Green Co-Housing Community Development In Nubanusit
by John Laumer, Philadelphia on 04.19.07
New Hampshire USA's first green co-housing community, Nubanusit Neighborhood and Farm, features renewable energy ready and energy efficiently designed residences. The 29 total units include 7 single-family homes, 7 duplex units, and 2 quad units on a total of 5 acres (4.05 Km2). The homes will be sided in red cedar and supplied with a centrally located pellet boiler using a locally produced biomass fuel to provide heat and hot water. Clustered on a 70 acre plot in Peterborough, New Hampshire, the homes will feature south-facing roofs. A portion of the undeveloped land includes an organic farm. The development is 'wired internally' for prospective on-site wind or water power. The homes, office space, and organic farm will meet high standards for energy efficiency, with homes outperforming Energy Star-rated homes by 15%. Residents share communal carports located on the perimeter and have access to a building that can accommodate private parties and overnight guests. The website includes several links to other recent press coverage.
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I gues it's something, but the construction style is still lacking... a lot. I've been doing a lot of research into earth homes, Malcolm Wells has some great stuff. The energy benefits are huge, and it is easily deplyable in situation like this. It increases growable land, provides amazing insulation, and looks great. Almost...
I hope they have included mixed-use development in this place, since transportation is one of the top energy hogs for individuals. Suburban sprawl is still suburban sprawl if people don't have stores and other services in their neighborhood. The garden is a good addition, though, so people can eat locally and organically for at least a portion of the year.
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The link(s) will lead you to more details on this aspect. The cars are parked on one side; while the road to the town center, which is a mile on foot/bike, away is on the other side of the development. That means residents have to make a conscious decision to drive instead of walk and that getting to the car also calls for a short walk. In nasty winter weather that will be the choice of course. But otherwise a walk or ride to the town center shopping district is a reasonable choice, enhanced by site layout. JL
Future green building must take account of the "green washing" that seems to be accelerating throughout the real estate market place. I've seen repeated use of words like "green"
and "stewardship" across the board. I've seen some Realtors using the word "green" in their ads, knowing that awareness is elevating by the media and they use that hype to drive
more traffic to their listings. I've ran across great sites such as http://www.ListedGreen.com ( Listed Green ) that screen developers and realtors so as to minimize the "green washing" effect.
Some blogs have been overused in this regard as well. Hopefully, the general public can sift through this green hype and really see the changes that builders and developers have
to do to reduce our carbon footprint.