Blueprint for Design

Peak oil is here and industrialized civilization is facing its final challenge, the challenge that will decide if we as a species continue. Peak oil is not when the oil is gone, this is when the energy being put into drilling, pumping, transporting, refining, and finally selling the oil is greater than the energy of the oil being removed. This will happen to all resources eventually. This is happening now for oil.

But, some good news – architecture has a long history to draw on – almost all of it without industrialized oil based technology. Buildings account for around 70% of all energy use – creating building materials, transporting materials, construction, heating, power, lighting, demolition.

First what will be increasingly affected by decreasing oil supplies? Let’s start at the top, the roof. Bitumen, Hot Mop, Modified Bitumen, PVC, TPO, EPDM, tarpaper, asphalt shingles – all based on oil products. Expect these to increase in cost.

Next is flashing. Many modern flashings are EPDM. Architects and contractors know that flashings are what keep the envelope able to shed water. They are used everywhere. Metal flashings are mostly used on roofs. EPDM most often used around windows, sills and other transitions between materials. In addition to flashings are backer rods, also made of plastics (oil) these are used in expansion joints in façade materials.

The envelope of a building beyond the flashing materials discussed, there are many oil intensive materials used. Tyvek and other building wrap, including of course tarpaper are needed to make a moisture barrier are oil intensive. Vinyl based siding, EFIS – Elastomeric Finished Insulating System – is polystyrene with a thin layer of cement and latex based finish, are oil intensive.

These things are the stock and trade of modern building across all spectrums of typologies. So how can we build without these materials? Look at history, what’s been used before oil. Additionally reuse the oil intensive materials we’ve already manufactured.

First is masonry. Bricks have been in use for thousands of years, and before that mud bricks. Bricks made in the modern way use powerful gas fired kilns to cure the clay. Transportation can be a big oil use in bricks, so finding a local manufacture is a good way to reduce oil dependence. Reused bricks are another resource to look for.

Stone is another pre-oil resource, but quarrying and transporting it is very oil intensive now, but reusing stone into new construction is not. The pyramids of Giza, originally covered in white marble, but over the millennia after the Egyptian dynasties, the marble cladding was scavenged for use in Cairo. This is the fate of all un-used monuments.

Wood has been our other medium of choice for thousands of years. Our timber and lumber industry is geared to produce trees for the housing market. The large trees are gone or protected and the production forests are harvested as soon as possible to make the standard lumber we are familiar with. But standard lumber is not the only way to build with wood, it’s just what is most available and economical for commercial purposes. Every climate that has trees the culture has found a way to use this resource. From Pueblo dwellings that reuse the same logs (hence they stick out), to huts and yurts, log cabins, or long houses. In these modern times, reusing the older lumber locally is another lower oil impact resource. Another is urban logging that can recover wood from trees felled in storms or during development. Many times these mulched, but alternatively for construction or millwork. (Especially veneers and laminates)

Going back up to the roof, the most important surface that keeps the rest of the envelope working efficiently; there are certain factors that must be re-examined. I started listing all the oil-based products used in roofing. Prior to the miracle of bitumen-based roofing the options were slate, tile, thatch, metal and wood.  These components work, but they all require attention to detail.  The bitumen roofing systems have much simpler details, and can be rolled out (literally) very quickly. Building large flat roofs is a modern edifice. Pitching a roof is the easiest way to get the water off the materials. Only with the seamless and impenetrable surface of bitumen products can you have the 1/8” per foot slope, and have pools of water on a roof. All other materials are assembled in such a way to shed water. However, our modern technology has developed the living roof. By using the impenetrable EPDM or TPO as a substrate and then using modular trays to hold soil and succulent vegetation these two work together to make a living breathing surface. The soil and plants protect the EPDM from UV rays, and the plants can absorb the water that sits on top of the roof material. The green roof reflects heat, cutting heating and cooling costs, and absorbs some water that would enter the storm system.

The biggest hurtle architecture will face is localism. We as an industry are accustomed to getting our materials and equipment from across the country, even the world. As oil becomes more expensive, transporting construction materials will force us to look at local resources. So get to know your local industries, your local machinists and manufacturers. Where do these local manufactures get their resources, their equipment? We need to reexamine our details, specifications, and notes.

Links:

Green America’s National Green Pages, building materials

Peak Oil, more than you want to know

Plan B, Earth Policy Institute