Volume 3 - Program & Project Ideas (PDF - 4.5 - Natural Life Network

Natural Resources Canada – Community Energy Systems
L.1.6.2 Eco-villages
- Case study: Ithaca, NY (USA)
Eco Village in Ithaca combines the co-housing model of communal housing with the ecovillage
aspects of minimizing energy and natural resource use. Eco-villages use emerging
technologies for waste management and treatments for water and waste. There are also
strong socioeconomic aspects such as self- sufficiency in employment and providing
housing types for incomes and ages. The eco-village in Ithaca will eventually house 500
people in five neighbourhoods, all with common houses centred on a village commons.
The first neighbourhhood (known as frog) was completed in 1997. Thirty tightly
clustered homes line a meandering pedestrian street. FROG's homes feature a number of
innovative energy-efficient features.
• Typically eco-villages use 50 per cent less energy and produce 90 per cent
less solid waste than conventional standards.
• They provide a comprehensive approach to health, liveability, economic
feasibility, social equity and safety.
• Eighty per cent of the site (176 acres) of the Ithaca Eco Village is preserved
for green space.
The Eco Village at Ithaca http://www.ecovillage.ithaca.ny.us/
Photo by Richard Rand
The project won an Excellence in Innovative Housing award from the US National
Association of Homebuilders in 1996.
For more information, contact Anabel Taylor Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853
ecovillage@cornell.edu Web: http://www.ecovillage.ithaca.ny.us/
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