelicals are split between
those who claim 'dominion' over the planet
and those who want to save it from global
warming - and the fight is getting dirty.
By Sean O'Driscoll
Oct. 28/06
| Quote: | | Last week, (Rev. E. Calvin) Beisner (theology professor at Knox Theological Seminary in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, who helped organize anti-environmental opposition into a group called the Interfaith Stewardship Alliance, some of whose member groups have strong links to the Exxon Mobil Corporation) appeared on a Public Broadcasting Service documentary entitled, Is God Green? to denounce Rev. (Rchard) Ciznik (vice-president of governmental affairs for the 30-million-strong National Association of Evangelicals) and the environmental movement. (-- p. 9) |
Link to this entry
http://bccondos.ca/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1103#1103 |
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editor
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| Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2007 1:58 pm Post subject: |
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Canadian Lawyer
Promotional Magazine for Lawyers
Real estate lawyers find it isn't easy being green
Undated though we Googled it Nov. 17/07
| Quote: | Real estate lawyers may feel that they have enough to worry about already, but here's one more thing — green buildings. If there were a concept that seems totally benign and positive, you'd say this is it. ... Your tenants or condo unit owners save money on energy and everyone's happy to have done their bit toward staving off global warming. What on earth could be wrong with that?
Ask the insurance industry in British Columbia and the lawyers representing the Olympic Village or other developments that were recently stalled because no one would insure a condo with a green roof. (emphasis added)
... the situation creates all kinds of legal issues. "If you can't get insurance, you can't sell your property. And if you promised a green roof, are you in breach of development contracts and disclosure agreements?" he (Vancouver real estate lawyer Jason Hicks of Davis LLP) asks, noting that legal disputes are possible in situations involving developers that have promised a green building to environmentally conscious purchasers who may want to pull out of the deal. "Do people have the right to rescind contracts? Do people have the right to sue for damages? Has the value of the building been materially affected by failure to reach that goal? And are those actionable damages?"
Hicks says these questions are just some of the many complex and sometimes unforeseen issues that lawyers may get entangled with as they venture into the hitherto unexplored territory of green property law.
Co-generation and heat exchange technology is another area fraught with uncertainty. Some large condominium complexes are now being developed with facilities that supply power and heat to all unit owners. This is a big step away from the norm, in which power is provided by a big utility that has a very strong liability shield and high standards of reliability, says Hicks, who anticipates lawyers having to grapple with issues such as: "Who owns the power generation plant? Who's liable if it breaks down? How will the costs be allocated? How will the liabilities be allocated?"
... Jeffrey Lem, a Toronto-based real estate lawyer with Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP, says he's watching the emergence of green-building standards very closely, since it is something that few clients know or care about now, but may well become a routine matter of due diligence in years to come. "Lawyers should be observant of trends and make sure that if it looks like your clients are really needing this stuff or wanting this stuff or valuing it, you'd better be protecting them," he says. |
Our own jaundiced view:
| Quote: | Yes, but rather beside the real issue, which is still the trouble and expense of determining at law who's at fault when the building fails - the architect, the contractors or the green roof provider - and why, why, WHY should the burden of proving negligence CONTINUE TO FALL to the INNOCENT PURCHASER?
WHEN will res ipsa loquitur replace B.C.'s fraud-friendly real estate doctrine of caveat emptor? |
Link to this entry
http://bccondos.ca/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1104#1104
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editor
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| Posted: Mon Apr 07, 2008 8:58 am Post subject: |
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Dwell
Magazine Subscription
September, 2007
| Quote: | | Generally, a publication with appalling disregard for either accessibility/barrier free or affordability and only a passing interest in only the most exclusive sustainable design features. Really, a pep rally for still more American greed. |
| Quote: | Architecture and the City, the largest festival of its kind in the United States, engages the public with a deeper appreciation for San Francisco's rich architecture and design community. So whether you are looking for an architect or want to become more involved with the local community. Architecture and the City promises an unparalleled opportunity to experience San Francisco. Mayor Gavin Newsom has offically proclaimed September "Architecture and the City" month.
aiasf.org/archandcity
(From an ad on p. 48) |
Among the exhibits:
More on this when the building opens in Fall, 2008. Please check back soon for updates.
