[Cob] cob and energy and codes

[Henry Raduazo]

... May God preserve us from rich people who want to do something for  
the environment...
	I just visited a place called "Eco-Village" in VA where they have  
huge houses one I would estimate to be 2-3000 square feet. It has  
energy star appliances, R-this walls and R-that ceiling and a  
geothermal climate control system that heats and cools the entire  
space using ground water. There are lots of south facing windows for  
passive solar, but the windows are  low E glass so that there is no  
significant amount solar gain and considerable heat loss relative to  
the insulated walls.
	Putting this in perspective, the floor space of Linda Smiley's  
entire cob house can be fit into the combined area of the bathrooms  
of this "eco-house" and in fact her bathroom can be fit into the  
bathtub of the master bedroom.
	My opinion is that to make this an eco-friendly house you need 10 to  
20 people living in it.
	On the other hand I know a lady who is living off the grid in an  
abandoned one car garage. This is an eco-frienly house regardless of  
the particular R-values of her walls and ceiling.
	The energy code is meaningless unless it measures the energy  
consumption per person in a particular living space and that depends  
on how you live. Try to bring a 2000 square foot cob house up to 75  
degrees Fahrenheit in the cold months of winter and I do not think it  
will qualify as eco-friendly. We must dare to be small or at least  
dare to heat only the smallest possible living space.
	A house should be designed in such a way that even if you do not  
heat it, it will never freeze, and even if you do not air condition  
it, it will be livable. To do this you need passive heating and  
cooling, and one of the cheapest material to store passive energy is  
earth. Use it wisely and it will serve you well.
	We always say "try to be generally right instead of precisely  
wrong." I think huge climate controlled houses designed for two or  
three people are precisely wrong regardless of the energy codes. In  
fact even having an energy code is perhaps precisely the wrong  
approach because it encourages green washing gigantic houses and  
discourages small comfort zones within a house.
	My ideal would be one where I can: Heat the bathroom 20 minutes a  
week for two showers. Heat a living/dining room only when I am there  
to enjoy it. Heat the entire house never!
Forget the codes,
ed
On Sep 26, 2009, at 10:47 PM, Tys Sniffen wrote:

> It was pointed out earlier that cob is a long shot due to the  
> natural, i.e.,
> not store-bought material nature of cob for codes.  Then it was  
> pointed out
> that this discussion was about *energy* codes, not building codes.   
> Energy,
> meaning heating and cooling.
>
> Interesting that they are two different things. I might want to  
> argue that
> by using natural, local material and doing it oneself saves oodles  
> of energy
> that other, perhaps higher R value homes don't even consider.  Just a
> thought.
>
> Tys
>
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