Power to the People

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At the Beddington Zero Energy Development in South London, they're shouting their environmental credentials from the rooftops. Tidy little lawns sprout on top of each house — helping to insulate the buildings — as pastel-colored cowls swivel in the breeze, gently ushering fresh air into homes and offices while funneling stale air out. Solar photovoltaic panels soak up the sun — even on cloudy days — contributing to the development's overall power mix. Most of the community's heat and electricity come from a 130-kW generator fueled by timber clippings and similar waste from landscaping work.

The Beddington eco-village (BedZED for short) is Britain's premier sustainable housing estate. Why? Because it's carbon neutral: the community's energy use and production releases no extra carbon dioxide into the environment. "We wake up every morning and think we're on holiday," says resident Steve Tabard. His neighbor, Danny Burrage, says that outside BedZED, "I don't know anybody who has a flat on the second floor with a conservatory and a garden. The kids love it."

BedZED won its place at the top of Britain's green living charts because it's a pioneer in microgeneration — the local production of clean, renewable power by individuals and small communities to meet their own energy needs. As evidence of global warming increases, microgeneration is touted as a sustainable alternative to the fossil fuels that help form greenhouse gases. Conservationists argue that only clean energy technologies derived from wind, solar, wave and other natural power sources can ensure a healthy environment and sustainable economic growth. Micropower is far less of an imposition on the landscape, though, than big wind farms and solar arrays, and it's also part of a growing trend toward local production of goods and services, including energy. "Mini-wind turbines and solar arrays should become familiar household fixtures," according to Joanna Collins, author of the British environmental think-tank Green Alliance's A Microgeneration Manifesto. "These new technologies cut greenhouse-gas emissions [and] provide reliable energy supplies."

Microgeneration forces architects and builders to think green from the start. Homes in the three-year-old BedZED development, for instance, are south facing and fronted by conservatories to capture natural heat and light. There's no need for central heating because thick brick walls are heavily insulated, and windows are double- and triple-glazed, helping to retain the heat produced by domestic activities such as cooking. As a result, fuel bills can be as little as 10% of those for traditional houses of similar size. Lighting is low energy, too, and water-saving washing machines and low-flush toilets are standard. Solar panels can also recharge the batteries of electric cars, though there are as yet few such vehicles on the road.