The Great and All Powerful Woz hits 100MPH+ in his Prius and has a passion for Green Building
My buddy Michael at Groovy Green has seen a big influx of traffic for his post about Apple’s great Woz getting pulled over in his Prius going 100+ MPH, so it caught my eye when I saw a link on Boing Boing for an interview the Woz did about his new passion of energy efficient housing. It’s a good read, here’s a quick blip…
ECN: Steve, thanks very much for your time. Here are nine questions for you, based on the PC World blurb. How and when did you become interested in energy-efficient construction? Do you have any plans to use your house as model for encouraging other people and companies to design their buildings more cleanly?
Woz: I am looking for sites but haven’t had enough time to narrow one down yet. I’m mostly interested in areas of the California coast, like Half Moon Bay or San Luis Obispo. … I have always had an interest in my own self-sacrifice to help the environment. I gave much money to groups working for forests and rivers. But I was probably misguided. I have no idea how effectively my money was spent or if it helped save one more tree or patch of river for future generations. Still, most of our charitable giving is in the sense of feeling that we are in some category we want to be in.
The term “energy efficient” is rather vague. At some level it implies some form of conservation. I have great reservations with that concept as well. One aspect of conservation is to use less so that there is more to go around, either to more people or for a longer time. I disagree with this concept pretty strongly. Personally I want to conserve but I wouldn’t push that concept on others as a “right” way to live. I only want to serve as an example. I don’t want to tell others that they are bad people or doing “wrong” things. That’s not a good way to keep open communication. I also have trouble with the concept that we can have more of a “worse” life. It’s a conflict between quality and quantity and life should be judged by quality.
The form of energy efficiency that appeals greatly to me is the idea of efficiency of construction. I have always admired getting the same results with fewer parts or procedures. That’s a win for everyone. I used that concept in my design approach in life. I was determined to give my highest regard to engineers and in engineering we always strive for more efficiency, defined mathematically as more out for less in. If you can build a car at the same price, with the same features (size and performance) yet it uses less gasoline or pollutes less, that’s a win for everyone, including the car manufacturer. Engineering leads to such advances, even when they seem like tiny steps.
