European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 7, 1981, Darmstadt, Hesse                                New houses Are i Chi Dhu by Michael Decourcy Hinds new York times although Oil Price increases have inspired americans to turn Down thermostats and buy smaller most new houses arc Little More than Energy sieves because of poor poor workmanship and inadequate Accord ing to housing and Energy there Are people walking around today who still dont seem to believe there is an Energy said Charles president of the american Institute of a and our Homes reflect new Homes could easily be made 50 percent More according to the Federal depart ment of Over the next 20 this would save the equivalent of 2 billion barrels of the amount now imported in 250 the Home building Industry is where the american automobile Industry was a couple years ago making Energy hogs and unable to sell said James Energy program manager at the new York state Energy research and development Home builders Are just Lucky that Japan Doest Export houses a score of government Independent Energy architects and engineers offered these criticisms in interviews although most builders now install More they Are not using much of the insulating value of what they do install is lost because a protective moisture Barrier is lacking and because cold air bypasses the insula Tion in poorly caulked and sealed v heating and Cooling systems Are too resulting in a loss of Home builders Are ignoring the relatively inexpensive passive solar techniques of storing and circulating such a orienting buildings toward Energy saving such As vestibules that serve As air have been overlooked by the majority of build Many builders respond that Consumers Are not familiar with Energy saving improvements and do not seek them when shopping for new houses that the average new House is considerably More Energy efficient than houses built before the 197374 Arab Oil embargo and that the tight Economy has discouraged builders from making Energy saving improvements that would raise Industry spokesmen Are Quick to Point to Energy department statistics showing that the average Home used the equivalent of Gallons of Oil in 1974 and Only 995 Gallons in housing accounted for 13 percent of the Energy consumed in the nation in the Home builders could be doing a whole lot but remember that a few years ago they we rent using any insulation at said Joseph director of Energy and building technology for the Federal department of housing and Urban building contractors there Are As Many As in the United states Are responsible for about 80 percent of the million to 2 million houses built each the remainder Are owner built or built according to the plans of a designer or and Many of these Are vulnerable to the same Louis vice president of the National association of Home which represents Home said that some builders were constructing very efficient some were constructing very inefficient but most were doing an inadequate Job by to Days Energy in defense of the associations Thompson said that the average new Homes Overall Energy efficiency improved by 34 percent Between 1973 and this percentage was based on annual questionnaires completed by Small percentages of the associations Mem no Independent statistics Are available for the Sake of some Independent experts said that gains in efficiency have been much while others said the figure was but Only because pre1973 Homes were built with Little regard for Energy a National study of new released in sep tember by the Federal Trade indicated that Many new houses were not the commissions inspectors found that 62 percent of new Homes had Gen eral construction unresolved by that would Cost homeowners More than to Over 20 percent of these problems related to Energy such As inadequate insulation and Venti and faulty heating and Cooling in a significant proportion of All new Home owner complaints received by the commission involve Energy related said Thomas Deputy director of the Agency office of policy the Home building Industry failure to construct Energy con serving housing was underlined last april by a Tennessee new York times i1cw i of there is a lot of curiosity about Energy efficient but not so Many Valley authority study of Homes built since 1977 in Kentucky and the authority inspectors found that 83 percent of the new Homes surveyed had less than adequate attic insula 20 percent had no attic insulation and 85 percent had no floor Wall which is was not in 35 percent of the new houses lacked storm windows or double Glaze i was astonished by the said Robert hem director of Energy conservation for the builders Are holding costs Down by leaving out the stuff people cant in absolutely this situation exists in other Energy construction codes exist in some form in 46 including new new Jersey and connect but they Are so minimal that builders in slates with High Energy costs  sell houses built to the mini Mal said David Energy program director at the National conference of states on build ing codes and a nonprofit organization that writes and monitors building poor workmanship is and this greatly affects Energy according to Elliot vice president of Arthur a management consulting concern that has done work for Home insulation companies and Federal some builders Are doing a Good but half the houses built Arent Well he increasing the insulation Doest do much if it int installed a staunch defender of the Home builders practices is Gautam a research scientist at Princeton University Center for Energy and environmental there is nothing wrong with what the builders Are he they Are building houses that people want to and