Friday, January 20, 2012
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Sustainable development: a Czech void
Towns in the Czech Republic could learn from an example in Denmark, where a town set its own higher standards
Decision makers, investors and citizens around the globe are gradually waking up to the fact that global oil production has peaked already and that other fossil fuels are likely to peak during the next two decades. New energy technologies are in the pipeline, but the fundamental lesson is that we have to bring our lifestyle and societies in balance with the natural limitations caused by living on a finite planet.
At times the rural situation may be akin to feudalism, with the individual vision of the mayor being the rule. In a few quaint municipalities in the Czech Republic — significantly in Jindřichovice pod Smrkem, in the Liberec region, and Hostetin, in the Zlín region — such individualistic approaches can help establish pockets of inspiring sustainable development. Both towns have made efforts toward increased reliance on renewable energy and other methods of increased efficiency.
The results approach what was intended by the term as it was coined by the Brundtland report in 1987: “Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” However those are the rare cases.Businesses exploiting natural resources are welcomed.
While ministers in Prague may promise to implement any number of international measures, life in the countryside goes at a different pace. Financially troubled town halls sell off large areas cheaply in exchange for getting modern subdivisions of large energy-consuming houses (complete with state-subsidized heated swimming pools) without any environmental concerns. Businesses exploiting natural resources are welcomed, and local development plans for wastewater treatment are based on outdated bio-mechanical cleaning reliant on imported electricity.
District heating plants are at best based on taking hundreds of hectares of prime farm land out of food production, in order to grow genetically modified corn for biomass energy. This approach has been proven abroad to be a cause of global food shortages.
Moving beyond theory
Can we not do better? What would happen if the town hall presented strict regulations for the properties to be sold for real estate? How about demanding that all of the 750 new households have to live up to low energy standards, beyond what is required in the building code? That rainwater from roofs has to be reused for washing and toilets, and otherwise slowly leached into the gardens? That PVC is not allowed in the construction, not even in cables, and that pressure-treated lumber is banned completely. Heating would of course, come from renewable sources.
Sounds impossible? Not so for Stenløse, a Danish town of 15,000 inhabitants who decided to allow housing on 50 hectares at the edge of the town. Similar demands were included in the land easement before it was put on the market in 2006. So far, 250 homes have been constructed, some as row houses, many as individual houses; 60 percent of the allotments are now sold, several to big construction/investment companies eager to adapt to the construction challenges. The net results of the progressive town hall approach will amount to the following savings, according to Danish figures:
- Annual energy savings of 3.6 million kWh (630 tons CO2)
- Annual savings of 22,000 cubic meters of water
- Reduction of PVC: 58 tons. Reduction of pressure-treated lumber: 200 tons
- Production of a minimum of 3 million kWh renewable energy (biofuel and solar)
Notably the investment necessary for these societal savings are funded by the home owners, not the municipality. On the other hand the home owners (and their bankers) are aware that their added investment will be returned within a 20 year period, as water, heating and electricity prices continues to rise; afterwards they will profit.It is a complete win-win example.
In addition the municipality didn’t need to enlarge the existing wastewater facility, invest in expansion of district heating, fear an increase in seasonal water run-off or problems with toxins leaching from PVC gutters or lumber. It is a complete win-win example.
Naturally, a significant added gain to the municipality is the influx of a large group of new residents with children for local kindergarten and schools, money for local businesses, involvement in local culture. The development also resulted in more frequent commuter train services to the town.
Political inertia
In rural Moravia, where I am now based, reality is much different. Unfortunately having spent time abroad and being able to read a foreign language are not prerequisites to become a mayor. There are no specific education requirements either, though obviously the job requires a fair amount of knowledge within issues such as urban planning, sociology, agriculture, forestry, ecology and economy.Unfortunately having spent time abroad and being able to read a foreign language are not prerequisites to become a mayor.
The population at large is not fond of changes and is heavily influenced by the Czech media, advertisement and politics, which tend to ignore the global concerns.
One of the traumas of the post-socialistic population appears to be the avoidance of getting too involved in this new concept of “democracy,” so only the few who speak up gets elected to the town hall, where it seem a general rule to agree with the majority. However as a majority of the countryside’s progressive individuals migrated to the cities soon after 1989, and as educated youth tend to leave for attractive urban jobs, the pickings for the management of the rural areas are slim.
Part of a study of the results in Stenløse concludes the following: “The municipality of Stenløse was the catalyst of change, not as a result of a supporting national framework, but in spite of the lack of this. The municipalities have changed their role from being mere guardians of the national legislation to active agents of change, supporting and facilitating the processes promoting energy efficient building.”
It’s high time for such a pro-active rural (velvet) revolution in Czech Republic; out of the void.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Premiere
Enough time spent emailing, answering numerous forums and personal questions; Time to get serious online!
My aim with this blog is partly to disseminate the knowledge I've gained within key themes such as Natural Building, Permaculture, Transition Movement, self-sustainability and general back-to-the-land issues in an ex-socialist country. Simultaneously I expect that some of you have surfed by simply to see what we're up to now, perhaps because you've been here, we're friends/family, or perhaps you intend to visit?
My aim with this blog is partly to disseminate the knowledge I've gained within key themes such as Natural Building, Permaculture, Transition Movement, self-sustainability and general back-to-the-land issues in an ex-socialist country. Simultaneously I expect that some of you have surfed by simply to see what we're up to now, perhaps because you've been here, we're friends/family, or perhaps you intend to visit?
Why "jen-sen"?
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