VW: Why did FAS become involved in a housing project in Houston?

Kelly: FAS has been deeply concerned about the environmental and resource crises faced by the United States and the world for many years. Frustrated by the fact that ideology and political gridlock in Washington have blocked any serious action, we set out to find areas where real progress could be made. We wanted something that could have a major impact on the environment and world energy resource problems; make sound business and market sense; our scientists and engineers could help create; and we could practically undertake with the resources available. Conversations with friends, particularly Roger Rasbach and Jane Dale Owen in Houston, helped us focus on improving the technology of housing in a way that could simultaneously reduce costs and improve quality to meet FAS criteria perfectly.

VW: Why is Houston a good location for such a project?

Kelly: Houston is an ideal place to launch such a project for several reasons. First it has the kind of people essential to make the progress a success. There is superb engineering talent and we’re particularly grateful to the help provided by Joe Colaco. Roger Rasbach, a Houston architect, developed a set of home designs perfectly suited for our technology and for the Houston climate. The region is growing making it a good place to get a new construction concepts adopted and used rapidly. And the growth has attracted some of the nation’s most creative developers and construction firms. The Houston climate presents challenges that must be met in many growing areas around the nation: high air conditioning bills, safety concerns including resistance to Hurricanes and strong storms, mold, termites, and other potential problems. As the Energy Capital of the World, Houston is also the perfect place to take a lead in the energy technologies of the future: technologies that make good business sense to builders, provide real quality for consumers, and a real contribution to national energy and environmental challenges.

VW: Why is it important to move to a more energy-efficient, environmentally-friendly way of building homes?

Kelly: Residential and commercial buildings consume more than 30 percent of all US energy and more than two-thirds of all US electricity. It is technically possible to cut this use in half or more using simple, practical technologies. If we can demonstrate that homes that slash energy use also make delightful homes that are safe and cost less to build and operate, we hope that the new technologies will rapidly become the design of choice in the construction industry. Hopefully we can stimulate innovations in the industry that will greatly improve on our initial designs. This would help the industry become more productive, provide attractive and safe housing for homeowners, and achieve huge energy and environmental benefits with no additional costs to the US economy. It can demonstrate an approach that can apply to many other sectors of the economy where careful design and modern materials can simultaneously improve productivity, improve product quality, cut energy use and minimize environmental damage.

VW: What do you see as the future for this type of housing?

Kelly: We hope that builders and developers in Houston will work closely with us in designing and testing our initial units. If they are satisfied that the technology achieves the cost and performance goals we are convinced can be achieved, we hope that they will move rapidly to adopt the approach in larger developments and use the approach elsewhere. After our initial demonstration in Houston, we plan to demonstrate the technology for a wide range of home designs in a wide range of locations and climates in the US. Our hope is that the Houston experience will spread rapidly. It is also important that the technology be used widely around the world since the demand for air-conditioned living space is growing rapidly. This technology can provide people around the world with comfortable living spaces in a way that won’t lead to catastrophic environmental consequences or place intolerable burdens on world energy resources and other limited resources.