In 2018, Hurricane Michael devastated Florida’s Panhandle, but one beach house became a vivid example of climate-ready design.<\/p>\n
That house, the Sand Palace, stayed standing while most of the buildings nearby were destroyed.<\/p>\n
Here’s what to know<\/p>\n
Its owners had the Sand Palace built to handle wind speeds about twice as high as required under state code, using reinforced concrete walls anchored to 40-foot pilings. The added protection increased the cost of the home by about 15% to 20%.<\/p>\n
As The Conversation<\/a> noted, the materials that improve a house’s odds in a storm can make it look less green than it actually is because more concrete usually means a larger carbon footprint.<\/p>\n A building only stays low-carbon if it can keep serving its purpose over time.<\/p>\n Repairs after hurricanes, floods, or wildfires can generate substantial pollution through replacement materials, transport, reconstruction work, and temporary living arrangements. When a house makes it through a disaster without major damage, owners can avoid rebuilding costs, displacement, and everyday disruptions.<\/p>\n That matters as extreme weather grows more common and more severe. Focusing only on a building’s impact on day one can miss its long-term impact on both people and the planet.<\/p>\n More background<\/p>\n Insurance is one reason this way of thinking is picking up steam.<\/p>\n Building codes and green-rating programs often concentrate on what goes into a project, but insurers have clear incentives to care about how a home performs across its lifespan.<\/p>\n Homeowners who harden their properties against hurricanes often qualify for premium reductions of 15% to 30%. Strong roofs, impact-resistant windows, and other improvements that satisfy wind standards can all cut recurring expenses and improve the chances of staying safely housed after a storm.<\/p>\n Research also suggests that resilience can pay off environmentally.<\/p>\n In Catalonia, Spain, a study of flood-prevention infrastructure found that barriers and channel improvements caused higher construction pollution up front but avoided an estimated 58 metric tons of carbon-equivalent emissions for each flood.<\/p>\n The study projected that those avoided emissions would erase the initial climate cost of construction within 25 years, well inside the project’s 50-year lifespan. The financial return arrived much sooner, in about two years.<\/p>\n What’s being done?<\/p>\n Researchers want green building standards to factor in resilience alongside materials and energy use.<\/p>\n That means counting not only the damage caused when a building fails but also what is prevented when it holds up.<\/p>\n They identify three major gaps. One is the environmental and financial burden of supporting people while a damaged building is unusable, including short-term housing, backup power, and travel. Another is the cost of strengthening a building after a disaster so it has a better chance of surviving the next one.<\/p>\n The third gap involves the benefits of strong standards: avoiding repairs, downtime, pollution, and disruptions. That can translate into shorter recovery periods for families, fewer interruptions to essential services, and less risk that a home will lose its function for months.<\/p>\n Resilience-focused features may add to a home’s up-front price, but they can also protect savings, lower insurance bills, and make severe weather far less disruptive.<\/p>\n Even if a simple carbon tally suggests otherwise, a house that remains standing can be good for both people and the environment. What is missing is enough incentive to make durable design the rule rather than the exception.<\/p>\n Where can I learn more?<\/p>\n Building for storms goes beyond reinforced walls and deep pilings. Several factors can determine whether a home stays livable and low-carbon when severe weather hits, including clean energy systems, neighborhood design, and upgrade costs.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2022 At large solar farms, hurricane winds can damage infrastructure<\/a> as severely as homes.<\/p>\n \u2022 In Vermont, the storm-resistant, solar-powered Hillside East<\/a> neighborhood is being built all-electric.<\/p>\n \u2022 At EnergySage, interconnected solar installation costs<\/a> steer which home upgrades come first.<\/p>\n Resilience comes down to more than a single material choice or an insurance discount. It also depends on whether homes and energy systems can keep working when the next disaster hits.<\/p>\n Get TCD’s free newsletters<\/a> for easy tips, smart advice, and a chance to earn $5,000 toward home upgrades. To see more stories like this one, change your Google preferences here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 2018, Hurricane Michael devastated Florida’s Panhandle, but one beach house became a vivid example of climate-ready design.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390058,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[156023,106605,28,30,29,5870,38827,90038,156021,156022],"class_list":["post-390057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-15-to-30","tag-106605","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-google","tag-hurricane-michael","tag-icf","tag-sand-palace","tag-tcds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}