TreeHotel in Sweden vs TreeRestaurant in New Zealand

As I browse a social networking site, I stumbled upon this unique concept of a hotel in Sweden that a friend has mentioned to me. The Treehotel allows you to live among the trees and birds, in harmony with nature. The concept is based on respecting the natural environment and to minimise disruption in both physically and visually. Local, sustainable materials such as wood is used in constructing the hotel. The tree houses use freezer toilets that freeze waste for later removal and "cinderellas", which incinerate waste in internal combustion chamber. This plumbing system is proven efficient, “The incinerators are perfectly safe and very efficient... One person using it every day for a year would only produce one single cup of ash residue.” said Anette Selberg, the hotel's marketing director.

Here is the construction video and details of each tree house!

Would you want to stay here?

The Bird's Nest : Discreet windows are hidden with branches. Access is by a retractable staircase.

The Mirrorcube : the one that has made the most headlines. The mirror reflects surrounding trees and creates an almost 'invisible house'.
To prevent birds colliding the tree hotel, an infrared film, visible for birds only, will be laminated into the glass panes.  

Want to see more? http://www.treehotel.se/

New Zealand has a similar design concept found in the Redwoods Treehouse, which holds a restaurant on a tree located near Warkworth north of Auckland. Access to the Treehouse is provided by an elevated tree-top walkway. Parts of the walkway are built using redwood milled on site. The vertical fins and slats are built from sustainably grown pine and poplar. Due to the complicated legislation system created by the RMA (Resource Management Act) 1991, the treehouse is currently closed until a resource consent is granted. 

Want to see more?  www.yellowtreehouse.co.nz/

                             //weblogsurf.com/new-zealand%E2%80%99s-yellow-treehouse-restaurant/

Top 5 Must-See Eco Inventions

I think we all have seen or heard a lot of new green or eco-inventions around the globe from the media. Some are interesting, some could be useful and some are just plain silly. Below is the list of eco-inventions that I believe are must-see and quite entertaining to read.

1. Solar-powered Bra

Yes you read right, Triumph International Japan has invented the first ever eco-friendly bra! The bra features a waist-mounted solar panel that powers a small electronic device you choose to connect. Which means that you can charge your phone when you're wearing this bra! Hmmm handy.

Image via Nikkei

Are you self-conscious about your bra cup size? Not to worry, this bra is not only environmentally- friendly, but it can also increase your bust size. A pair of reusable drink containers are attached to the bra cups to reduce the consumption of aluminium cans and plastic bottles while increasing bust size. Ah amazing.

2. Solar Jacket for Men

In a more serious note, this jacket may have a more promising future than the bra. It looks attractive, stylish and nothing out of the ordinary from a normal jacket - except that it is made from recycled plastic. 

Image via Ecouterre

The solar panels on the upper sleeves power up a heating device to keep you warm and toasty while at the same time can hold enough electricity to recharge your phone or iPod. The solar panels can be taken out at night to keep you looking normal in public and are also washable. Good stuff! The jacket comes with adapters for major communication devices. Problem? You can purchase this jacket for US$750 at Saks Fifth Avenue. 

3. Bio-degradable Car

The Phoenix is the world's first bamboo and rattan car to avoid the amount of wastes produced by old cars. The car was built in 10 days of bamboo, rattan, steel and nylon. 

Image via Inhabitat

The 153-inches long Phenix is unique with its organic fibers biodegradable skin that is designed to last the average of a person keeps a car - 5 years in industrialized countries and 10-20 years elsewhere. The skin however can be replaced inexpensively if the owner wishes to keep the car longer.

4. Eco Beer

A new discovery by engineers shows that using steam to brew the wort can reduce brewing time by half while also using half the energy! This could be one of those rare win-win situation for everyone -- beer companies make more profit and we all can drink beer while saving the planet!

Image via The Sun and Tim Parkinson

5. Eco-Boat

Earthrace is New Zealand's very own 100% biodiesel 100% carbon neutral boat that made headlines all over the world. The hull was composed of a composite carbon fibre with a non-toxic anti-fouling paint. Earthrace runs on 100% renewable biodiesel fuels and also has zero carbon footprint! 

Image via Earthrace Conservation

It runs on vegetable oil, animal fat and human fat alongside many other biodiesel fuels. Pete Bethune, a Kiwi skipper, underwent liposuction and donated enough of his body fat to make 100ml of biofuel. Dedication!

Futuristic Eco-City.... in China!

China is teaming up with Singapore in designing and developing a new Eco-City located in Tianjin, China. The 30 square kilometre Eco-city is based on a concept of 3-harmonies -- man living in harmony with man in the present and future generations; man living in harmony with economic activities; and man living in harmony with the environment.

