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| Mike Rowe |
In support of Living Lands & Waters, Caterpillar, and her less famous colleague Mike Rowe, the famous Tina White of MikeRoweWORKS.com cleans up the Illinios River (in the video at this link), one bowling ball at a time. - David
Showing posts with label Conservation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Conservation. Show all posts
Monday, February 14, 2011
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Keeping the Planners out of our Bathrooms: No Point in Point of Sale
Our City Council leaders have been asked to consider another nonsense, diseconomic real estate measure: point-of-sale inspections (by the city, or even more ridiculously, by Realtors!) requiring costly upgrades of household fixtures at the time a home is sold. Simply put, this is an attempted planner- and regulator-driven power-grab where the free market between buyer and seller should govern.
Saddling the real estate transaction with hundreds to thousands of dollars of additional non-discretionary costs of dubious value is a bad idea, especially when low flow fixtures and the like are easily defeated after the transaction by homebuyers who simply don't want the related inconveniences. Arbitrary coercion may seem desirable to public policy planners, but it doesn’t make sense in the world of economic reality.
An intelligent approach to the matter was implemented on a limited basis some months ago by the regional water district in the form of incentives to replace older toilets with those using less water. Incentives work, and many people desiring the benefit availed themselves of this program. In contrast, coercive approaches only add costs and disincentives to transactions that are already costly enough. They promote ill will, evasion, and wasted expenditures on undesired fixtures which, as mentioned above, are easily defeated when Big Brother turns his head.
Manhattan Beach often takes leadership positions on matters related to the genuine conservation of resources. Sometimes, our City also recognizes that discretion is the better part of valor.
The best leadership position on this matter is to exercise sensible discretion by keeping the planners and regulators out of our bathrooms, and employing intelligent economic incentives to achieve beneficial aims. If the State forces our hand, as a knowledgeable Council Member advises me they will be doing as of January 2014, then let's not make the mistake of interfering with the wishes of homebuyers and sellers any sooner than necessary. - David
Saddling the real estate transaction with hundreds to thousands of dollars of additional non-discretionary costs of dubious value is a bad idea, especially when low flow fixtures and the like are easily defeated after the transaction by homebuyers who simply don't want the related inconveniences. Arbitrary coercion may seem desirable to public policy planners, but it doesn’t make sense in the world of economic reality.
An intelligent approach to the matter was implemented on a limited basis some months ago by the regional water district in the form of incentives to replace older toilets with those using less water. Incentives work, and many people desiring the benefit availed themselves of this program. In contrast, coercive approaches only add costs and disincentives to transactions that are already costly enough. They promote ill will, evasion, and wasted expenditures on undesired fixtures which, as mentioned above, are easily defeated when Big Brother turns his head.
Manhattan Beach often takes leadership positions on matters related to the genuine conservation of resources. Sometimes, our City also recognizes that discretion is the better part of valor.
The best leadership position on this matter is to exercise sensible discretion by keeping the planners and regulators out of our bathrooms, and employing intelligent economic incentives to achieve beneficial aims. If the State forces our hand, as a knowledgeable Council Member advises me they will be doing as of January 2014, then let's not make the mistake of interfering with the wishes of homebuyers and sellers any sooner than necessary. - David
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Free Water-Efficient Toilets, Anyone?
On Saturday morning, May 15, the West Basin Municipal Water District will be holding a free exchange event. Pre-registration is required, quantities are limited, toilets to be exchanged must have greater than 1.6 gpf, and participants must meet residency requirements (Hermosa, Manhattan, Redondo, Lomita, certain parts of Torrance).
For more info or to register, go to the Southwest Environmental, Inc. website and click on "Hermosa." - David
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Ten Green Building Predictions for 2010
Here are a few "green" building predictions for 2010... from the perspective of homebuilders themselves. - David
Ten Green Building Predictions for 2010
Ten Green Building Predictions for 2010
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