THE 2030 CHALLENGE

The 2030 Challenge issued by Edward Mazria, Santa Fe architecht and author of The Passive Solar Energy Book is stunning.He argues that this is not a matter of whether we can afford to do this or not but a matter of we CANNOT AFFORD NOT TO. Mazria is calling for all new buildings and developments, starting NOW, to be designed to use half the fossil fuel energy they would typically consume throughout their lifespan.

He goes further, mapping out a plan for a 60% reduction by 2010, a 70% reduction by 2015 and continuing 5% reductions in each 5 year period until in 2030 all new buildings would be carbon neutral.

The good news is that it has been predicted that next year will be the tipping point at which the majority rather than the minority of builders will describe their buildings as having green features. The ability to build homes that meet the standard of using 50% less in energy consumption is available today and has been for decades. It is time to put it to use.