| The first residents
are moving into the UK’s largest eco-village Beddington Zero
Energy Development, (BedZED), in South London. An occasion long-awaited
by the project partners, BedZED residents will have the opportunity
and support to live green lives in every sense.
In the western world the three
main contributors to CO2 pollution are: homes, travel and food miles.
So by simply living in an eco-house we are only addressing approximately
a third of the CO2 problem. This is why BioRegional has developed
practical concepts to allow residents to address all three lifestyle
areas.
BedZED is a project partnership
between the Peabody Trust, BioRegional Development Group and Bill
Dunster Architects. BedZED is a groundbreaking development of 82
eco-homes and workspaces addressing every area of sustainable living.
BedZED is a total lifestyle solution
to the ever-threatening issue of CO2 pollution, a major contributor
to global warming. The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution
report, Summer 2000, states that the only fair way to agree international
CO2 emission targets is to have a per capita emissions quota. The
UK will need to reduce CO2 emissions by 60% by 2050 to reach this
per capita quota.
Maxine Chung, who works at the
Style section of the Sunday Times, is one of the first people to
have moved into BedZED. Having previously rented in Brixton and
Tooting, Maxine has now bought a one-bedroom flat at BedZED.
“I knew I wanted to live
at BedZED within about 5 minutes of viewing the property. As well
as the sustainable lifestyle that it promotes, the quality of the
architecture and the attractive design are real plus points. It’s
great to see such a different and attractive development in south
London.
I’m already enjoying my
new home at BedZED and I’m really looking forward to my future
here. Living here should get even better when the rest of the residents
move in. There will be a real sense of community here to enhance
what is already a very attractive living environment.”
Tackling CO2 from homes:
* BedZED is of a low energy design resulting in
only 10%
* of the heat demand of a conventional home and
a *.reduced electricity
demand, this is combined with local, * renewable
carbon-neutral sources of energy.
* Waste will be dealt with on site via composting
and an *.innovative sewage treatment plant
* Recycled and reclaimed and local materials were
*.selected for construction.
Tackling CO2 from travel:
*BedZED is a mixed-use development of office space and *living
space therefore residents have the option of an *alternative
to commuting
*BedZED promotes a Green Transport Plan
*ZEDCars, a car club scheme, will offer an alternative
to *private car ownership
Tackling CO2 from food miles:
*Residents will able to order bulk home deliveries
of *groceries
*The site will have access to local, organic food
links
But not sacrificing comfort:
Living conscientiously at BedZED doesn’t mean that comfort
will have to take a back seat. One in four children now suffer from
asthma - BedZED has been designed to be allergy free. Excellent
ventilation minimises breeding areas for house mites and low allergy,
in particular formaldehyde-free construction materials have been
chosen.
All homes have conservatories and most have gardens, there will
also be a shop and a café on site.
BedZED will be a relatively car-free environment and will be safer
for children, pedestrians and cyclists, and residents and workers
will benefit from lower levels of air and noise pollution
Pooran Desai, Director of BioRegional
said:
“If everyone in the world consumed as much as the average
person in the UK we’d need
3 planets to support us.
BedZED’s target over next 5 years is to develop a lifestyle
where people can live within their
global eco-footprint quota”
Notes
What is Eco-footprinting?
Basic human consumption consists of food, materials and energy.
This consumption can
be converted in areas of biologically active land required to produce
them and absorb wastes.
With world population of 6 billion we have a global quota of 1.9
hectares “eco-footprint” per capita, but in the UK we
are currently averaging 6.29 hectares per capita.
Car use in the UK
The average car user in the UK releases 4 tonnes of CO2 per annum
this translates into:
*1.4 hectares of eco-footprint
–
*22% of eco-footprint
of average person in the UK - *around
70% of our individual global quota.
*There is an obvious
need to design our lives to reduce *car
use
Low energy design
*
BedZED reduces space heating by 90%
* annual saving of
0.8 tonnes CO2 per annum per capita
*
= 0.28 hectares of forest
*
4% of UK average eco-footprint
*
15% of global quota
Food miles
*Food miles are the
miles that our food travels before it *reaches
our cupboards.
*Eating 1 kg of strawberries
airfreighted from Israel *releases
4.6 kg of CO2.
*Eating 1 kg of strawberries
driven from Kent to Kent *releases
only 0.017 kg of CO2.
Green transport plan
The BedZED Green Transport Plan (GTP) aims to reduce car use and
car ownership at BedZED by:
reducing the need to travel, promoting public transport and offering
alternatives to private car travel.
The GTP also aims to reduce private fossil fuel car use miles by
50%, compared with typical mileage.
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