Page 8 - C.A.L.L. #32 - Summer 2010
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claims there are more than 150 co- Wintles development in Shropshire. Its
housing communities in the U.S. 14 houses use lots of sustainable timber,
are highly insulated, and have heat
The Nubanusit Neighborhood and Farm in recovery systems and solar panels.
New Hampshire, U.S., is a new co-housing
project designed to the highest green Like co-housing developments, Living
standards, including the U.S. Green Villages emphasizes community as much
Building Council's Leadership in Energy & as environmentally sound design, with the
Environmental Design benchmark. Wintles homes facing each other around
a village green to encourage social
Nubanusit co-founder Shelly Goguen interaction.
Hulbert says its 29 homes are densely
insulated and have triple glazing, meaning But this kind of green living doesn't come
they are virtually cheap, with new
airtight. A heat Wintles homes on
recovery system the market for up
uses warm exhaust to $900,000, a far
air to heat incoming cry from the
fresh air, inclusive ideology
minimizing heat behind archetypal
loss. The Wintles is a good example of a pedestrian hippy collectives. And
priority zone, where the residents can enjoy a that's the catch - the
Homes are heated protected shared space and children can play more creature
by a centralized wood pellet boiler comforts and environmentally-friendly
system, with the pellets sourced from a features are built into a home, the more
manufacturer based 5 miles away. And expensive, and exclusive, it becomes.
the 70-acre site includes a farm, which
means the community can grow its own While these communities will never be
food or have it grown right on their for everyone, Berger maintains co-
doorstep by professional farmers. All housing is a model for the future. "A lot
this helps minimize residents' carbon of the basic concepts behind co-housing
footprint, and that's a big attraction for are applicable to larger housing
many. developments," she says.
Although work on Nubanusit "Some of the principles could be woven in
Neighborhood won't be completed until to conventional developments -- things
the end of the year, over half the homes like having the residential area car free,
have been sold and the people choosing having a common house where you can eat
to move there are by no means hardcore communally from time to time, hold
environmentalists. events, and have a children's room and
games room for teenagers.
As ordinary people become more
environmentally aware the idea of eco "Also, having offices for home working
communities is becoming more means you're meeting government
mainstream. In the UK, Living Villages objectives about reducing carbon
has won architecture awards for its footprints and living more sustainably.
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