Once again, the New York Times flubs an article on green building
Martin Holladay
| Posted in General Questions on
Today’s New York Times announces an exciting new type of housing.
The article describes this housing option as:
– “eco-friendly”
– “sustainable”
– “a legitimately green option”
What’s the article talking about? Homes made from shipping containers, of course.
Here is the link:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/22/realestate/home-in-shipping-container.html
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Replies
The only person in the article calling it "green" or "sustainable" are:
"...Paul Galvin, the chairman, chief executive and a founder of SG Blocks, a publicly traded company that repurposes maritime-grade cargo shipping containers..."
...who clearly has a financial stake in marketing the approach and:
"...Jeremy Hardison, senior planner with the town of Carolina Beach..."
who likes "...the idea of alternate and sustainable construction methods...", without necessarily endorsing this approach as sustainable (it's clearly "alternate").
While there is lip-service given to the structural aspects, it's notable that in the construction pictures there is a lot of steel removed for windows without additional steel being added for structure. Similar project's I've seen documented in the UK had a full-on engineering analysis, with LOTS of steel added to compensate for the compromised monocoque once large sections of the sides are removed.
There are quite a few pictures of the construction in these galleries:
http://www.steelehouse.net/callicooncenter/
I had the same thoughts when I read it. Most of the comments to the article are pretty negative, with many mentioning problems associated with trying to insulate.