people Are not Rushing to buy extremely Energy efficient houses because Energy costs Are not High enough yet to create the As an Dutt cited a builder who found that Only four of his 20 customers in the past two years had bought his passive solar houses primarily for their efficient use of the Harry the Public is very confused about solar and there is a lot of curiosity but not so Many americas Gas guzzling by Chris Roberts associated press table where have they gone the Way of and and fresh stashed in Kitchen cupboards of those who can afford potatoes and carrots and beets May end up Robert the naturalist who gave organic farming says its already happening americas food distribution system is being strangled by runaway Energy costs that Are pushing prices out the not Only Are american Farmers burning up the Earth with fertilizers and but the food system today is no longer says a slightly built Man of 50 with an Auburn Beard and hair the color of Wood the food system in the is where the automobile Industry was in its a Gas Hes seated in his the chairman at Rodale press the giant publishing House his late father built in the Southeastern Pennsylvania town of no Black Earth a Wood stove in one Corner for a bicycle outside for he Calls it voluntary ideas in Rodales mind Dart about like Landing for a then buzzing one subject triggers but always theres this common theme theres nothing free in nature Man has to put it this Day his mind kept Landing on his Cornucopia a plan to make sure Man can afford tomorrows Horn of theres not going to be a he people just wont be Able to afford if the system is not two Heads of iceberg lettuce will Cost in the year three Large tomatoes the Cornucopia project is an Effort to do some plan Ning of the food we plan com but with few exceptions planners have not looked at the food system to see How it so much food is produced thousands of Miles from where it is because of the High Cost and the potential shortage of that cannot be maintained much and convenience with the cans and the process of Are very Energy what is needed to create a sustainable food system is not Only organic but also a Region ligation of the food based on fresh foods and foods that Are in if we dont change the system soon it will he paused a dragonfly had did you he that in the state of Pennsyl Vania for every Bushel of Corn that is the aver age Farmer loses five bushels of topsoil in Iowa its six did you know that 85 percent of All the food consumed in new England is imported from other regions fort five percent of All the food consumed in Massachusetts is from if the rate at which land in California is being converted to housing and other and if the rate of population growth remains the then by Cali fornia will not have any More food to what Are they going to do in Massachusetts Rodales Jerome Rodale in emn Jaus they called him grew up in new York when he was be bought a packet of Flower raising them on the family fire but they never matched the Beauty of the Flowers painted on the and he vowed then and there to some Day grow the most Beautiful Flowers in the he married and moved his family to the Fertile Lehigh Valley in starting Rodale press As an ave nue for his during the 1940s he corresponded regularly with sir Albert the noted British Agri cultural scientist who first popularized organic farming with experiments in he bought a farm in convinced that the natural order of Plant life was being thrown out of balance by mans use of hormones and other unnatural he put the ideas on and thus sprang up organic a thin Little Magazine pegged to the belief that food crops and Flowers should be grown in humus Rich soil whose Fertility is maintained Only by organic Materi als like Leaf mulch and natural Mineral sir Howard served As associate y s naturalist Robert Rodale inspecting chinese Winter vegetables at experimental a the Magazine flopped at then caught on when who died in 1971 at age changed its name to organic focusing on the Back instead of the Back circulation is around million a sister new detailing organic was put on the Market in january of 1979 and grew quickly to copies a Rodale press flagship is prevention million monthly which promotes proper nutrition As a Means of staying a new new also has taken it is devoted to Energy and How to make the Best use of it in the in 40 a Flimsy Little Magazine about Mother Earth has grown into a worldwide Book and Magazine publishing Empire with sales of million in the fiscal year that ended july Rodale press has 10 buildings in including a research Center where engineers test build equipment that will appear later in the form of Doit yourself plans in Rodale there Are solar food Ped Al Power contraptions that crack solar window theres also a test its shelves lined with Natu ral herbs and spices poppy Long Grain Brown about 12 Miles from Emmaus is the Rodale experimental 350 acres of land dedicated to natural crop including the raising of fish for and theres the company a few blocks from Emmaus where Rodale and company president Robert Teufel often eat the other Day they dined on boiled and cracked wheat the conversation turned Bio architecture and to getting Coral to grow in the shape of growing plants in the shape of houses that would produce their own electricity youd just plug in a Leaf there were raised eyebrows on a what about in Rodale if people Back then read about whats going on they have the important thing is All Industry is going to have to recognize that everything is connected to every thing and the More compact those connections Are the better the system Page 14 the stars and stripes february the stars and stripes Page 15