Our e-mail to organizers:
| Quote: | From: editor
To: ecullerton@aiasf.org
Cc: editor
Sent: Monday, April 07, 2008 10:20 AM
Subject: Re: archandcity - what about affordability and barrier free?
Hello Architecture and the City organizer,
We came upon your ad in last September's issue of Dwell - a compelling ad in true SF-the-city-that-knows-how style - in fact, probably the magazine's best feature. But we couldn't help wondering, with all due respect, what planet design professionals live on these days. Where are the ideas for the small square spaces most of us live in today, and now that we're all getting older, how the hell are we supposed to get ourselves in and out of showers/baths? Just about all new construction - typically multi-family, low AND higrise - features the same tired traditional windowless bathroom with a slippery, rectangular tub you have to climb to get into the shower. Why the obstacle course? How on earth will we handle the narrow, little stairs architects love to place in the middle of the floor without any bannisters? Little stairs to the living room, more little stairs to the kitchen, twisted little stairs to the upper floor ... Who are they kidding and why? There's a TON of money to be made worldwide for intelligent eco-friendly designs that allow us to live at home independently much longer, which is ultimately better for the planet. Is there no interest or is it just that people don't somehow factor into the architectural eco-equation?
It's dispiriting to see a month-long celebration of building designs that shamelessly exclude so damn many of us!
If it happens that Crazy Architect Lovefest '08 actually features some reality-based concepts (design ideas that address in interesting ways very well-documented population demographics and our needs as well as climate change as per the texts listed here http://bccondos.ca/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1142#1142), please let us know.
Editor
http://www.bccondos.ca
Tracking the pandemic of rampant, unaffordable, barrier-full, multifamily housing failures worldwide and the fraud-friendly laws that allow them to proliferate so shamelessly. |
We'll post any replies we receive here. Please check back soon for updates.
Our e-mail to Dull, I mean, Dwell:
| Quote: | From: editor
To: letters@dwell.com
Cc: editor
Sent: Monday, April 07, 2008 10:35 AM
Subject: What about affordability and barrier free?
Hello Dwell,
Here's the e-mail I sent organizers of Architecture and the City in '08. How I wish your magazine, which purports to be so 'cutting edge,' would take a stronger line on affordability / accessibility barrier free. A reality check, in other words. Think of Susan Sontag's famous essay for the New Yorker after the Trollope classic, The Way We Live Now.
Ed.
Enclosure: (e-mail above) |
Link to this entry
http://bccondos.ca/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1275#1275 |
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editor
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| Posted: Tue Aug 12, 2008 12:28 pm Post subject: |
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Audubon
Magazine Subscription
Raising the Roof
Today city skylines are getting greener. Wildflowers and grasses are carpeting rooftops, soaking up storm water, cooling buildings, and providing habitat in the clouds
By Susan J. Tweit (Twit?!)
March-April, 2008
| Quote: | ... one example of the hottest trend in green building: eco-roofs, also called green or living roofs. Blanketed with an insulating layer of soil medium and plants, these roofs are springing up in cities to fight climate change, save energy, prevent flooding, and provide habitat for birds, butterflies, and other airborne wildlife.
In Europe, meadow-style cottage roofs go back centuries, but planners and ecologists began touting industrial-size versions for city buildings in the 1980s to temper the so-called “heat island” effect and to reduce runoff. Paving and conventional tar and gravel roofs in urban areas absorb tremendous amounts of solar energy and re-radiate it, thus heating surrounding air and causing cities to be as much as 10 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than surrounding countryside.
