Britain Plans on Building Five Carbon Neutral Towns
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 07.26.07
Give credit where credit is due: whether or not it acted in response to Dale Vince's ambitious green challenge, the newly installed Brown administration has taken a positive step forward in moving Great Britain towards a more sustainable future by stipulating that from 2016 onward all newly built homes would have to be carbon neutral.
Furthermore, Housing Minister Yvette Cooper announced that of the 2 million new homes that the government anticipates will be built by 2016, several tens of thousands will have to be incorporated into five so-called "eco-towns." These towns, which will have a minimum of 5,000 - 10,000 homes each, will have to meet strict zero emission standards and highlight specific energy conservation or clean technology projects — car pool and public transport schemes, renewable energy production facilities or communal heat pump systems, for example.
The only downside so far is that the government has found just one appropriate site for its grand plan: a disused airstrip and barracks close to Cambridge, in eastern England. Though we know better than to simply swallow a government's bold claims hook, line and sinker by now, this is a worthy project (especially compared to what other western nations are doing) that we'll be keeping an eye on.
Via ::MSNBC: Britain to build five carbon neutral towns (news website)
See also: ::Bordeaux Quay - Britain's First Carbon Neutral Restaurant, ::A Great Britain is a Green Britain: Dale Vince Challenges Gordon Brown, ::Britain's First Biodiesel Train Takes to the Tracks
Image courtesy of Elin B
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Several points about the housing 'crisis' in the UK; one, there isn't one, there are more homes than people want but a lot of empty homes are in the wrong palce. Two, the British obsession with owning a house, fuelled by politicians. Three, the high prices relative to income mainly due to house builders hanging on to their land banks and financial institutions willing to lend 5 times a person's annual salary.
One major problem highlighted by the recent flooding is the reliance on the Victorian water infrastructure and building on flood plains. The UK government are already allowing building of thousands of new houses alongside the Thames in London with very little environmental concern.
This announcement by Brown is like all the others by the Labour government and Blair-hot air! Don't forget that Britain has been run by a lawyer and an accountant for the last ten years both professions and in my experience when I have had to use either services, just give them a blank cheque.
building more homes in the UK is madness
the UK is already over-populated with a deeply unhappy populations ... and growth rates predict another 10million people will live in the UK in the next few decades if we allow things to continue as usual
the UK is unsustainable ... if the world consumed at the UK's rate, we'd need over 3.5 planets ... the UK is the equivalent to a bank account that goes overdrawn every april, then sponges of the rest of the planet from thereon
it's all madness people ... do the the math's
the UK government should introduce a population policy, get immigration under control and spend their money on making on their old housing stock far more energy efficient
dont be fooled by brown ... that exactly what he is ... not green, but brown