(Yoneda, Y., 2011)

The plan of Tianjin Eco-City is called "a thriving city which is socially harmonious, environmentally-friendly and resource-efficient -- a model for sustainable development".

What are the green features of Tianjin Eco-City?

Energy Efficiency and Use of Clean, Renewable Energy

Eco-city will make use of the latest sustainable technologies such as solar power and wind power.

Green Buildings

The city will be divided into 7 distinct sectors -- a Lifescape, an Eco-Valley, a Solarscape, an Urbanscape, a Windscape, an Earthscape and Eco-Corridors. 

The Urbanscape will promote the compact and multilayered Eco-City, featuring stacked buildings interconnected by sky-bridges at multiple levels to make efficient use of vertical space (Yoneda, Y., 2011)

The Lifescape consist of a series of soil-topped mounds surrounded by greenery that will counteract with the towering apartment buildings in other sectors (Yoneda, Y., 2011).

The Earthscape is the suburb of the city, with stepped architecture that will maximize public green space (Yoneda, Y., 2011)

The Windscape will transform Qingtuozi, a century-old village surrounded by a small lake, into a public sphere for citizens to relax, socialize and recreate (Yoneda, Y., 2011)

Public green spaces as as the Eco-corridors that will be developed throughout the city (Yoneda, Y., 2011)

Green Transportation

The 30 square kilometre city is built just 10 minutes away from the business parks at the Tianjin Economic-Development Area making commute trips easy with advanced light rail transit system. Green trips such as the use of public transportation, cycling and walking will be promoted within the city. The target is at lest 90% of the trips made within the city are green trips!

Light rail system underground throughout the Eco-City promoting public transportation (Yoneda, Y., 2011)

Water Management

The low rainfall region of the city location may create issues. To overcome this, the Eco-city will draw a significant part of its water supply from desalinated seawater, rainwater recycling and recycled wastewater to reduce stress for water from rivers flowing through. Tap water will also be potable and up to international standards.

Waste Management

The "3Rs" -- Reduce, Reuse, Recycle -- will be promoted and adapted by residents in the Eco-city. Non-organic waste will be recycles and reused, while organic waste will be used as biomass for energy.

What's the timeframe?

The start-up phase of the project (3 sq km) is expected to be complete by 2013. The entire 30 sq km should be completed around 2020 with a projected population of 350,000 people.

(Yoneda, Y., 2011)

Many countries worldwide, including New Zealand, have developed Eco-cities or Eco-suburbs in order to move towards sustainable development and sustainable living. Tianjin Eco-City is China's move towards sustainable living that allows its citizens to live in harmony with the nature as well as exercising inter-generational equity.

What do you think?

Earth Hour 2011

Did you notice anything different or odd last Saturday night around your city or neighbourhood?

26 March 2011 was marked Earth Hour night - in which everyone worldwide is encouraged to turn the lights off for 60 minutes to reduce energy consumption. This event began right here in Down Under! Started in Sydney in 2007 and followed by New Zealand and Fiji - now, it is a global movement taking place in all major cities worldwide in Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas.

Many world leaders and prime ministers worldwide believe that Earth Hour is "a huge symbol of global solidarity, an inspiring display of international commitment". Over 4000 cities worldwide participated in Earth Hour including landmarks such as:

Cristo Redentor, Rio de Janeiro

Sydney Opera House, Australia

Petronas Tower, Malaysia

 Big Ben, London

Eiffel Tower, Paris

Sky Tower, Auckland

Social networking sites like Facebook had hugely helped the success of this event! 1.3 billion people took part in Earth Hour last year! and this year 134 countries had signed on to participate. NZ was one of the first countries to switch off the lights from 8.30pm to 9.30pm local time. 

WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) New Zealand campaigner, Lee Barry said "Switching off lights for an hour is a symbolic gesture to show that people are willing to take a stand for the planet. This year we're asking people to go beyond the hour and make a pledge that they can sustain every day in their lives" - this include people considering to drive their car less, taking public transport, cycling or car pooling as the NZ's rate of emissions from transport is unacceptably high !! 

What were the impacts of Earth Hour worldwide? Some of the impacts include:

• Last year, New Zealand power consumed during Earth Hour dropped 2%. In 2009, it dropped 3.5%!
• 840,000 pounds of carbon dioxide reduced in Chicago! -  this is the same amount of carbon dioxide as 104 acres of trees produced, and all this saved only within one hour during Earth Hour!
• Energy savings of 170 megawatts in Jakarta, Indonesia
• Over $23,000 and 400,000 kilowatts in Vietnam saved
• 204,000 kilowatts in Dubai

I personally think Earth Hour is a wonderful global event that unites people all over the world to peacefully work together in saving our planet. It is a small but powerful positive step towards achieving sustainable living. 

