Eco-houses

BBC: Eco-designs on future cities.

I seem to be seeing more and more about sustainable design, particularly housing, popping up on my radar of late. I recently went to see the “Houses of the Future” exhibition at Homebush bay a couple of weeks ago. Overall the presentation was fairly underwhelming, and some of the claims of sustainability were questionable (using steel for one house for example, with no mention of the issues surrounding mining). But, there were some great ideas there, and I think it is a good sign that these ideas are gaining acceptance.

The Powerhouse is currently home to some shows for the Sydney Design 05 program. The lack of focus on sustainable design was also disappointing, but there was an interesting section on eco-friendly homes.

In the coming weeks there is another exhibition at Powerhouse called “Watts ‘n’ Drops” which focuses on water and energy use. It will be interesting to see how well that one does.

I can only hope that this is a growing trend, and that we’ll start to see these kind of events happening more often. What would be even better is if we start seeing these issues being raised, and new technologies being demonstrated, at more mainstream shows like the Sydney Home Show and the like.