5 ms·

I don't really see the difference between this and a coop apartment building except that it's in a rural setting. So, many of the social structures of traditio

by rmah 5y ago

I don't really see the difference between this and a coop apartment building except that it's in a rural setting. So, many of the social structures of traditional old world villages but cooperatively owned and in the USA. I don't understand what's "eco" about it (vs any other rural community, I mean). Am I missing something critical?

whywhywhywhy 5y ago
> I don't understand what's "eco" about it. Seeing far too many cars in that video for any of it to be considered "eco".
- ericd 5y ago
  The houses in the newest community are energy neutral/built to passivhaus standards. That’s quite unusual in the US. And much of their food comes from an on-site farm CSA. And they’ve left 90% of the land relatively wild, which should help preserve biodiversity. They’ve still got cars, but they’re certainly doing better than average.
  - whywhywhywhy 5y ago
    Maybe it's because I'm not American but the idea of a village which is remote but still has access to a town or city via bus or bike is very much a possibility and normal in lots of parts of the world. Cars are nowhere near as essential as American city and suburb planning unfortunately makes it seem like.
    - ericd 5y ago
      Yeah, that’s sadly not so common in the US.
floatrock 5y ago
Someone else posted a googlemaps view of the place: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ecovillage+At+Ithaca+Inc/@42.4422047,-76.5437611,536m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x71281aa65d9a74b3!8m2!3d42.441713!4d-76.5420994 https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ecovillage+At+Ithaca+Inc/@... All the houses' roofs are south-facing, which combined with large overhangs, are a passivhaus thing (maximum heat energy in the winter when the sun is low, large overhangs block some of that in the summer when the sun is high). Some houses have solar on the roof, while the neighborhood to the north has a small centralized solar farm. If you have the land, it's a lot more cost-effective to put a centralized amount of ground-mounted solar and distribute it to a dense cluster of houses nearby. They mentioned they designed all the homes in their latest batch to shun natgas and go all electric. And then there's a bunch of "eco-mindset" things where it looks like they park their cars in communal lots and the houses are connected by pedestrian paths. Their development model is 10% developed/90% open-space (or something like that which flips the common american subdivision percentages). They said they aren't trying to be completely self-sufficient (they're 15min drive to downtown Ithica), but they do take steps like a have an onsite CSA. So I don't think they're being "eco" if you think eco means some absolutely self-sufficient car-free hippie in the woods. But that's also an impossible ideal -- even the unabomber who railed against the evils of capitalism still had walmart receipts in his shack, and Thoreau got through the Walden Pond winter with his mom bringing him soup or something like that. But as for "eco" in terms of lifestyle arrangements that give you a good mix of modern and sustainable life, yeah, seems like they're doing a good job.

by rmah 5y ago

whywhywhywhy 5y ago

> I don't understand what's "eco" about it. Seeing far too many cars in that video for any of it to be considered "eco".

ericd 5y ago
The houses in the newest community are energy neutral/built to passivhaus standards. That’s quite unusual in the US. And much of their food comes from an on-site farm CSA. And they’ve left 90% of the land relatively wild, which should help preserve biodiversity. They’ve still got cars, but they’re certainly doing better than average.
- whywhywhywhy 5y ago
  Maybe it's because I'm not American but the idea of a village which is remote but still has access to a town or city via bus or bike is very much a possibility and normal in lots of parts of the world. Cars are nowhere near as essential as American city and suburb planning unfortunately makes it seem like.
  - ericd 5y ago
    Yeah, that’s sadly not so common in the US.

floatrock 5y ago

Someone else posted a googlemaps view of the place: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ecovillage+At+Ithaca+Inc/@42.4422047,-76.5437611,536m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x71281aa65d9a74b3!8m2!3d42.441713!4d-76.5420994 https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ecovillage+At+Ithaca+Inc/@... All the houses' roofs are south-facing, which combined with large overhangs, are a passivhaus thing (maximum heat energy in the winter when the sun is low, large overhangs block some of that in the summer when the sun is high). Some houses have solar on the roof, while the neighborhood to the north has a small centralized solar farm. If you have the land, it's a lot more cost-effective to put a centralized amount of ground-mounted solar and distribute it to a dense cluster of houses nearby. They mentioned they designed all the homes in their latest batch to shun natgas and go all electric. And then there's a bunch of "eco-mindset" things where it looks like they park their cars in communal lots and the houses are connected by pedestrian paths. Their development model is 10% developed/90% open-space (or something like that which flips the common american subdivision percentages). They said they aren't trying to be completely self-sufficient (they're 15min drive to downtown Ithica), but they do take steps like a have an onsite CSA. So I don't think they're being "eco" if you think eco means some absolutely self-sufficient car-free hippie in the woods. But that's also an impossible ideal -- even the unabomber who railed against the evils of capitalism still had walmart receipts in his shack, and Thoreau got through the Walden Pond winter with his mom bringing him soup or something like that. But as for "eco" in terms of lifestyle arrangements that give you a good mix of modern and sustainable life, yeah, seems like they're doing a good job.