Re: [Ekodum] Re:Ekodum Digest, Vol 76, Issue 7

[Max Vittrup Jensen <max AT permalot.org>]

Dear Bufaloo and others,

Yes, I am also very surprised that Jan Marton and Ales Brotanek does not have enough character and moral to deliver a a real apology for their manipulations.

My explanation is as follows, you'll be the judge if I'm "Puntickar nebo Fanatik": The knowledge below is exactly what the board of Ekodum is afraid will be made public.

Background:
Passive House Definition (PH):
This is a German technical definition which dictates 4 ways to measure the energy consumption of a house during the use phase: There is no consideration of materials, of how energy is produces, of how to demolish the house after 'end of life'.
Reality is that it is possible to insulate a beton bunker in enough toxic insulation, heat it with oil made from tar-sand, and it may gain certification as a 'Passive House'. As many architects don't think much about energy of materials, it is clear that alone such technical approach has little to nothing to do with environment/ecology: Studies of has proven that some passive houses will never be able to save more energy in a 50 year life cyclus, than the energy it took to make the materials, to build it, and to recycle all of the materials.

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA):
This is again a very technical approach, and a process which relies on a very large amount of exclusions due to lack of data. The academic idea is to view the 'cradle-to-grave' process of any given final product (including a house consisting of many products), and determine the amount of energy consumed, the impact on Co2 and a series of other parameters.
Reality is that the available data is much to limiting and average. A few examples: No data exists for a complete framed triple-glazed energy window with argon; researchers has to use the simple data of m2 of glass. The data of lumber is based on production in some of the worlds biggest mills in Finland, processing 10 logs a second, and logs grown in a very mono-culture forested country: Quite different from the local mill here in Bouzovsko and the mixed forests here.
Fact is that the data of a LCA is at most a guide, and in some cases directly misleading: It is generally recognized that it takes a research team 3 months to complete a LCA, which makes it very expensive, and out of budget of most NGO's. However some businesses are able to fund the research, to the extend that an LCA exists which proves that making carcinogenic insulative wool out of a rock at extreme temperatures and transport, is better than simply growing flax or hemp, and use the fiber out of it. I leave it to you to be the judge...

As part of my University studies in Environmental Management we researched the embodied energy in 2 different approaches to building a PD: One out of a recommended approach of the Czech PD institute; 10 cm lime-sand panels, imported from Germany, and 30 cm Extruded Polystyren (LS-EPS), compared to the exact same model house build out of locally produced large straw bales, what we call Big Bale Building (BBB). Despite a mistake in average energy consumption (My canadian partner uses Canadian values which are 6 times higher than Czech!!!), and despite that both lime and sand a very low impact materials and EPS only consists of 40% 'product' compared to the volume, it became clear that simply using the PD parameters to build a house does not make it an environmental choice.
-This has been proven by several other experienced researchers.

Present:
During the past year I have offered to present this research through the organization I helped found; Ekodum. It was consistently ignored, and finally the board (Ales, Jan) insisted that it could only be presented if there were 'opponents'. Rather than doing it at Country Life as usual, it got moved to 14th floor at dinner time at the CVUT.
We 3 presenters agreed on a program, which first got radically changed by Ales/Jan, to mainly promote the work of Bjorn Kierulf, and for the event to last 4 hour. I opposed such a tireing event at that time and our initial program was accepted. I spend time to make a draft of a poster, which illustrated the issues well, including a photo of the massive amount of concrete and steel used in the Hostetin PD conference center: I welcomed graphical work on the poster, but not changes of text or concept.
Jan Marton objected to the title (Passive House; Is it waste of energy?) and altered the program to include excess time for Ales Brotanek. I made very clear that I viewed the aim of Ekodum's manipulation as trying to again glorify PD and Ales, and that I would not accept to take part in such event.

Finally, 22, 5 hours after I said no, Jan Marton posted his idea of his conference to this e-list, as well as to the board controlled yahoo list:
It has his title, the images are romanticizing PD construction, it includes me, however does not mention I'll present my university study, (It also includes the name of PermaLot, but no logo) and includes a panel discussion, including Jan Růžička. (-I personally believe 'panel discussion are an archaic phenomena, only serving to boost the already inflated ego of the people on the panel: what's wrong with a participatory discussion?).

This is when I publicly demanded that they retract the poster, submit a public apology, and advice Jan Marton to step down from the Ekodum board.
The only response I get is a private email from Brotanek, asking me to please go along with the scam, that he'll simply say I got sick, and in addition advising me to join a men's group: The e-mail was also secretly mailed to other people.

To those of you still reading this far:
Am I "Puntickar nebo Fanatik"?
Or is the real issue that Ekodum o.s. manipulates the truth due to fear of loosing clients for AB Studio?
...Or the fact that Ekodum managed to be part of a network of Passive House information offices?...In effect funding ABStudio's promotional work?

Central question: Isn't it time with an ethical charter for Ekodum, and board members without commercial interest?

Zdravim,
Max
PS: This mail will be translated once Radka can find the time...