book review

Book Review: Almost Green
By Obviously.ca Staff. Posted on 10:55:00 am - Monday, August 18, 2008.

When most of us start thinking of ways to reduce our carbon footprint and live a more sustainable lifestyle, we usually start small. Maybe we begin by replacing our lightbulbs, using recyclable bags or riding a bike to work. Some might go further with bigger steps like buying a hybrid or installing solar panels.

Well, author James Glave is a self-confessed over-achiever. He decides he’s going to bungee-jump head first into a greener way of life by building a studio that incorporates green design principles from the drawing table on up. The first drawback? He’s a stay-at-home dad with no building or contracting experience.

The book’s sub-title basically says it all: “how I built an Eco-Shed, ditched my SUV, alienated the in-laws and changed my life forever.” It’s a good taste of what’s to come.

The author documents his quest to build a sustainable studio on his property on British Columbia’s Bowen Island. It’s an ambitious challenge that brings a number of different issues, political, social, personal and environmental into the light.

Along the way he researches a number of different green-building approaches and with a limited budget, has to make some compromises. For anyone who is considering taking on their own sustainable construction project this ground-work may be interesting. But overall the book suffers from the sense that it falls between a “how to” and “how not to” kind of read. It’s too light to be useful for someone is serious about building a sustainable building and for those who are just curious about the idea, it veers into “this type of nail” detail.

At the end, the 260 square foot “Eco-Shed” budgeted at $75,000 has zoomed up to $89,000 and it’s still not completely finished. That’s a big enough price tag to scare off anyone who is thinking about their own sustainable building and that’s unfortunate. Buildings are a responsible for up to 17 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions. With more builders, architects and developers taking the lead to make sustainable building the new norm, “small footprint” homes can come within reach for the rest of us.

Tags: almost green, book review, james glave

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On Wednesday the 16th of December, 2009 at 5:56 am, Mike said: