WORKING CLOSELY WITH CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY’S, GRADUATE MECHANICAL ENGINEER, TREY YOUNG, EUGENE TSSUI STEPS CLOSER TO FINDING THE ULTIMATE SOLUTION TO A TRUE ZERO ENERGY, NON-ELECTRICAL/MECHANICAL, VENTILATION/COOLING AND HEATING SYSTEM FOR THE MOUNT SHASTA, CALIFORNIA, UNDERGROUND CONVENTION CENTER BUILDING.
In the coming weeks, we intend to break the barrier of assumed impossibility, by finding the solution to creating an interior architectural environment that can be heated, cooled, and ventilated, that exceeds California State building code requirements, and shows the world that it is possible to design a large commercial building (80,000+ square feet) that uses no electrical energy to heat, cool, and ventilate itself.
In doing so, we will have found the answer to creating a building whose operational functions do no harm to people and the environment, and pave the way to a wholly new language of design application that does not contribute to the destruction of our planet.
This is tantamount to finding the structure of the DNA molecule but infinitely more important for the survival of our planet. It implies the elimination of 45% of the world’s pollution.
Additional Comments:
What else can be said, is to ask ourselves, why has this not been questioned and resolved much earlier? We knew we were killing the planet, without question, back in 1974, yet, we didn’t do anything about it. It wasn’t convenient. It wasn’t socially acceptable and popular. You were ridiculed or even expelled from school (like I was) for addressing the subject! Now, when the topic is a global issue, everyone jumps to attention. Let’s ask ourselves why we don’t become a voice, and personally change ourselves- change our way of life- for subjects that are true and important, yet, are not widely discussed or popular…until it is too late…
Much of the reason we don’t address the larger, dangerous issues of society, like our architecture and it’s production of 45% of the world’s toxic pollution, is that we neglect the smaller, everyday issues, of our health. For instance, the drinking of coffee is a harmful activity yet the coffee industry is expanding exponentially. We condition ourselves to partake in harmful behaviors because we don’t question it, and it becomes a blind, daily, harmful ritual. Coffee drinking raises blood pressure, invites heart disease, is linked to gout, increases breast tissue cysts and infertility in women, invites type 2 diabetes, causes allergies, inhibits collagen production in the skin, accelerates bone loss, etc. Yet, we still continue to consume it! When we turn a blind eye to the small behaviors of life, we distance ourselves from the larger issues- like large buildings injecting 20+ tons of CO2 into the air per day! We have to question every aspect of our daily life, and be able to immediately change it, or else speaking about the world dying becomes just another comment for entertainment value.
Photos by Trey Young, Ishvari Chavan, and Jared Murray
