The City of Pasadena and the Pasadena Building Department now pride themselves on being a "green City". This designation would indicate to most that they accept and encourage building practices that are most sensitive to the planet and encourage the least use of materials and energy. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
As a residential designer who practices in the Southern California region, I find that Pasadena isthe most difficult place in the region to use any "green" technologies, and when "green' results are gotten they are gotten with the highest cost alternative possible both in terms of materials and labor.
As a small example, when doing a remodel and seeking a cathedral ceiling where one presently does not exist, it is common to use spray in urathane foam on the existing rafters. This saves wood, and labor, while giving the highest possible R value to the ceiling and stiffening the structure by tieing it together and making it absolutly mold and waterproof in case of a roof leak. I can use this material in Monrovia, in L.A. County and almost anywhere in America, but NOT Pasadena. In Pasadena, I must replace the 2" x 6" or 2"x8" rafters with 2"x12" and use fiberglass insulation. This causes more thrust against the walls and as a result requires increased connectors and often wall columns, with resulting increases in concrete footings. On the life cycle energy front, even 12" deep fiberglass batts are 40% lower in R value than spray in insulation. Additionally, all of the roof sheathing and roofing must be replaced and the existing gets to go in the landfill. This is wasteful and counter productive beyond belief. It is the Pasadena way.
Want to use LED lighting in a kitchen or bathroom because it gives off superior light quality with no headaches to people with stigmatisms in their eyesight and produces the most lumens per watt of any acceptable lighting type? Pasadena will insist you use 40% less energy efficient, shorter bulb life, Flourecent light instead. It is the Pasadena Way.
Want to build leak proof skylights onsite with refridgerator gaskets and G.E. Thermoclear, as you can in most of the nation? Again Oh No you dont! Only leaky factory made less efficient, more expensive, skylights may be used. Again it's the Pasadena Way.
These are but small examples of already decade or decades old "green" technologies, long since proven and in use throughout the rest of the nation and world, forbidden in Pasadena. It is not that these materials are unsafe. They have extensive safety records world wide. They just dont have "approval" in Pasadena.
The Building department in Pasadena is preventing the lowest cost both in terms of money and environmental impact, materials and methods that can be used to reduce energy consumption. You have to ask who benefits from this madness, and only one entity does- The City of Pasadena, who tax the homeowner on the dollar cost of the improvements and who sell the energy to run the buildings. In other words, while the citizen, the nation and planet lose, the City of Pasadena gains. It is the Pasadena Way.
