As property developers aggressively pursue community master planning, they are in a unique position to tip the odds in favour of adoption of green energy.
For instance, new residential and
commercial developments being built from the ground up could start to adopt
solar, wind, and geothermal energy, and adopt the community grid model to meet
the anticipated energy demands.
Let me paint this scenario: if I were
building a subdivision, or a condominium building for instance, I could
leapfrog to using solar panels and solar batteries to harvest and store energy
in my grid. Housing units could have built in solar panels and be designed to
use solar energy in the household. To sweeten the deal for potential buyers, a
little pencil pushing would be in order. We would need to compute the tangible
benefits of using solar energy (at maximum capacity that could support
household appliances such as power hungry smart TVs, refrigerators, air
conditioners, and other modern conveniences)--how much in electricity bills would
you save, the environmental impact of clean energy, the improved safety o f the
household, et cetera.
We could even take this new model further
and install wireless energy nodes that would allow appliances to absorb
electricity without the need for complicated wiring, which is a real fire
hazard. The reduced need for wiring and electrical services could further
offset the cost of solar adoption, which is decreasing exponentially with the
lower cost of even the solar cells themselves as the technology matures.
Tesla is near to commercialising its solar
storage batteries, which could have a huge impact on pushing adoption to the
tipping point. With a stable and reliable solar power source, at arguably lower
prices, households could be easily persuaded to adopt the technology.
This subdivision could also provide for a
500-800 sq metre lot that could serve as a solar farm to serve the community's
needs, such as lamp posts, club house consumption, et cetera. It could also
serve as the grid control room as the energy produced by each household is
balanced, managed, and distributed to the community according the needs of each
household.
Another potential pivot point is materials
recovery, recycling, and garbage segregation. To encourage people to segregate
their waste products, they should have tangible and gratifying rewards for
doing so. To achieve this, a small plot of land could be dedicated to the
exercise by tending a fruit and vegetable garden, to which people who
contribute to the organic waste used in compost, and to fertilise the plants
could be given access. They could pick fruits and vegetables according to their
daily needs in exchange for segregating their waste and properly endorsing them
to the compost and materials recovery facilities. They could also be given
dividends, maybe called an "environmental dividend", against which,
for instance, monthly dues can be deducted, to the income earned from the sale of
recyclable materials from their household.
Used cooking oil, which is difficult to dispose,
and should not be dumped in the drain, could be collected on a weekly basis and
brought to recycling facilities (they could be used to make soap, among others).
Japan's successes in this area merits a study on how the technology could be
adopted to the Philippines.
Water management is another area for
potential environmental efficiency. These new homes and subdivisions should be
built with well-engineered drainage systems that would maximise the use of the
abundant rainfall in the country. For instance, drain pipes could take
advantage of the topography of the locale and be designed to gather rainfall to
a catchment area where it could be stored and accessed to, for instance,
provide for the needs of the compost garden. Septic tanks should be intelligently
designed and built in with filters to make it easier to recycle waste
water. The technology to enable such
undertakings is not rocket science, and any investment in mastering the design
for which is certain to result in healthy ROI as water efficient communities
take root in the country.
On the social component of community
building, the developer could create volunteering initiatives that would meet
the emergent and specific needs of their community. They could set up a day
care where retired senior citizens could watch over toddlers and non-school age
children, under professional supervision, for parents who have to be away for
the day to work. Such a community approach allows individuals to take advantage
of the benefits of economies of scale (as more parents enrol to the service,
the cost is defrayed across a larger base).
It has a social dividend where the elderly are given a sense of purpose,
and the young benefit by learning values and morality from experienced
individuals at an early age. For the
youth, they could rotate services in the compost garden, assist in recyclables
collection and materials recovery, volunteer to buy groceries for home bound
residents, volunteer their driving services--the possibilities are endless.
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