Hotter cities cause higher demand for air-conditioning, more air pollution, increased greenhouse-gas emissions, and more heat-related illnesses and deaths. Planted roofs radically reduce heat absorption, helping to keep the heat island effect in check. They also create shade and add insulation, so that buildings are cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. Researchers at Environment Canada, a government agency, estimate that vegetated roofs can reduce summer electricity consumption linked to cooling by up to 25 percent for one-story structures, and by about 6 percent for buildings three to eight stories high. Additionally, green roofs clean the air by removing particulates and ozone-producing compounds, and they add oxygen and sequester carbon as the living plants respire and make food.
... the earliest green roofs used a continuous layer of engineered soil medium, which made them heavy. Further improvements to those soil replacements, some of which resemble potting soils, have since trimmed the weight. These new soils have also helped avoid compaction, and can be planted at depths as shallow as one inch. Some newer types use mats of plants and soil laid like sod, while modular systems employ movable trays containing soil medium and plants. No matter what kind they are, green roofs add weight to buildings, so it’s important to consult an expert such as an architect or roofing contractor experienced in these roofs before incorporating one on your home. (emphasis added)
Once they are installed, most green roofs need to be irrigated at least until the plants are established. Some feature native species, others are planted with horticultural varieties, and some mix the two. All require plants that can withstand the extreme environments of rooftops, where temperatures may fluctuate 50 degrees between day and night and where high-velocity winds whip through urban canyons. For these reasons, varieties of sedums are often a popular choice. ... (-- pgs. 40-45) |
Our e-mail to Audubon:
| Quote: | From: editor
To: editor@audubon.org
Cc: editor
Sent: Tuesday, August 12, 2008 2:02 PM
Subject: Green Roofs- Rooftop Gardens - not for the hillbilly housing construction industry outside Europe!
Hello Audubon Ed,
As a consumer advocacy website fighting against the worldwide proliferation of substandard, leaky, wood-frame, barrier-FULL, unaffordable, inaccessible multi-unit housing - thanks in large measure to Canada, land of construction failure spin-doctoring extraordinaire! - we were appalled at the gloss-job you did on green roofs and rooftop gardens in March-April, 2008. We decided to give you a link as a way of filling in what's missing in your infomercial - essentially, the cold, hard reality that few buildings are good candidates for these complex, maintenance-INTENSE features, and that even fewer architects and builders are IN ANY WAY competent to construct them. Please see http://bccondos.ca/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1370#1370.
You MUST stop glossing over the WILDLY INCREASED risk of building failure created by rooftop gardens / green roofs especially in the very well-documented wake of massive housing failures, which are well known not only in Oregon, Washington, California and British Columbia but throughout urban centres in North America and indeed worldwide. Cut through the real estate industry's misplaced, misguided sales pitch and get out your calculators - what's the carbon footprint of a housing failure pandemic?! Environment Canada sure won't tell you. Nor will any other branches of the Canadian gov't in its dubious effort to export what many Canucks now call the new failed housing economy, which requires a reliable stock of failed housing to repair (reconstruct, really) every few years. Unbelievably, Canada has even managed to give technology as patently dangerous as R-2000 marketplace street cred! Don't let them succeed! See http://bccondos.ca/forums/viewtopic.php?t=320.
Editor
http:www.bccondos.ca
Tracking leaky substandard, barrier-full, unaffordable, multi-unit housing failures worldwide.
Vancouver, B.C.
Canada |
Audubon replies:
| Quote: | From: "EDITOR" <EDITOR>
To: editor@bccondos.ca
Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2008 1:36 PM
Subject: RE: Green roofs / rooftop gardens - but not in Canada or at least B.C. - 'BILLIES aren't competent!
Greetings,
Thank you for your email. We appreciate your input regarding our coverage of rooftop gardens and green roofing.
Respectfully,
Audubon Magazine |
Not exactly hard-hitting but maybe reporter and magazine will take a more critical approach next time - especially if these luxury features create the rooftop catastrophe we predict in view of such widespread building failure.
Link to this entry
http://bccondos.ca/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1370#1370 |
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