Film6

1. Title, director and release year? //Green Builders// was released in April 2009. It was a PBS television show and produced By Bob Szuter

2. What is the central argument or narrative of the film? The central argument of this film is that we need to begin to develop green buildings. The film demonstrates that green buildings are both healthier to live in and economically better for society.

3. Who are the key social actors and stakeholders in the film? The key social actors and stakeholders in the film are people that are for pro-green technology. They want to be efficient and use sustainable materials. They want to use recycled wood from old buildings as well as buy material from nearby outlets so it cuts down on transportation emissions.

4. What does the film convey about the matrix of factors that contribute to our dependence on oil? We have not fully adopted new technologies and most of the public don’t understand what green actually is. One of the stakeholders in the film said he told people about developing green buildings and how 40% of the buildings use fewer resources and 40% of the buildings contributes less waste that would have otherwise been put into the ground.

5. What does the film convey about the matrix of problems caused by our dependence on oil? Constructing waste management is a problem. Most of the waste from torn down buildings goes to a land fill. Some of this waste could be reused instead of taking the earth hundreds of years for this material to decompose. There is a perception that oil based products and other non-sustainable materials are cheaper than going green. However, green can be cheaper depending how the building project is implemented. An example is buying material locally and using natural insulators.

6. What does the film convey about the matrix of affects that would be mobilized by a shift away from oil? The film has a lot of good statistics which shows a shift away from oil is actually not that bad. Just rotating your building towards the sun can save energy by 30%. Almost 100 percent of construction projects can be recycled by setting up bins for different materials and reusing these materials in other projects. Some of the beams in the green school came from an older barn. Using materials with high recycle concentration can save the environment. Using wood from sustainable forests is another way we can help our environment. For every tree that comes out of the ground a new tree is planted. The film shows that straw can be used as an insulator which entails that high-performance buildings can be developed with a small environmental footprint. For houses, sleeping porches will be used to cut down on energy that would have been used for air conditioning. Also having many windows will reduce the amount of energy needed to light your house.

7. What parts of the film did you find most persuasive and compelling? Why? I found the Health Buildings Movement interesting. The movement wants to get toxins out of the environment to provide fresh air. Currently, most materials are soaked in toxins and give off gas. If we move to less chemically coated materials some health problems may go away. Hospitals are an example of a place that gives off gasses a lot. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) gives off gasses and hospitals have PVC pipes running throughout the hospital. Moving away from these pipes help patients recover faster. This is something that I never thought of because PVC pipes are used in almost every modern building. Next, patients recover more when there is access to natural light and clean air. I assume the reason natural light helps is that patients can receive a natural dosage of Vitamin D. Also, it was interesting to hear the benefits of a green roof because I could not understand economically why RPI was going to install a green roof on the union. PNC bank wants to build all their new branches as green buildings but they probably finance non -green projects and companies that pollute the environment. The film said that green roofs will not overheat which saves energy and expands the life of the roof. The final fact I find compelling is that test scores are 30% better in green buildings. I would like to see if taking a test in ECAV, since it rated a green building, produces better results than if the student was to take the test at Sage.

8. What parts of the film were you not compelled or convinced by? Why? Renewable products take longer to make because they come from sustainable resources. We need some of the resources for other purposes such as food to feed our livestock or to serve at home for dinner. Another part that I was not convinced about is that it is almost impossible for every building to go 100% green. The reason for this is that you can’t completely get rid of every building and put up green buildings in their place. It would be economically impossible to justify. The film says 80% of the cost of the life time of a building is the maintenance and operation of a building. The problem is that the person purchasing the building needs to have put up more money initially which most people are not willing to do. I see this as a barrier unless you can make the same green building at the same cost as a non-green building. Another thing I am not convinced by is that if we manufacture solar energy in the United States, we can export the product to other parts of the world and provide manufacturing jobs for people. The cost of labor is so high here, we may be able to do the R&D, but assembly should be done in China. 9. What kinds of corrective actions are suggested by the film? If the film itself does not suggest corrective actions, describe actions that you can imagine being effective. One of the corrective actions the film suggests is that if you increase insulation, you can decrease the amount of energy needed to heat and cool a building. You can do this without having to increase costs. The use of a thermal storage tank can implemented. Thermal storage tank is like a big battery plant and the steam can be used to power office campuses. At night, to cool the campus, they can turn off the steam power and let water drain from the thermal storage tank which will let the water cool the campus. Geothermal power is another source of power we can look to. Ninety-eight percent of the injected heat in the summer can be accessed in the winter. Geothermal steam is two times more efficient than an air heating and cooling system. Finally, have municipalities make policies to implement change.

10. What additional information has this film compelled you to seek out? (Provide at least two supporting references, explaining what your learned from each reference.) I wanted to find out if there were a larger amount of green design firms. I was surprised to find a web site that listed the top 100 firms. The top green design firm is Gensler which is located in San Francisco, Calif. [] Another thing I looked into is how many green school initiatives in my community. “The city of Beverly received $623,300 in grant funding from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative Renewable Energy Trust Fund to renovate Centerville Elementary School into a signature green school.” Our high school in our town has a windmill on the roof but it is not considered a green building. [|'Green' schools becoming part of the lesson | Boston Business Journal]