Thanks Russ, informative article, and theres more on the design at www.aldinga-artsecovillage.com.au/ .
For greenfield developments, Aldinga sets a high standard, but most of Austrlia's housing stock is a sorry hodge podge of ecologically illiterate architecture, and we have to adapt current buildings to lower energy use and mixed uses. David Holmgren has a nice paper on this at http://energybulletin.net/5104.html .

Not a long term solution for anything, merely an alternative lifestyle hub.

Best Wishes

Not even an alternative lifestyle, just a re-packaged commercial feel good box houses sub-division.

An eco villages, fits in with the environment, enhancing it rather than restricting it. This subdivision would be sustainable if everyone had grid feeding solar/wind power, fully recycled water/sewage, and didn't blot the landscape. To do that, you have to build in the ground, so the environment can continue around you. A bush fire will wipe out all those plastic houses, unlike earth covered ones. Townhouses, a return to the 19th century with common gardens for the peasants and small boxes piled on top if each other to live in.

Just another bunch of feel good latte sippers boosting their egos in fantasy land. Bet they use plastic wrapped, prepackaged processed foods, wonder what do they do with their rubbish ecologically.

Hey, Alchemist, easy to sneer and be cynical. Do you hsve s better idea for sustainable living? Or is that something you leave to 'latte sippers' (pathetic name calling) while you pursue higher ideals? Your post was shallow and nasty. I think OLO deserves something with a bit more intellectual rigor.

Actually pk, there's many people living ecologically sustainable lifestyles, using technology in a constructive and not destructive way, I'm one. Yes I do seek higher ideals, including doing the least harm to my environment, supporting nature, by utilising technology responsibly to enhance and not destroy it.

This afore mentioned village is no different to other advertised sub-divisions with high promotion and low sustainability. It keeps getting easier as techniques are developed.

Our house is earth covered, uses passive solar heating and cooling, maintains a 22-25deg temp all year round. Wind and sun provides 24v power, thats inverted for the workshop. Our sewage produces methane,heat and compost, water is cycled 3 times before returning to the environment. Lots of our food is grown in an attached glass house, our backup generator (workshop Business) runs on biodiesel, as does our vehicles.

Our hospitality business, was standard box shaped when we took it over and highly inefficient, Now it also operates the same way (not earth covered), we do need to purchase gas for our kitchens and mains power when fully booked. But that will change after next season when we finish installing a grid return solar power system and another wind generator.

In the next two years, we will be growing all our own biofuels. Even our 15.5 motorsailer runs on biodiesel, has solar and wind generation. We use biodegradable paints and oils. We don't use processed packaged foods, nor chemical cleaners as natural products do a much better job. We have very little rubbish, mostly recyclables.

As with religion Pk, I'm not cynical, just realistically and logically practical

That's great, Alchemist. I am genuinely impressed. I will erase your first post on this thread from my memory and replace it with your second. Perhaps you should do an article on this subject yourself for OLO as you seem to know your subject and could enlighten me and others. I can see you are not the shallow cynic that your first post seemed to portray.

All nice, feel good stuff but just another form of new age property development. I assume the project was situated on former farmland and would be much more impressed by a more inclusive plan that enabled each existing landowner to add one additional house lot to the existing holding.

Gosh, 10,000 litre water tanks, every farmer does that already. Recycle grey water, catch runoff in small dams, big deal, every farmer does that as well. Once again, one cashed up dude from the city gets to make a motsa from one large development while the rest of the community gets to watch. And then put up with all the bull$hit from the new settlers who regard any change to the surrounding properties as a threat to 'their' view.

Here in the SE Queensland "Brave new green utopia", chairman Beattie's new regional plan has precluded all development outside the existing urban footprints. These footprints also appear to coincide with the stock of State and Council owned Freehold lands. They own some 40,000 hectares of land which is sufficient to house all of the next 1.5 million new arrivals.

All the private landholders outside that footprint cannot even get approval for a single houseblock to aid intergenerational transfer. So farmers sons (mostly) are now lumped with huge debts to buy out their sister or non-farming brother's share of the family estate or worse, the sister gets a much smaller share so the farm can be retained in the family. Welcome to the 1890's folks, this is the smart state, remember.

Pk, it would be good to see articles representing alternative thought and action. However this forum is operated by right wingers, with religious and commercial interests, with no difference between the two. Their aim is control by any method. Many have submitted articles having other than lip service content and all have been rejected, according to what they say in posting.

What I would write on any subject wouldn't' be acceptable at all, as it may provide evidence and argument that makes the elite squirm. You'll note that any article of an alternative nature purely follows a pseudo pattern, easily debunked. Giving the impression alternatives are useless.

Those that poo poo alternatives in support of destructive dogmatic regime in life always denounce anything that may make them look inadequate and take away their illusionary power and comfort zones. You'll note, the knockers rarely have any hands on experience or knowledge, but rely on sustaining their position with lies and threats against change.

This current article seems designed to give the impression of alternative progress, when all it does is support the status quo of continuing to destroy the environment and pushes the use of non renewable technologies.

We've had little sun and wind over the last two weeks. Yet we only had to fire up our generator yesterday after a full house for 3 days. The generator ran for 6 hours owing to the world cup, it used approx, 4 litres, a cost of $1.40 (biodiesel). Grid power would have cost us 10 times that much considering the amount of lights, appliances and two 82cm TV's ( LCD) we used until the early hours of this morning.

I post on this site to observe the veracity of the proponents of theism and economic rationalism, sadly there is very little and the slaves remain slaves. But thanks for the thought.

Alchemist, I thought to have a more detailed look at Aldinga and found it to be very much as you said. It didn't take me long to realise that with it's multitude of rules and regs, plus the exorbantant price of buying and building there, it simply wasn't for me. What you have seems ever so much more environmentally friendly and sustainable. I'd dearly love to get some ideas from you and yet this seems impossible on this forum. Is there some place else we could take this please??

Hi wildcat, I've just set up a blog, so we can have a chat about this. Nothing spectacular, just some where to exchange info on certain subjects. I'm happy to give you whatever help you need.

http://organic-alchemy.blogdrive.com/

Hi Russ - nice article.

Comments by The Alchemist noted.

Yes, there is still some way to go but I like to think we are all in transition and it takes longer for some people to wise up!

What has been achieved at Aldinga is a huge step in the right direction and is something that the mainstream can realistically adjust to. It is likely that Aldinga will continue to be ahead of the mainstream population into the indefinite future in terms of their ecological footprint because they will continue to innovate.

"You can never change anything by fighting the existing. To change something, build a new model and make the existing model obsolete."
- Buckminster Fuller

Neil Robertson
Chidlow, WA