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Recently, there has been a move back to cities, in high quality multifamily and mixed use communities, especially by the younger generation. They enjoy the activities, proximity to entertainment, and convenient maintenance this style of living bring. And it turns out that this alone could reduce CO2 by 30% or more, very rapidly. High quality multifamily projects in urban environments help in several dramatic ways. To start, the general public who dwell there also work close by. They take public transportation daily or walk or ride a motorcycle. Taking millions of cars off the road every day.
According to a 2007 report by the World Health Organization, excessive noise in everyday life is not solely in charge for unhappiness, poor learning, poor concentration, stress, poor sleep and overall crankinessbut it's also in charge for deaths. Yes, you read it correctly, deaths. How many deaths? According to the report, 3% of heart attack deaths can be attributed to noise in everyday life. The stress and sleep deprivation caused by everyday noise in urban environments is in charge for tens of thousands of premature deaths annually. That is a wake up call.
Party walls can be handled properly or poorlyand often it's poorly (unfortunately). Old techniques such as resilient channels often perform poorly or fail in time. Due to the advent of home theaters, party walls should still be STC 60 to 65 or even higher. But the law, written decades ago, requires solely STC 50 walls (or STC 45 after installation), which is only adequate to isolate ordinary conversation and not much else.
But today, the number one complaint of occupants is noise. And it's this noise that keeps people from moving into urban environments, and thus continuing to generate more CO2. Noise from the facet road, noise from neighbors, noise when you are attempting to sleep.
Without questions, one of one of the best moves a person can make to have a major impact on the environment is to purchase a condo or townhome in an urban setting. If everyone in the US lived in this fashion, we could minimize carbon emissions by 1B metric tons or more. That is about what Italy and the UK generate as a whole combined.
Save the planetbuy a (without a doubt) quiet condo.
As the world awakens to the emergency of climate swap, we would have to begin to look at every facet of life to see things that are right in front of us, but unobvious. CO2 and other greenhouse gases have clearly and undeniably changed our climate forever. A rise in temperatures and sea level are guaranteed at this point. The question is not if, but when.
Addressing Climate Change Requires Quiet
The dwellings are beautiful and upscale but significantly smaller than a single free standing house. They are built tighter, with more insulation, and the heating can be very efficient with most heat loss occurring into an adjacent unit (this sharing some energy). The CO2 generated due to the heating and cooling of condo's can be 70% less than a single family home. The amount of lawn to water is close to zero (saving CO2 from pumping the water to the home and also saving precious clean water). And the amount of materials used to build a condo in preference to a single family home can be 30% to 50% less, saving in CO2 from manufacturing these items (a major source of CO2 actually) as well as the transportation to the jobsite and installation time and energy.
If we are to impact climate swap through urbanization (and we would have to), we would have to also treat the noise issue head on. This isn't about saving a few dollars or doing it the old way because that is good adequate to satisfy code. Instead, it's about significantly impacting CO2 while encouraging people to move into and enjoy quality urban settings. And they will solely do that if builders address their number one complaintnoise. It is time all builders take responsibility and build-in high STC windows, doors and walls. And buyers take responsibility and ask for this as an amenity (or ask about STC rankings) before you buy. This may inspire builders to do what is right because you are asking for it. Otherwise, you'll be in that 45% that want to move back out, and do more harm to environmentall due to a noise problem without difficulty solvable today.
It used to be difficult to achieve wall STC's of 65 or more, but that changed with the introduction of soundproof drywall in 2003. This is a newer category of products that actually saves builders money and adds significantly improved STC values. STC 50, 60, 70 and even 80 walls have been built and tested for several years now using these products. And while the drywall itself is more expensive than standard drywall, it's overall cheaper to the builder to hit a given STC value than older methods (including time and labor) and is a lot more reliable. So you can save money and never hear your neighbor again.
Americans particularly have enjoyed sprawling communities far from the administrative center for the better part of 50 years. We have become used to large houses on quiet streets, far from the action and noise of the city. And we have become used to longer commutes, 25% longer than a few decades ago with some over 60 minutes in each direction. Wasting the little time we have and belching CO2 the entire way thereand back.
What this leads us to is the important and undeniable connection between quiet living environments and climate swap. According to a survey completed by the National Research Council in Canada in 2001, there is a direct tie between people wanting to stay and the STC values of party walls. As STC approached 60, some 75% of respondents were happy with their environment and wished to stay. As STC dropped to 40, a full 45% wanted to move out. And noise was the big complaint at that level. And if people are unhappy living in their condo, they will leave and tell others to stay away.
Floor/ceiling systems can suffer from same issues in units with neighbors above or underneath. And again, new technologies exist to treat these including the use of soundproof drywall on the ceilings and damped subfloors above plus advanced flooring isolation.
What to do? Well, new technology now exists to treat both facet road noise as well as neighbor (party wall) noise. Easily and price effectively.
Street noise is being addressed by newer high STC windows and doors. Sound Transmission Class (STC) is a manner to measure how much noise gets through. High quality dual-pane windows from most every major model typically have an STC rating of solely 27 to 29. Fine for a quiet facet road, but not thrilling for an urban setting. High STC windows from several manufacturers now exist which raises STC values to 38 to 42 or more. That is 50% to 60% less noise. Of course, if you don't ask your builder for these you may not get them. They can cost 3X what lower price windows do. But it's worth it. You will sleep better and be less agitated everyday. And what is that worth? A few dollars a month on the mortgageprobably.
