May 24 2008 6:50AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (2) |
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I gave a short presentation on green remodeling to a group of real estate agents recently, and I was asked a question about shading windows that get too much sun. I suggested installing sunscreens, an exterior mounted shade screen to reduce solar gain. One of the agents pointed out that she would never even consider installing any sort of screen on the front of a house because it would look terrible. It struck me that this type of attitude is leading us towards our ultimate demise. Much of our society is demanding, lazy, and uncompromising, unwilling to make even the simplest change in behavior in order to save some energy. We are so concerned with image that we have lost sight of the big picture. If we continue to abuse natural resources through inefficient buildings, we will have much larger problems than how the screens look. Individually, small decisions like this may not make much of a difference in energy usage, but when you add up the millions of them that are made regularly,  we are talking about whole power plants worth of power that are being wasted due to poor decisions. It is time for everyone to wake up and realize that they can, and must, make the right decisions, every day. It is the only way we will ultimately make a difference in the future.