"Zero-energy" Homes
Planned in Issaquah
by Sonia
Krishnan, Seattle Times
Your future home could come from the
recycling bin.
Solar energy would power it.
The best part? Utility bills would be
next to nothing.
They're called "zero-energy" homes —
homes designed to produce as much electricity as they consume. And
in Issaquah, city officials are planning an unusual partnership with
a builder to construct King County's first community by 2009...
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UNEP Says Greener Buildings
Could Slow Global Warming
by Allister Doyle, ENN
OSLO -- Better architecture and energy
savings in buildings could do more to fight global warming than all
curbs on greenhouse gases agreed under the U.N.'s Kyoto Protocol, a
U.N. study showed on Thursday.
Better use of concrete, metals and
timber in construction and less use of energy for everything from
air conditioners to lighting in homes and offices could save
billions of dollars in a sector accounting for 30-40 percent of
world energy use.
"Buildings can play a key role in
combating climate change," the U.N. Environment Programme said in a
report issued in Oslo during a conference on ways to promote
economic growth without damaging the environment...
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"Whole Building"
Approach to Sustainable Design
by John Spears,
Envirolink
The first sustainable solar community
development in South Africa was one of 15 projects worldwide
selected for presentation at the UN Global Warming Conference in
Kyoto, Japan. It was chosen as an example of how developing nations
can grow and prosper while minimizing emissions of greenhouse gases,
and is known as a "no regrets" project because it created
sustainable economic growth and stable, healthy communities while
costing no more to implement than a conventional development.
The Solar Village development addresses the physical as well as the
social and economic needs of the people. The community plan employed
a participatory design process where future residents took an active
role in community design. The plan incorporates cluster housing,
shared garden space, footpaths and parks, and a town center. The
town center accommodates the central business district, churches,
schools, and public buildings, as well as a community soccer field.
The town center is within easy walking distance of all 200 homes in
the development. The homes are naturally heated and cooled and
maintain comfort and good indoor air quality year round with no
mechanical systems of any kind. All waste is composted, and gray
water is used for irrigation.
Rather than using outside contractors, future residents were trained
and hired to build the homes using housing subsidy money from the
South African Government. This provided a relatively large infusion
of cash that served to jump-start the local economy. To date, over
200 homes have been built in Kimberly and Cape Town, and a new Solar
Village is being started in Ugie. Projects such as these provide
economic opportunity and a large degree of self-reliance through the
use of solar and natural energy flows and sustainable community
design...
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Affordable by
Design
Building an Eco-House on a Tight Budget is No Longer an Impossible
Dream
by Alice Horrigan, Envirolink
The principle "small is beautiful" is
often held aloft by environmentalists, but it's not always practiced
by Earth-conscious architects, whose showcase eco-homes are
sometimes sprawling mansions.
A small but dedicated crop of architects and developers is
rethinking the concept of the eco-home to meet the needs of average
folk who don't have a lot of green to throw around.
The Cost of Green
The Rocky Mountain Institute, in its Primer on Sustainable Building,
describes this new kind of architecture as "taking less from the
Earth and giving more to people." In practice, "green" housing
ranges from being energy efficient and using nontoxic interior
finishes to being constructed of recycled materials and completely
powered by the sun...
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