Do you think it is an effective global movement?

Introducing......... Podcars ?

There have been many, many attempts in cities worldwide to transform their city to become a more sustainable city - whether it is their waste/sewage system, housing development designs, urban city structure to also transportation network. Abu Dhabi has introduced their newly proposed transportation vehicle - Podcars.

Podcars are a form of PRT (Personal Rapid Transit) that function as electric taxis for local residents.

What is it like riding in a Podcar?

You will swipe a smart card through a machine at a station in the city and a welcome message will appear. It could greet you personally "Good morning, where would you like to go today?" and the system could even remember your usual daily path and offer it to you as an option for more convenience. After you select your destination, the system will direct you to your car, e.g. "Your car is arriving in 2 minutes at platform number 1".

Is it a more efficient and sustainable form of public transport?

Podcars wouldn't create any air pollution at all therefore help decrease greenhouse gas emissions to the air, which would also contribute to stop climate change. Lithium-phosphate batteries keep the car going for 60km on only 1.5 hour charge which allow each vehicle to take 40 trips without recharging. Podcars will travel at speeds of approximately 7 meters per second. The efficient little cars could operate 135,000 trips every day, offering people on a more private, comfortable public transportation experience. 

What are the benefits from riding these cars?

• More sustainable form of transport
• They are driver-less! so if you are stuck in traffic, you can sit in comfort and privacy of your car, doing other productive things
• PRT is a 24-hour service - so they run on-peak as well as off-peak hours. More efficient for the city than running empty buses all night
• Improve personal security for local residents - no waiting all night long for a bus to arrive. 

So what's the problem with Podcars?

Very expensive! The extra infrastructures required to successfully operate Podcars around a city are simply too costly for most cities worldwide.

Now, do you think Auckland City could benefit from the use of Podcars?

Personally, I very much dislike the current public transportation offered within the city. Buses are not only too costly for a form of public transport, but they are also very unreliable and inconvenient. I have experienced hours-long wait at the bus stop just to realise that the two buses I have waited will never come and there are NO other alternative form of public transport after midnight to North Shore City from the CBD. Many daily day buses have also not turned up, leaving many local residents frustrated waiting for hours at the bus stop. 

I do believe Podcars could benefit many Auckland residents in saving time and money when compared to using private vehicles. However, this will not be seen any time soon in New Zealand as there is no way we can afford such advanced transportation systems.

Still intrigued? Check this out !!!

What do you think?

Why sustainability ?

Welcome to my blog! 

This blog is part of my study at the University of Auckland pursuing a Bachelor of Planning Degree. One of the outcomes from studying the many aspects of planning is the change in my view and perspective towards the natural environment. We are currently living to kill many species that are becoming extinct and degrade our natural resources that we cannot possibly survive without. New Zealand is not doing so great in living sustainably - research shown that if everyone in the world lived like we do in New Zealand with our lifestyle, we would need more than 3 planets!! 

So, what is sustainability?

One definition is that it refers to the quality of a state or process that allows it to be maintains indefinitely. A more commonly used definition of "sustainable development" as I have learnt from an Environmental Planning paper last year is

"meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future          generations to meet their own needs"

This emphasizes the crucial need of both inter- and intra- generational equity in the planning process.

Enough of the boring intro..so why sustainability? why is it so important to us?

As I was procrastinating in doing uni work and browsing interesting world news on the internet a couple of weeks ago, I came across a powerful and shocking article titled, "Earth 'on brink' of mass extinction". The article suggests that Earth may face an apocalyptic event that could wiped out all species and organisms from the planet, including all of us human beings! Scientists have seen an estimated of at least 80 species of mammals have become extinct within only the past 500 years - this is shockingly unacceptable, in comparison with an average extinction rate for mammals is less than 2 species every million of years! This modern global mass extinction is largely caused by climate change and human activities.

"If currently threatened species - those officially classed as critically endangered - actually went extinct, and that rate of extinction continued, the sixth mass extinction could arrive within as little as three to 22 centuries" - Aaaaaaah !!!

This scary fact should acts as a wake-up call for all of us to stop and think what we are doing, and think of ways to improve our lifestyles on this planet! Decreasing natural resources may lead to conflict and war, changes in climate could displace millions of people and loss of natural ecosystems could result in massive species loss. 

I believe that every single human being in this world can collaboratively work together and contribute to save our planet. Every little positive changes and small actions in our life count! In this blog, we will further discuss at ways to help change our lifestyle and move further towards sustainable living! Contributing your comments and opinion on my posts here will be much appreciated. I want to hear what you have to say!

ps: if you want to read more on the article discussed, go to this link

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2011/03/02/earth-on-brink-of-mass-extinction-115875-22961707/