美国国家公共电台 NPR--Victims of a Colorado wildfire can choose a green rebuild that's within their budget

Victims of a Colorado wildfire can choose a green rebuild that's within their budget

Transcript¹

More than 1,000 homes were lost in the Marshall fire in Colorado last December. Now residents are wondering if they can afford to rebuild energy efficient, resilient homes.

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

In Colorado, a climate-driven disaster is testing a community's resolve on climate change. They had just adopted new green building codes when last year's Marshall Fire hit in the dead of winter, incinerating more than 1,000 homes. Now residents are wondering if they can really afford the tougher, greener homes. Here's Sam Brasch of Colorado Public Radio.

SAM BRASCH, BYLINE²: The beginning of this story, it's not really the fire itself. It kicked off a few months earlier at a Louisville City Council meeting.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Thank you all for joining this evening.

BRASCH: Louisville is a progressive suburb in Boulder³ County. It adopted a climate plan to slash⁴ its emissions⁵ in 2020. And in that meeting last year, the city proposed what would have been the state's most ambitious green building codes. Many kids testified in favor.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: My future depends on the world making this decision, so we might as well start here.

BRASCH: And the council approved, requiring new homes to be extremely energy efficient. Superior, a town just across a highway, soon considered similar standards. Local leaders assumed they would apply to deep-pocketed developers. Then the Marshall Fire changed everything.

(SOUNDBITE OF MONTAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED FIRST RESPONDER #1: Fire's jumping 36 right now.

UNIDENTIFIED FIRST RESPONDER #2: Big push coming through. I think we're going to have people trapped here in just a second.

UNIDENTIFIED FIRST RESPONDER #3: Winds are shifting. I would evacuate⁶. It's moving north now.

UNIDENTIFIED FIRST RESPONDER #4: We have multiple houses fully⁷ involved.

BRASCH: Suddenly, hundreds of families had to rebuild. And many feared the new codes would make that way more expensive. In February, about a hundred fire victims crowded the sidewalks outside Louisville City Hall and called for the codes to be revoked⁸.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: We all want to do the best we can. But we want to come back to our homes.

BRASCH: Concerns about costs are understandable, says Boulder County recovery manager Garry Sanfacon. After the fire, insurance payouts are falling far short of record rebuilding costs, sometimes by hundreds of thousands of dollars.

GARRY SANFACON: It's a systemic problem that predated this disaster. And it's really exacerbating⁹ this one due to the cost of building materials and labor¹⁰.

BRASCH: Both communities ended up making the new code optional for fire victims. And this is where the state stepped in. See, together with Colorado's largest power company, it now offers cash rebates¹¹ for climate-friendly rebuilds. A team of architects and builders crafted a plan to take advantage of those incentives¹². It's a new house designed to show that a green home doesn't have to be a luxury home.

ANDREW MICHLER: So we really wanted to, like, prove that point and really make this even cheaper than some of the homes that are coming out at the exact same square footage.

BRASCH: This is Andrew Michler. He's behind a project to make a middle-class home built to passive house standards, a green certification first developed in Europe. It's called the RESTORE Passive House. None of them have been built yet, but Michler made something similar for himself.

MICHLER: Sure. Let's go inside and take a look.

BRASCH: The house is a modern rectangle tucked under a metal roof. It clings to the side of a cliff in the Colorado foothills.

MICHLER: So what we do is we design buildings that are extremely well-insulated. And as a result, they end up using about one-tenth of the energy of a basic code home nowadays.

BRASCH: One-tenth of the energy?

MICHLER: One-tenth of the energy needs.

BRASCH: The house is so efficient thanks to its hulking walls. Each one is thicker than a car tire, which favors a basic design. Michler says that has an added benefit in fire-prone landscapes.

MICHLER: The house is simplified in shape, so there's less places for embers to get into the corners and nooks and crannies of the house and start fires from there.

BRASCH: The final design for the RESTORE Passive House is super straightforward¹³. Imagine two house-shaped blocks, kind of like monopoly pieces, arranged around a two-car garage. To control costs, the team limited options for customization and negotiated discounts with local suppliers. And then there's those green building incentives. Michler was thrilled to find out they knock off an extra $50,000.

