In order for society to overcome the negative impacts of our current un-sustainability, we need to implement solutions that in the long term will create a sustainable society. In order to get to the large-scale implementation, we must fist apply sustainable practices on the small scale or in way a “pilot project” scale. By testing out various concepts on the small scale, we gain an understanding of the potential success and the potential problems that projects may encounter. By identifying these successes and failures on a small scale we can look at how the same solution can be applied on a much larger or global scale.
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There is no shortage of ideas for improving sustainability. Ideas exist for a variety of problems from food security to energy. Ides are fine in theory however it is important to look at examples in practice in order to truly gain some insight on the potential we as a society have in terms of increasing our sustainability. I will provide a number of examples here in order to demonstrate some sustainable initiatives that are actually in practice today.
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My Favourite types of projects tend to be the larger scale solutions, such as entire sustainable communities or eco villages. These types of projects tend to be easier to relate to while at the same time demonstrating the advanced technology we have developed in order to overcome many of the issues of the past. There are many other small scale projects as well that deserve as much merit as the large scale projects.
I will start with a local example, Dockside Green. Dockside Green is a condo village here in Victoria, BC. The entire project from beginning to end was planned with sustainability in mind. Built on old industrial land it does not take up new space instead using a brown field space. The buildings are LEED platinum standard, which implies that they are built to the strictest codes in terms of energy efficiency and sustainable products used. There is an onsite water treatment facility that reduces the demand on city infrastructure and cleans wastewater from the complex and leaves it as good as or better than when it was first used. Electricity is also generated in a number a couple of ways, most notably wind and a cogeneration plant. The plant turns waste construction wood into energy by heating it and gasifying it, generating heat and electricity. This not only makes Dockside Green net zero in terms of electricity but also helps prevent waste from going to the landfill. This project is most exciting because it represents what all future developments could be like. There are brown fields and unused spaces throughout our cities. These spaces can be utilized and maximized in a way such as Dockside Green. The issue with Dockside Green is that because it is one of a kind, it has become very popular and thus the prices have become out of reach for most. check it out!!
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Another cool project is the Wind Walk community in southern Alberta. This is a new by development Mike Holmes that isn’t finished yet. It is actually designed to be sustainable from the beginning of the project to the end. All the homes are built to the highest standards of efficiency. Electricity will be generated through solar, wind and a co generation plant fueled by waste gas produced by the onsite wastewater treatment plant. The whole community is designed to be completely walkable with all needed amenities within walking distance of the homes. This community really represents what we could be doing, there are hundreds of new suburb projects going up across the country, if they all were designed like this we could achieve a huge improvement in our development and become far more sustainable. There are dozens of cool sustainable features which you can check out through the link below!!
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The take home message is that we really do have the technology and the ingenuity to overcome unsustainable thinking and behavior. Hopefully these projects gain popularity and we will see demand for sustainable communities increase!!!!
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