People want to change. Eco student Martin Pennels found this out when he went out on the streets of Vancouver one night with a thermal-imaging camera. He took pictures of typical houses in residential areas glowing orange and red. “Yes it’s cold in Canada and yes Canadians have every right to turn their heating systems up, but unfortunately they build their houses as if they live in California.”
“When we dropped the pictures in their mail boxes, we had a 95% call back rate - they wanted to know what they could do to create more energy efficient homes.”
The pictures showed their home compared to a home in Sweden in a similar climate, which was designed with awareness of the climate and according to current environmental standards.
Staying warm is not such an issue in New Orleans. But when considering rebuilding a whole ward after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, why not make a few nods to sustainable housing principles? That’s exactly what Brad Pitt’s Make It Right foundation aims to do.
“All the lower 9th homes we built are producing more energy than they are consuming,” says Pitt. “They’re all pollution-free. Many of our home-owners don’t owe anything for energy use. We can prove that low-income and high-performance houses work.”
Many eco housing projects are worthy of the Grand Designs TV programme - they are inspiring and whimsical - and expensive. If we really want to make an impact in sustainable living and housing, local governments and contractors need to turn their attention towards mass housing. Whole estates of eco houses need to blossom.
As Pennels, who is a student at the pioneering Centre for Alternative Technology in Wales, says “these principles need to be taken on board by people in power. The ethos these days at CAT (Centre for Alternative Technology) is that people can learn to build a sustainable house and build little communities on the edge of society, but we need to start influencing governments, we need mass housing projects built with cutting edge ideas.”
After a visit to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, Brad Pitt committed to creating a foundation for 150 green storm-resistant houses. “Today, the U.S. Green Building Council says Make It Right is building the largest, greenest neighborhood of single family homes in America.”
Make It Right have earned the U.S. Green Building Council’s highest distinction for energy efficiency and sustainability, dubbed as LEED Platinum for their use of construction materials and pushing the boundaries with new techniques in design and construction. They hope that this will give inspiration not only to the new homeowners of the Lower 9th, but to the rest of America and the world that it’s possible to create sustainable, affordable housing to working families.
One step backwards is that in April 2010, the UK government stopped grants for helping people buy solar panels. Up until then you could get about a fifth off the cost of installing solar panels in the house with the view that in time you would be producing more energy than you could consume and you could actually start selling electricity back to the national grid. With solar panels, good insulation and conscious design principles you can actually make more energy than you can consume.
While on English soil, The Fairglen project is an eco-community of sustainable homes in Hayle, Cornwall. Simon Williams of Fairglen says “We have found that the three bedroom properties have been the most popular, with many families thinking of the long term benefits of near-zero energy bills.”
Again there needs to be an incentive for low income families. Although an eco-home will come in at a few thousand bucks more than the average house on the block; people need to see sustainable housing as an investment where they will scoop up the savings in heating, electricity and water bills in the long run.
Fairglen aims for a near carbon neutral status “with photovoltaic (solar panel) roof systems, high efficiency heat recovery ventilation systems, rainwater recycling, and superior insulation. Hot water is generated by ground-source heat pumps, and the houses are designed with under-floor heating making use of this free heat.”
Back to the 13 new homes so far built as part of the Make It Right project and The University of New Orleans Engineering Division have carried out a series of structural tests on the new properties which essentially use 30 percent fewer materials in wall construction than traditional homes. Because of the use of pervious concrete, despite using fewer materials the results have shown that the walls are five times stronger than required by industry standard.
More inspiring still is that before the foundations were laid by Make It Right, there were no contractors in Louisiana trained to work with pervious concrete and now there are over 20 certified pervious concrete installers.
One of the houses in the Lower 9th designed by John C. Williams has been named one of the 10 best houses in The American Institute of Architects annual awards. What they are most impressed with is that the house can be readily mass-produced.
The Centre for Alternative Technology want to showcase solutions. “We demonstrate practical ways of addressing problems. Leading by example, we aim to show that living more sustainably is not only easy to attain but can provide a better quality of life.”
They offer a range of courses in architecture and renewable energy to encourage a new wave of pioneers to push the boundaries of design and construction and ultimately to influence governments and policy makers as they plan new phases of mass housing.
And for thirteen families in New Orleans, they might have made news originally for losing their homes but now they are promoting the new face of eco-conscious building. They are happy to be creating a sustainable community.
Check out – www.cat.org.uk – www.makeitrightnola.org – www.treehugger.com