> the guy in it does throw in a bunch of jokes from the perspective of a frustrated Canadian building science guy that might put you off but his information is great.
As someone else who works with civil (but not structural) engineering in Canada, I agree to a certain extent with his points, but found his tone incredibly condescending and offputting. For example:
> Does the dirt, grass, and a goat make it work better? No. But you just feel better about yourself. I mean dirt is not insulation, it's just freaking dirt. If it was insulation we'd put it in our walls, and that'd be stupid. [...] 'well we can store water up there' - Why? You're an idiot. The whole idea of a roof is to get the water off of the damn roof.
- Soil is insulating, just with a very crappy K value. You wouldn't use it somewhere that was space sensitive (eg a wall). You wouldn't use it instead of other insulation. But it is absolutely an insulator (that's why we only have to put frost walls 4-8feet deep to prevent frost heave). If your only goal is to insulate the roof better, install an extra inch of rigid foam rather than a foot of soil, it'll work the same.
- Storing water where it first strikes is good for reducing site runoff (with safeties installed to cope with bigger rainfall events).
> I once found myself driving around with a very environmentally minded person and she refused to turn the AC on in her car but cranked open the window instead.
How fast were you driving? There's a breakeven point, depends on the car - I know with mine, it's about 80 km/hr (slower than that, open the window. faster than that, AC is more fuel efficient)
You got the gist of what I was saying which is physics is at play and the answer is always "it depends". But people don't like that. Hence, AC off I'm a good person. Green roof I'm a good person. 'etc.
> I agree to a certain extent with his points, but found his tone incredibly condescending and offputting
That kind of says it all, doesn't it?
Personally I found it good natured tongue-firmly-in-cheek conspiratorial humour. Considering he is an actual authority on the subject and has seen a lot of incredibly idiotic behaviour and expensive and downright dangerous mistakes I think you can forgive him if his comedy schtick is not to your taste as long as the info is good.
As someone else who works with civil (but not structural) engineering in Canada, I agree to a certain extent with his points, but found his tone incredibly condescending and offputting. For example:
> Does the dirt, grass, and a goat make it work better? No. But you just feel better about yourself. I mean dirt is not insulation, it's just freaking dirt. If it was insulation we'd put it in our walls, and that'd be stupid. [...] 'well we can store water up there' - Why? You're an idiot. The whole idea of a roof is to get the water off of the damn roof.
- Soil is insulating, just with a very crappy K value. You wouldn't use it somewhere that was space sensitive (eg a wall). You wouldn't use it instead of other insulation. But it is absolutely an insulator (that's why we only have to put frost walls 4-8feet deep to prevent frost heave). If your only goal is to insulate the roof better, install an extra inch of rigid foam rather than a foot of soil, it'll work the same.
- Storing water where it first strikes is good for reducing site runoff (with safeties installed to cope with bigger rainfall events).
> I once found myself driving around with a very environmentally minded person and she refused to turn the AC on in her car but cranked open the window instead.
How fast were you driving? There's a breakeven point, depends on the car - I know with mine, it's about 80 km/hr (slower than that, open the window. faster than that, AC is more fuel efficient)