Page 4 - Green Builder March-April 2020 Issue
P. 4
EDITOR’S NOTE By Matt Power
The Inside Scoop Editor-in-Chief
Caption. Text
Toilet Paper is Not the Answer
It’s time to examine what resilience really means.
BY MATT POWER
S TANDING IN LINE at the local discount store the other day, The resilient home has toilets and appliances that use very little
water or energy. It has a clothesline.
The resilient home has bidets attached to every toilet. There’s not
I watched a woman in her late 60s struggle to pile hundreds
a roll of toilet paper in the house.
of rolls of toilet tissue onto her shopping cart. Terried by
the coronavirus, she didn’t know what else to do.
The resilient home captures the sun’s energy with photovoltaic
She’s in good company. Stores around the country report
electric car in the garage or other battery system. No gasoline
running out of toilet paper, cleaners, tissues and sanitizers--almost panels panels, or it has wind turbines. The power is stored in the
as fast as they’re vacating their canned goods and powdered eggs. available? No problem.
But is this really the best we can do, faced The resilient home is Net Zero, with well-integrated ventilation,
with the rst real test of our national cour- including self-contained solar attic vents and a sump pump with
age since World War II? battery backup.
Rather than freaking out at the midnight The resilient home is heated and cooled by super-ecient, variable
hour when a pandemic, wildfire, power speed heat pump technology.
outage or some other crisis strikes, we can The resilient home, if it has a pool, uses a variable speed ltration
create safe and secure homes that are easy pump, capable of low-wattage operation.
to heat and cool, well ventilated, re and The resilient home has a metal roof, ber cement siding, re sup-
storm resistant, with well stocked pantries pressing sprinklers indoor and out, and anti-ember sots. It’s
and freezers. The resilient home has Net Zero performance, with virtually reproof.
on-site renewable power and a generator or battery backup to run You get the picture. Add a greenhouse garden a food storage pan-
critical systems such as well pumps, refrigeration and (in extreme try and a couple of chickens, and this house promises a safe and
climates) cooling or heating. comfortable haven, even during long periods of isolation. If that
In keeping with this issue’s collection of outstanding products, mate- sounds eccentric or extreme, try the concept on your next clients. I’m
rials and brands, let me oer a few examples of how specic items betting that given the chance to do something more eective than
and design elements in a resilient home might reduce crisis anxiety: hoard toilet paper, they’ll thank you for your forward thinking. GB
Panic purchase.
Can’t we give
homeowners more
resilience in their
homes so that buying
toilet paper (and
every other paper
product) isn’t their
first reaction to a
crisis?
2 GREEN BUILDER March/April 2020 www.greenbuildermedia.com
2 GB 0320 Editor's Note.indd 2 4/8/20 3:11 PM
