Eco Living
Eco Living Potential and the Benefits
The most unproductive part of any community is, arguably, the roofs. Though they provide cover and give shade and keep the rain away, roofs do it without getting any advantage from either the sun's energy of the value of the water. They function as a totally passive architectural or engineering element and in no way optimize the building performance under changing conditions.
The Eco Living system can be modified into a range of modules that can be applied in a variety of settings. The building sectors are then made to be regenerative source of: (1) Food; (2) Energy; and (3) Water. We call this FEW 4 All.
Eco Living elements can be applied in new building construction, but there is also potential in retrofitting existing buildings. Eco Living concepts can be used over the roofs of stores, warehouses and similar structures. With some 100 million houses or households in the USA, and an average roof size of (say) 1,000 sq. ft. there are some 100 billion square feet of passive roof. With a similar amount of commercial roof, the total amounts to more than 200 billion square feet. Using Eco Living concepts these roofs can be used to generate energy from the sun and make a universal good quality of life possible without putting the planet's underlying ecosystem at risk. With Eco Living solutions, buildings become a source of energy rather than being a consumer of energy, and start doing for the environment something of what nature does.
The concept of Eco Living is not new, but its relevance to society has never been greater. Until recently public perception was that oil and gas reserves were unlimited and could be exploited for ever, and public perception was that the environment could never be damaged enough to endanger human society, but that is rapidly changing. Ordinary people have started to understand the issues, and the energy establishment is becoming increasingly on the defensive. But by using Eco Living modules it would be possible for the energy industry to have very low CO 2 emission from fossil fuel fired electric power generating stations. It is not clear yet whether a coal, oil or gas fired power station can be brought to zero CO 2 emission, but it may be possible. But the substitution of Bio Fuel for fossil energy is also enabled by the Eco Living concept. The consequences of this would be invaluable.