Low-Hanging Fruit

What follows is my reply to a colleague in the bay area who asked me how things are going in Memphis, thought my readers would be interested (at least those in the industry). I've annotated it in Red for those who aren't. Also, please excuse the bleak tone, most of my posts have been rather sunny about this town, so hopefully they balance themselves...

• Went to Chicago a few weeks ago to the annual USGBC conference (the people who do the LEED green building program), was a huge event with 30K attendees. Greenbuild was awesome, it was my first one. I couldn't afford the $1000 registration, so I just spent two days on the expo floor, but that was good. There were like 1000 vendors there. So many great people, products, ideas out there, was inspiring. I was asking everyone I talked to where they made they're products, and most everthing was made in the midwest. Apparently the manufacturing sector is not dead! I guess they don't make cars up there anymore, but a lot of small, innovative industries seem to be thriving. The great lakes states have formed a consortium organization to help them become the heart of the green manufacturing economy. It makes sense, since the rust belt has such a strong tradition of manufacturing, they can't compete with other regions or countries to make cheap, mass products, but they seem to have an edge in the innovative, start-up sector. Anyway, Chicago was a blast (one of my favorite towns), there was 5 of us there from Memphis, so it was a good bonding experience, also hung out with xxx from SF. He's a very green minded architect and great guy, do you know him?
• The engineers association seems weak here. They don't do any committee work, and don't seem to work with the city or state on any projects. In general Memphis is the ugly step-child of TN. Nashville has all the money, power, and fame, and for some reason looks askance at Memphis. To some extent, it's a difference in culture and history, but also this city may have not quite every have gotten over the assassination of MLK. It's a very poor area, the surrounding delta never recovered from the collapse of small farms, and the rural regions are stagnant. Memphis itself is secure as a distribution hub for fedex, ups, trains, river, and highway, but the best and brightest tend to go elsewhere. I heard a statistic that Memphis loses 5 people with college degrees every day. (Memphis does feel like it's on it's own, I've never heard of help from Nashville (i.e. the State); simultaneously Desoto County, MS is siphoning our life blood, even as they rely on our infrastructure; not to even mention the battle between County (suburbs) and City, as we all fight over a shrinking pot (declining metropolitan population overall)  
• A little about the building industry here: earthquakes aren't taken seriously at all, partly that may be based on reality, since the New Madrid faults are poorly understood, and the scientific community hasn't reached a consensus on exactly what's causing the seismic activity, and therefore there is doubt about the size or timing of the threat. We know there won't be the 'big one' for 200 to 300 more years, but the probability of a smaller one (a 5 or 6 richter) is unclear. But...a 6 would be devastating here. There are thousands of old brick building that have absolutely no earthquake design, not even floor to wall anchorage, many of these buildings are not in great shape, and due to gentrification downtown, many have been converted to condos, apartments, and retail. The building department is weak, not sure why, but everyone says the developers and builders run the show in town. There isn't even a structural review for most projects (essential facilities get a peer review), so calculations aren't even submitted. An engineers stamp basically means that the engineer takes responsibility for his work. (In California, every project needs to have engineering calculations submitted to the city for review, pages and pages of analysis of each beam and column, which the city engineers (or subcontractors) go through with a fine tooth comb looking for mistakes) The only review of buildings is for plumbing and electricity. It sounds like they don't have anything equivalent to Title24. (The california energy code, which sets a minimum standard for building efficiency. I was talking to some of my Memphis arch colleagues at Greenbuild, apparently the energy consumption (per capita) in TN has been increasing steadily through the years, even as CA energy consumption leveled off in the '80s and has been basically constant since then) On top of all this, they haven't adopted the IBC (the building code that has now been adopted by about 99% of the country) until just recently (it kicks in in Jan), they were using the old southern building code because developers don't want to do seismic design. They finally caved because insurance companies got tired of Memphis not adopting the now standard IBC, and jacked up the rates. Combine all this with a rather poor tradition for quality construction, and a rather severe climate, and you can imagine some of the condition of older buildings. 
• Ok, so that's the bad news. The good news is that the people here are genuinely warm and friendly, and we've made a few friends already. And there are a handful of folks I've met who are passionate about green building. Add to that, the pace of things is a lot slower and more relaxed, expectations are lower, competition is less, as is traffic. Parking is never a problem, and rules and regulations aren't enforced anywhere near like the Bay Area. Also, everything is substantially cheaper, especially housing. We've been looking at houses and you can buy a nice bungalow for $120 k or less (just be careful to pick one that's quality built and well maintained, of which there are a few) and there are houses for sale literally on every block: another statistic is that this is the #1 foreclosure market in the country. Well, we haven't bought yet, but it is nice not having so much financial pressure, it's given me time to work on some interesting projects, such as the strawbale tutorial for the WHE that's been hanging over my head.
• The other good thing, or the wild card, is all the low-hanging fruit of opportunity out here. There are so many things Memphis needs that other cities already have. For instance, a re-use depot, like Urban Ore, Memphis definately needs one. An opportunity for entrepreneurs.
• I was thinking a little of following in your footsteps and getting involved in energy modeling (and building science). There seem to be some good opportunities here because of the severe climate, and lack of understanding, innovation, and will that leads to uninspired construction. There are very few interesting contemporary buildings, especially houses, (there are of course a handful, and stand out all the more because their rarity.) It seems like there are lots of opportunities to build good quality, inexpensive, environmentally friendly buildings. For instance, insulated metal panels may be a good fit, they are extremely durable, low cost, and inorganic. The trend toward industrial, loft spaces, could make these a good solution.