Ultra-Efficient Danish Home Produces More Energy Than It Needs

This striking modern home located near Aarhus in Denmark packs an amazing array of green building strategies into a small footprint, allowing it to actually produce more power than it consumes. Designed and built to be super energy-efficient, smart, eco-friendly, and powered by the sun, the zero-plus Home For Life is an experiment in creating the sustainable house of the future. A family has been living in the home now for 14 months and reporting on their activities and the home's performance in order to improve the design for future iterations.

The Home for Life is one of eight experimental buildings created by VKR Holdings to develop the sustainable home of the future. The home is designed using the Active House principle, which has a strong focus on energy-efficient design, daylighting and renewable energy generation. Every room has at least two walls with windows on it, so the home makes great use of natural daylighting. During the cool seasons, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery is used so the cold air can be heated without the use of additional energy

The home's windows cover 40 percent of the total floor area, which is twice the area of a traditional house. An Active House takes similar principles of Passive House design, but incorporates more daylighting and utilizes "smart home" devices to optimize the use of energy. It is one thing to design and build a smart and energy-efficient home, but little research has been done yet to see how livable they are. Data collected from this experiment is very important to future designs.

The family reports on how comfortable they are with the automatic controls -- when the climate was just right for them, and when the controls made it too hot or too cold.The south-facing slate roof includes the photovoltaic system, solar hot water system and skylights. The home's energy systems are all optimized and work together to minimize energy use. The roof is key to the design -- it incorporates renewable energy generation, skylights for natural lighting, and operable windows for cooling.

Surprising sustainable food outlets

When you think of sustainable dining, you probably don't think of fast-food restaurants like Subway and McDonalds. And yet, these fast-food chains are some of the few who have successfully pursued LEED certification.

LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and is an internationally recognized third-party certification that a building meets high standards for energy savings, water efficiency, emissions reduction and improved environmental quality.

So far, only 38 restaurants have received LEED certification -- 40% of those are chain restaurants. For many of these large chain organizations, LEED certification is a relatively cost-efficient way for not particularly green companies to flex their corporate social responsiblity muscles.

It appears the big chains are taking a small step in the right direction: Subway currently has one LEED certified restaurant in Chapel Hill, NC. "We believe that building stores in an environmentally responsible way is a good business practice," says Subway's public relations specialist Les Winograd.

McDonald's boasts two LEED-certified locations in Chicago, IL, and Cary, NC. "McDonald's is a great example of a company which, like many other organizations in the past few years, has implemented corporate social responsibility, including concern for the environment," says Marie Coleman of the U.S. Green Buildings Council. But two LEED-certified stores doesn't get them off the hook for the wastefulness, environmental pollution and massive deforestation they contribute to in order to develop monoculture plantations.

Sustainable design and development night

Social enterprise Qi Global will be holding a conference on 8 October featuring some of Asia’s leaders in sustainable design and development.

Hear first-hand perspectives from fashion/furniture/industrial designers and social entrepreneurs, and have a look at product and art works on display.

Wine and canapes will be served on the night, and charity raffle tickets in support of Asian rainforests will be on sale. Prizes include eco luxury holidays.

Find out more at Qi Global’s website or contact directly mko@qi-global.com

PM Lee says Singapore's challenge is sustaining the environment long-term

Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has said Singapore's challenge is to sustain the environment as the city grows.

Speaking at the opening of Singapore’s largest water reclamation plant in Changi on Tuesday, Mr Lee said that to do so, the country must take a long-term view, prepare well ahead and align efforts across the government.

The launch of the Changi Water Reclamation Plant is another milestone in Singapore's overall strategy towards sustainable development. Not only does the plant treat used water, it is also a feedstock for large scale production of NEWater.

Mr Lee said Singapore's basic attitude has been that environmental sustainability is not incompatible with economic development. He added: "But far from degrading our environment, we have improved it. Singapore has become a clean and green city with a high quality living environment."

"Singaporeans enjoy fresh air, clean water and good public health, and almost half the island is covered with greenery, parks and nature areas."

But challenges on how to sustain the environment remain, which is why Singapore has set up an Inter-Ministerial Committee (on Sustainable Development) to develop a blueprint for a sustainable future. "Community action is especially important, because we need everyone to play an active role," said Mr Lee.

"I am glad Singaporeans took an active interest in developing our Blueprint and come forward with many ideas and suggestions to improve our living environment. I hope Singaporeans will continue to contribute.

"Achieving sustainable development will call for each one of us to make an effort, to give our ideas and to adjust our lifestyles. Our Blueprint is meant to be an evolving and living concept.

"As we understand the sustainable challenge better, and as technology improves, we will continue to test out new solutions and push for higher standards."

Mr Lee said that to break new ground in sustainable development, cities will require a combination of far-sighted planning, sustained investment in infrastructure and breakthroughs in technology. Hence, he said Singapore is keen to promote an international exchange of ideas on this.

Mr Lee added that Singapore's experience has shown that cities can overcome environmental and developmental changes by setting long-term goals and working consistently towards achieving them.