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Downsizing the McMansion: Study gauges a sustainable size for future homes:
What might homes of the future look like if countries were really committed to meeting global calls for sustainability, such as the recommendations advanced by the Paris Agreement and the U.N.'s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development?
Much wider adoption of smart design features and renewable energy for low- to zero-carbon homes is one place to start -- the U.N. estimates households consume 29% of global energy and consequently contribute to 21% of resultant CO2 emissions, which will only rise as global population increases.
However, a new scholarly paper authored at New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) assesses another big factor in the needed transformation of our living spaces toward sustainability -- the size of our homes.
The paper published in the journal Housing, Theory & Society makes the case for transitioning away from the large, single-family homes that typify suburban sprawl, offering new conceptions for what constitutes a more sustainable and sufficient average home size in high-income countries going forward.
The article surveys more than 75 years of housing history and provides estimates for the optimal spatial dimensions that would align with an "environmentally tenable and globally equitable amount of per-person living area" today. It also spotlights five emerging cases of housing innovation around the world that could serve as models for effectively adopting more space-efficient homes of the future.
"There is no question that if we are serious about embracing our expressed commitments to sustainability, we will in the future need to live more densely and wisely," said Maurie Cohen, the paper's author and professor at NJIT's Department of Humanities. "This will require a complete reversal in our understanding of what it means to enjoy a 'good life' and we will need to start with the centerpiece of the 'American Dream,' namely the location and scale of our homes.
"The notion of 'bigger is better' will need to be supplanted by the question of 'how much is enough?' Fortunately, we are beginning to see examples of this process unfolding in some countries around the world, including the United States."
Maurie J. Cohen. New Conceptions of Sufficient Home Size in High-Income Countries: Are We Approaching a Sustainable Consumption Transition? Housing, Theory and Society, 2020; 1 DOI: 10.1080/14036096.2020.1722218
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday March 10 2020, @12:40PM (4 children)
Hang your clothes up in the laundry room where you probably have an exhaust fan to whisk moist air outside already, or in the garage where there's lots of room and it's dry. We have a collapsible wooden rack we use in our apartment when my wife hand-washes delicate garments.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Tuesday March 10 2020, @06:24PM
Blow the air we spent a bunch of energy air-conditioning out the window?
At least with a heated tumble-dryer we are getting it over with fairly quickly. With your system it would take all day to dry a load, while blowing all of the air conditioned air out the window.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 2) by Mer on Tuesday March 10 2020, @07:18PM
Having a room all for the washing machine? Now that's wasteful. Put it in the kitchen or the bathroom.
You point still stands (for the bathroom, not the kitchen unless you want your clothes to smell like lunch).
You do have to schedule around showers but hey, showering at set hours is a good habit.
Shut up!, he explained.
(Score: 2) by vux984 on Tuesday March 10 2020, @08:42PM (1 child)
"laundry room" ..."garage where there's lots of room"... "collapsible wooden rack we use in our apartment"
Your apartment has a laundry room and a garage? When I lived in an apartment I had a stackable washer-dryer in a closet just big enough to hold it, one parking spot in a parkade, and a rule prohibiting clotheslines on the balconies.
And if I put up a wooden rack somewhere I'd lose the use of that room until i took it down.
(Score: 2) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Wednesday March 11 2020, @12:07PM
Your own parking spot? Luxury. In modern Britain we have to walk 5 minutes to road where t'car's parked, and pay council for privilege of parking there!