MICHLER: Suddenly, we were kind of in the ballpark for really making the affordability¹⁴ part count.

BRASCH: OK, so the final price for one of these three-bedroom homes - an estimated $550,000. Fire victim Peter Ruprecht knows that sounds like a lot for a rebuild. But the former computer scientist says, it's not in Boulder County.

PETER RUPRECHT: This is just a house for regular people. It's - it doesn't cost that much more than a production house would.

BRASCH: Today, Ruprecht's neighborhood is a collection of vacant construction sites. He raised a family there, but there's parts of his old home that he doesn't miss.

RUPRECHT: The houses were definitely built to a price point. The wind would blow in through the walls. And so it was cold in the house in the winter. And it was just kind of uncomfortable.

BRASCH: His family is now the first to buy a RESTORE passive house. It wasn't the cheapest home on the market, but it was close. And he wanted a house built for climate change, something more efficient, less flammable, and better sealed against poor air quality. The RESTORE house actually exceeds the green building codes the town of Superior considered before the fire.

RUPRECHT: I think having a way better house is a silver lining¹⁵ from this whole disaster. (Laughter) I'm just glad that we're going to be able to come back to our neighborhood and to have a house that's just going to perform way better.

BRASCH: It's unclear how many of Ruprecht's neighbors will follow his lead. At this point, only 10% of fire victims have permits to start rebuilding. And less than half plan to use those green building incentives. Most homeowners are still negotiating with their insurance companies and trying to find any home that can work within their budgets.

For NPR News, I'm Sam Brasch in Denver.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 boulder   

n.巨砾；卵石，圆石

参考例句：

• We all heaved together and removed the boulder.大家一齐用劲，把大石头搬开了。
• He stepped clear of the boulder.他从大石头后面走了出来。

4 slash   

vi.大幅度削减；vt.猛砍，尖锐抨击，大幅减少；n.猛砍，斜线，长切口，衣衩

参考例句：

• The shop plans to slash fur prices after Spring Festival.该店计划在春节之后把皮货降价。
• Don't slash your horse in that cruel way.不要那样残忍地鞭打你的马。

5 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

6 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

7 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

8 revoked   

adj.[法]取消的v.撤销，取消，废除( revoke的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• It may be revoked if the check is later dishonoured. 以后如支票被拒绝支付，结算可以撤销。 来自辞典例句
• A will is revoked expressly. 遗嘱可以通过明示推翻。 来自辞典例句

9 exacerbating   

v.使恶化，使加重( exacerbate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• This pedagogical understretch is exacerbating social inequalities. 这种教学张力不足加重了社会不平等。 来自互联网
• High fertilizer prices are exacerbating the problem. 高涨的肥料价格更加加剧了问题的恶化。 来自互联网

10 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

11 rebates   

n.退还款( rebate的名词复数 )；回扣；返还（退还的部份货价）；折扣

参考例句：

• The VAT system offers advantages, such as rebates on exports. 增值税有其优点，如对出口商品实行回扣。 来自辞典例句
• In more recent years rate rebates have been introduced for households. 近年地方税的减免已适用于家庭。 来自辞典例句

12 incentives   

激励某人做某事的事物( incentive的名词复数 )； 刺激； 诱因； 动机

参考例句：

• tax incentives to encourage savings 鼓励储蓄的税收措施
• Furthermore, subsidies provide incentives only for investments in equipment. 更有甚者，提供津贴仅是为鼓励增添设备的投资。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

13 straightforward   

adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的

参考例句：

• A straightforward talk is better than a flowery speech.巧言不如直说。
• I must insist on your giving me a straightforward answer.我一定要你给我一个直截了当的回答。

14 affordability   

可购性

参考例句：

• Performance-Based Logistics Affordability: Can We Afford Categorical Conversion to Performance-Based Acquisition? 基于性能的后期的可承受性：能否担负得起向基于性能的采办的无条件的转变？
• There would be no crisis of affordability, as't for food or clothing. 就想食物与服装一样，因为供给没有危机。

15 lining   

n.衬里，衬料

参考例句：

• The lining of my coat is torn.我的外套衬里破了。
• Moss makes an attractive lining to wire baskets.用苔藓垫在铁丝篮里很漂亮。