> But future generations would thank us if we would make structures that would last for 500+ years instead of 100 years.
Would they? 100 year old houses are already dinosaurs in terms of energy use, and often it's a lot easier and cheaper to demolish and rebuild instead of isolating and installing modern heating. I can't imagine how outdated a 500 year old house would be.
It depends on what elements you take into account.
Demolishing a building and re-building it in terms of total energy (and/or emissions) is not free of costs, maybe you don't pay them directly, unlike heating or air conditioning, but they do exist.
Right now 100 years old houses (the brick or stone ones, not the wooden ones, nor the reinforced concrete ones that are usually more recent) already exist and can be restored/upgraded (though of course with some limitations) with a minimal amount of work (in terms of energy and emissions).
More or less the "if ain't broken don't fix it approach".
Now, if we had some building material lasting only 100 years that could be manufactured with little expense of energy and low or no emissions, that would be another thing.
If we imagine that (hypothetical) there is a form of (say) square section bamboo that we can grow at little or no cost and that we can assemble with (still say) some vegetal cement or similar, so that the results of the periodical demolitions can be reused or recycled or that is however biodegradable, then a short lived building would make much more sense.
> Right now 100 years old houses already exist and can be restored/upgraded with a minimal amount of work (in terms of energy and emissions).
Having lived in one, I can assure you that upgrading such a house to modern energy standards isn't a minimal amount of work. Lots of these houses just have a single brick wall directly facing the outdoors. Insulating that means you have to basically completely strip the house down to the brick, and even then it won't be as good as new construction.
Of course demolishing and rebuilding also takes energy; but if you amortize it over 50 years or so, I bet in the end you come out ahead. Building technology has improved a lot in energy efficiency over the last century.
> Insulating that means you have to basically completely strip the house down to the brick
No, insulating that means that you add an extra set of layers to the outside of that brick wall, which can done without impacting the interior while the people are living in that building during the renovation.
> while the people are living in that building during the renovation
You’ve never actually done this I assume? I have lived in a 1920s house during renovation. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. Should have torn it down; would have been better for the environment and my pocketbook.
I have, and there was a lot of drilling into concrete filled with tiny stones, that caused enough noise to cause pain in the ears. Only during working hours, though.
> would have been better for the environment and my pocketbook.
If you don't want to live in a building as it is being renovated, you can always rent something else for the time it takes. If the renovation takes less time than rebuilding, you also pay less rent.
My point was that the old house is still very energy inefficient compared with new construction. The rehab process was also very energy intensive and created nearly as much waste as a tear-down.
The beautiful hand-carved crown moulding and stairs are nice, but not worth outrageous heating bills.
Would they? 100 year old houses are already dinosaurs in terms of energy use, and often it's a lot easier and cheaper to demolish and rebuild instead of isolating and installing modern heating. I can't imagine how outdated a 500 year old house would be.