Carbon zero housing: Payback time?

Cost is an often cited argument against sustainable, carbon-efficient building. Now a zero carbon study by the Ecovillage Partnership and Sustainability Victoria (Australia) suggests the tables may have started to turn. Building green, it says, can take years off the average mortgage and save hundreds of thousands of dollars. ‘The study showed that we have reached a tipping point, where it makes sense to invest in carbon neutral housing, with the rising cost of energy, water and oil and the decreasing cost of sustainable systems like solar panels’. And further, ‘We found that building this way can be really important for creating economic security, let alone reducing environmental impacts.’

Read more on Payback time for carbon-neutral housing? By Alexandra de Blas, published 30 January 12 in ECOS Magazine

This is great news for Australia’s planned first zero-carbon eco village, to be located south of Melbourne. Long gone the times where green living and eco investments had to convince through ideology alone. With energy from conventional sources becoming more and more expensive, and global demand rapidly rising, efficiency, green technology and smart design will have to be the way forward for both the developed and the developing world. Certainly, using space to build new eco-villages is a privilege for a few: the real challenge lies in upgrading existing houses and flats. Tightening regulation on personal and commercial greenhouse gas emissions mean it will be only a matter of time for the ‘green’ buildings gold rush to begin.

Pictured: Solscape EcoRetreat, Raglan, New Zealand, own photo

Related articles

• Solscape – eco retreat and sustainability champion (blog.floriankaefer.com)

• Pixel Building: Australia’s First Carbon Neutral Building is Now Complete! (inhabitat.com)
• Green Business Trend: Aiming for Carbon Zero (smallbiztrends.com)