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Ecological design is leading to an interdisciplinary
approach that encourages new processes of building and
making things. Below are the main principles:
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By doing more with less, humans
can live well with many modern conveniences that
improve our lives and reduce consumption. |
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Interest in the environmental as well as social
impact of what we build and how and where we built
it. |
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Seeks to reconcile what were previously as
two diametrically opposed opposites the business
and environmentalist communities. |
Ecological design aims to reverse unsustainable economic
and social trends by demonstrating the importance of
the natural world in our lives and by showing how a
green ethos can actually save people money and simplify
their lives. The goal is to not sacrifice quality of
life, but design our living systems and structures to
get maximum use as well as aesthetic value from the
minimal use of resources. The study of the interactive
matrix of ecological, human, planetary and universal
life support systems is the interdisciplinary baseline
for the effective design of a sustainable society.
Sustainable design of built environment includes:
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Use of nontoxic materials/products |
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Consideration of embodied energy in materials
and process |
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Development of a renewable energy infrastructure
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Aesthetic design/urban effect |
Multi-Use Methodology and Design Process
The idea of Multi-use structures
and building components is based on the idea that a
component if it does not more than one thing will result
in savings. Modern systems are designed in cumbersome
ways using resources unnecessarily. Value engineering
is about developing ways to make components within the
built environment serve several or even many functions
instead of simply one. The end result is that we are
able to do more with less.
Energy studies and life cycle
analyses determine how our built environment
affects the surrounding environment. Ecological designers
are professionals who seek an interdisciplinary approach
but they of course rely on a firm grasp of ecology to
create sustainable human systems. To minimize resource
use and the amount of space occupied and to maximize
the utilization of materials and labor, synergy is created
through designing multi-use structures. Every vital
human system should incorporate these multi-use principles.
Minimize Consumption through Efficient Design
Typical North American homes and buildings
waste huge quantities of energy for temperature control,
lighting and food storage. Simple, common-sense design
changes, such as super insulating, window placement
for passive solar heating, and addition of thermal mass,
can make homes dramatically more energy efficient as
their temperature is controlled by the sun and earth.
Some of the most efficient alternative home-building
techniques and materials allow homes to be built cheaply
by human labor. Earth berming and straw bale construction,
for example, are ancient, proven methods.
Building Energy Consumption Facts
The construction of buildings consumes 40 percent of
all resources consumed by modern society, 35-45 percent
of all energy and 16 percent of the water (Mark Trumbull
“Green Builders Make Homes more Efficient”
The Christian Science Monitor 2/14/95 P11).
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Buildings can
be easily retrofitted or designed to reduce energy
consumption by 15-30% |
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With most efficient technologies 65-75% reduction
in consumption can be achieved |
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Air conditioning consumes 30-45% of total building
electrical consumption |
Radical Resource Productivity - Total Building
Redesign
Another more radical way to do more with less
is through what Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute
calls Radical Resource Productivity.
He says “Currently, an incandescent light bulb
is only about 5% efficient and an automobile is only
1% efficient -the rest of the bulb's energy is lost
in heat and transmission from the power plant along
the line, and the rest of the car's energy is lost in
heat, friction, and braking. In Natural Capitalism
Lovins along with his Hunter Lovins and Paul Hawken
say that the next generation of technology can dramatically
improve these efficiencies, while "closing the
loop," so that materials, toxic and otherwise,
are safely re-used in new products.”
Industrial Design
Ecological design is an all encompassing concept
covering all aspects of production. Architects such
as William McDonough have become involved
in industrial design redesigning the manufacturing processes
that that produce the materials of our lives, moving
away from the "heat beat and treat" method
of doing things. His latest book Cradle to Cradle
states a vision of sustainability similar to Natural
Capitalism outlining the importance of developing a
whole new process of processing materials that keeps
organics separate from inorganics particular those compounds
that can do long term harm to ecosystems. We still have
not matched nature's sophistication in terms of producing
things. Biomimicry a book written by
Janine Beynus is about learning from nature and refining
industrial and agricultural processes.
Disruptive technologies
Disruptive technologies solve a problem
from a new and innovative perspective. Organizations
that effectively develop disruptive technologies will
gain a competitive edge over existing marketplace players.
The integrated approach to ecological design and sustainable
development involves an examination of the world from
a holistic perspective. This will be
an increasingly key design component in developing disruptive
technologies to address the rapidly changing global
economy in relation not only to consumer and technology
driven trends but towards ecological and socioeconomic
ones as well. The movement to address global warming
and the overall ecological devastation as well as the
increasing inequality between rich and poor a
A new model requires not only new terms but also an
effective way to link them together, so that they are
not simply words but a way to expand our imagination
so that we are more capable of developing solutions
based approach in this increasingly problem-plagued
age. Biomimicry involves the observation and selection
of natural processes into the Industrial ecology which
in itself is a system designed to mimic natural interactions
and relationships in the effort to minimize waste and
reduce redundancy within industrial systems.
Permaculture
Ecological design takes much from permaculture, a term
coined by Bill Mollison, who wrote a book titled Permaculture.
Permaculture is an important term that describes how
the built environment should interact with the natural
world. Agricultural systems should be more integrated
with the build environment and the landscape that surrounds
the buildings. The objective here is to increase human
interactions with the environment as well as reduce
the amount of energy to transport foods and products.
Practical Idealism and Ecological Design
In conclusion, we realize that it is not enough
to have the vision, it is also necessary to find the
means to implement that vision into the everyday reality.
Important to implementing this vision is that “present
reality” is defined by economics. We must modify
our vision with concepts that allow for compatibility
between our idealistic visions and the reality of present
modern day mainstream society that is grounded in economics.
A well thought out, ecologically designed project can
cost less to build, use less energy and can be healthier
for human habitation that conventionally constructed
buildings.
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