Sustainable Homes: A User’s Guide

In an age when the neighborly contest to be greenest entails more than just lawns—when even the likes of Al Gore gets criticized for a home that isn’t green enough—keeping up with the Joneses means mastering a confusing barrage of science and products. Colin Smith, a British professor of physics, has written a primer for the average Joe who is looking to transform his home into a more efficient, sustainable dwelling but who is not yet prepared to slap a windmill on the roof and go off the grid.

Equal parts history lesson, science tutorial, and resource list, This Cold House guides the reader in baby steps to a more sustainable home. Smith sets the foundation by describing how the human body heats and cools itself, and he follows by pairing down the fundamentals of home construction and energy use. Each chapter outlines a specific area—insulation, fuel choice (gas or electric), the science of fireplaces—and wraps up by explaining how to manage the system through controls, such as a thermostat. Graphs and charts help summarize and illustrate each chapter, and a long resource list for further reading is appended.

Smith writes in a folksy narrative voice, incorporating tales from his own life in the UK. He notes straight away that This Cold House is not a “deep green” approach but is based instead on the belief that “we can all play a significant part in tackling the environmental problems—by each taking small, realistic, and achievable adjustments to our lives.” While aiming to be simple, however, the content borders on the simplistic—someone who knows his or her basics of how a home functions would find statements like“Dehumidifiers can help by extracting the moisture from the air” pretty obvious. Consider This Cold House a rudimentary introduction peppered with the occasional pearl of insight into managing a home more efficiently.