The Housing Chronicles Blog: September column for Builder & Developer magazine now online

Friday, September 19, 2014

September column for Builder & Developer magazine now online

My column for the September 2014 issue of Builder and Developer magazine is now posted online.

For this issue, entitled "The Politics of Drought," I wanted to review the current state of the extreme drought impacting the western U.S. and how the building industry is adapting to it. An excerpt:

"...there are some important differences between this event and the last major drought to hit California in 1976-77, in which the state’s reservoirs plummeted to 41 percent of average. On the demand side, although the state’s population has doubled since the last drought, per-capita water use has also dropped with the use of new water management technologies. It was actually the drought of 1987-92 which marked the beginning of modern water-use practices, including more efficient use of water for agricultural which made more growth in the cities possible...

On the supply side, new homes are actually exponentially more efficient than older ones, especially those with water-hogging plumbing fixtures. According to a report commissioned by the CBIA, an average three-bedroom home with four occupants built today uses 29,000 fewer gallons of water than smaller homes built in 2005..."


To read the entire column, click here.


To read the entire September 2014 issue in digital format, click here.

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