The Future is Past Now
We all have ideas that are ahead of their time, like the jet pack, and by the way where is my jet pack? Lance Charles had an epiphany to build a sustainable home in the early 1990's. back then recycling was a quaint notion and SUVs were all the rage. Are we ready now to embrace his ideas? I hope so.
Lance created a system called WHOLEarth, a system for home building that would provide the energy and water a family would need. What is WHOLEarth?
What was the epiphany that steered you towards this idea of Whole Earth?
The early 90's found me in a recession caused by the S&L crises as the legacy of the 1st Bush administration brought on by Reaganomics. I was the owner of a small general engineering and paving company scrounging for business in the Ventura and L.A county's. In the stagnant economy I was unable to find work. So I took a job in a small office that did international trading. We tracked the sales and movement of steel, cement, sugar, urea, levis' and airplanes, and almost anything else you could think of.
During this time a stranger appeared and handed me a card that said
" Dream large dreams, because small dreams have no power to inspire."
This quote changed my life. I have been on this path ever since. How ever many times I have tried to leave it I am always put back on this path.
I decided to put my knowledge of construction together with my understanding of international trade to the task of solving the worlds housing crises. That was a very large dream. The weight of it has been crushing at times.
One voice said "Why Me?" the other voice said "Why not You?"
For the next five years I wrestled with the enormity of the problem. I did find manufacturing technology that could produce thousands and even 100's of thousands of homes using simple machinery and a production line. I was not alone. Japanese Architect Kyonori Kikutake had the same idea in the late 50's .(I was unaware of this until I found him in the library at ACCD.)
By using thin roles of steel and a roller die machine it was possible to produce 35,000 units per year. Without welding and using far less energy. At relatively low cost this could be replicated to increase production to approximately 350,000 per year. We could produce a million, fire resistant, wind resistant, earthquake resistant homes in less than 3 years.
However this was not enough. After showing my ideas to countless business people, investors, venture capitalists and well wishers I got nowhere. Something was missing. I had no idea what.
In 1994 I applied to Art Center with a business plan and a sketch model of my idea. Patricia Oliver ( then chairperson of the environmental design department) saw something in me and I was accepted to Art Center.
It was at ACCD that I discovered whole systems design. Housing was only one element of the whole system. Without water, food energy, and jobs housing by itself was useless.
While at Art Center I met Steve Diskin, J.Baldwin, Gloria Kondrup, Amory Lovins, Mike Davis, Craig Hogetts, Ming Fung, Nader Khalili, John Todd, and I was introduced to the work of R. Buckminster Fuller. He has been my greatest inspiration and a beacon by which I stay the course. I want to be clear that I stand on the shoulders of a giant of knowledge first organized in the Whole Earth Catalogue. I want to also say that my teachers at ACCD were brilliant, and as a result I am brilliant, and as a result of that the WHOLEarth Home is brilliant.
I designed the WHOLEarth system to be my compass and to help me stay focused on the integrity of whole system design.
My gift is to simplify complex problems and find solutions.
Imagine a home that is designed with the five elements of the WHOLEarth system equally represented?
Housing, water, food, energy, and occupation are the five things that we are all fighting for right now!
The WHOLEarth system is a tool that can quickly identify the stress points of any human habitation. If one or more of these elements are missing than we can predict that the system will fail. In many cases all five elements are missing. And in the process of failing unimaginable stress, pain and suffering is inflicted on people and the environment as seen in countless examples around the world.
The WHOLEarth system to any area that needs sustainable housing.
Buckminster Fuller predicted this outcome in the early part of the last century in talks and articles about "SpaceShip Earth" and "The World Game".
As we move away from scarcity toward abundance we need to remember these five things.
· We don't need money we need housing.
· We don't need money we need water.
· We don't need money we need food.
· We don't need money we need clean energy.
· We don't need money we need jobs that produce and protect the first four things.
Battling the real estate market, yet riding on the new Administration's push for sustainable living, how do you balance the lack of funding with the need for Whole Earth?
I have been frustrated for a long time knowing that we have an abundant solar resource that we seem just unwilling to use. I am familiar with new technology that could do much to solve our energy needs. Solar, wind, water, and storage.
Top down models are really not the answer. It occurred to me more than a decade ago that in order to solve the problems of today we need to help people make correct choices. Large corporations have been given unmatched freedom to limit our choices to what they want to sell to us. I find it infuriating that even now new construction and developments simply ignore the need to use more insulation and provide electricity using new and available technology. Not to mention water and food.
Using existing rooftops for energy production means we can save more precious land resource from Solar fields and huge wind turbine projects. Those are good for the corporation not for the long term of sustainable quality of life.
I try to keep the program as simple as possible. Buy a property that is under valued, bring to the highest level of sustainability using the WHOLEarth system, for the least amount of money, hold it for as long as possible and build secure assets, based on the real value of land and its improvements. Then sell it for the highest possible value. The owner still as the most valuable home on the block.
Our Homes are producer homes because they produce energy, they produce food, they produce clean water, they produce healthier people. They could even produce a small income. They also produce more value for the family and the community.
What is normal today, is a consumer building that creates constant stress and scarcity. We want to build a producer home for people so that they can live the best possible life. We are building comfort and joy.
The WholEarth Home can be built for the same price as a standard consumer home or a little more or a little less. Over the last few years I have been able demonstrate the our home cost about the same.
However as you add or subtract finish items the cost of construction goes up and down accordingly. That is where the similarity end. Because we build with local and recycled materials the cost of transportation is reduced, the production of carbon and use of energy is reduced.
Because we use more insulation the cost of heating and cooling is reduced.
Because we use clean alternative energy the production of carbon, coal waste, and nuclear waste is eliminated. We can enjoy 90% efficiency as an added bonus.
Because we collect and reuse water our need for city water is greatly reduced. With new technology we can produce pure clean drinking water as part of the program.
Because we can grow our own food the cost of food and fuel get it is greatly reduced and our health is improved.
Because our home is wired with the latest advance communication technology our need to commute is greatly reduced. But the real job is to take care of the home. The real job is to live with less stress and be with the ones you love.
Because the home is designed to produce what it needs.
This could mean that one day the Home could actually pay for itself.
Image: Lance Charles at work in the garden.
