Sustainable Islands

Rita Schenck of the largely rural island of Vashon, Washington, wants the Seattle’s suburb’s 10,000 residents to be completely energy-independent – producing their own renewable power – within a few years. Soon, her nonprofit Institute for Environmental Research and Education will ask residents to decide how they should combine solar, wind, composting and tide energy to wean themselves from fossil fuels. Someday soon, cars will run on island-produced power stored in the form of hydrogen. Sound far-fetched?Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen doesn’t think so. He pitched in $50,000 toward the completed first phase of the effort: cataloging all the ways the islanders use energy, and developing a practical tool (posted on the website) for communities everywhere to sue when taking their first step toward energy sustainability. Seattle-based Bullitt Foundation provided a grant to help pay for projects. But Schenck is still looking for $12 million to build demonstration projects. In the meantime, her organization teaches kids about green power, bringing in lectures on grid-connected solar power. Should she succeed, she hopes her island will become a model. “The only other example I can think of is an island off the coast of Denmark,” says Bentham Paulos, program officer of The Energy […]

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Sustainable Community Guide

The Hockerton Housing Project is the UK’s first earth-sheltered, self-sufficient ecological housing development. The group now offers services to help people create their own communities, based on the Hockerton experience. They offer tours, presentations, and the publication, The Sustainable Community – A Practical Guide. Setting up a sustainable community involves challenges related to planning, legal and financial issues, as well as new building techniques and technologies. Living in a sustainable community involves many other attributes including new skills and ways of relating to others. The 52-page guide is designed to help others plan and set up their own sustainable projects. The main sections include: * Key Issues: it identifies 28 key issues, including community, legal, financial, planning and design subjects. For each issue, the guide presents an explanation of the main considerations, tips, and details of how they managed the issue. * Directory of contacts of organizations linked to key issues.* Directory of useful resources* General information about sustainable communities and key barriers to developing them.[sorry this link is no longer available][sorry this link is no longer available]

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