BedZED Under the Spotlight: BioRegional Defends its Pioneering Project
by Treehugger Interns on 12.23.06
Life is tough on the cutting edge, and the press can be unforgiving. We Treehuggers love the BioRegional Development Group, and we particularly love their flagship eco-housing estate BedZED, which we have reported on here and here. However, not everything has gone smoothly with this project. In particular they have had major problems with their prototype Combined Heat and Power plant, something we also picked up on here. These problems have now been highlighted by the mainstream press, who have shown an increased interest in green building following the UK government’s recent announcement about carbon neutral homes. Apparently the Daily Mail ran a story under the rather unkind and, in our opinion, inaccurate headline of “Great Green Gimmick.” However, BioRegional are now out to set the record straight.
Sue Riddlestone, whom we interviewed here, has put out a statement explaining exactly what the problems have been, and why they have taken so long to solve. She states that they are working hard to become 100% carbon neutral again, but that they are taking their time to make sure the new equipment they install is appropriate and reliable. She also points out that, even without the CHP unit, the estate still creates 56% less carbon dioxide than similar conventional housing. She also argues that BedZED was one of the first developments of its kind, and BioRegional are building on the lessons learned from it to create the next generation of zero-carbon communities, such as their Mata de Sesimbra project in Portugal. Hopefully the press will cut them some slack, and recognise the significant progress that these guys have made in easing us all towards a brighter, greener future. [Written by: Sami Grover]
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"Apparently the Daily Mail ran a story ..."
Yes, apparently they did:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=421199&in_page_id=1770
It's an interesting read.
The Daily Mail doesn’t have a good history of supporting good things. Quite the opposite, before WWII they described Nazism as “sound, commonsense, Conservative doctrine”
To this day a prejudice in there journalism exists, so I tend to ignore it.
It doesn't matter if the architect-designer of any home or building or complex is the world's most experienced and smartest (ever), there will always be things that go wrong. Sometimes small, sometimes big. Sometimes it takes a few months for flaws to become consequences, sometimes decades. All man-made structures end up having flaws of one kind or other. The point is not that BED ZED has flaws. The point is that they made and are making an honest effort to eliminate the flaw that environmentalists consider most important - that it doesn't damage our ecosystems.
"Apparently the Daily Mail ran a story..."
Yes, apparently they did:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=421199&in_page_id=1770
Interesting reading. Also interesting that treehugger neglected to include a link to the original article which they criticise, and subsequently refused to post this comment with the relevant link, when I first submitted it.
I wonder why?
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editor note: Some comments end up in the black hole of our spam filter, some others just take a while to be approved when we're busy...
The Daily Mail article is not bad and doesn't really slam BedZed.
It's a reminder that solutions to climate change and more immediate solutions for energy security, air quality, resource and economic stability, etc. are not always the eco-sexy offerings. Developers are well aware that eco-features that are standouts are a marketing angle. Go to their conferences and hear them say so. No problem. But if one thinks in terms of optimizing ecosystem, we see that there are more "soft path" solutions, from behavior change to rethinking where we site year-round human settlements.
It seems to me the best two features of BedZed is using solar orientation for passive solar gain and reducing the need for cars. And maybe some rainwater harvesting and encouraging some local food production. And people living in close proximity (true biofuel!). After that, I'd say they're done.
very good
very good not!!!!!!!!! its crazy