Ecovillage Projects
Why Ecovillages?
Ecovillages represent a truly tremendous business opportunity with multiple advantages:
1. Ecovillages are good for Earth.
Ecovillages have been proven over the centuries as an effective approach to sustainable habitation of Earth. Development of new technologies in recent years have made ecovillages a much more viable, accessible and popular alternative. They reduce the load on national water and energy infrastructure, and respect, conserve and often rehabilitate the natural environment.
Ecovillages are a way of living in harmony with Earth, but also with each other. People rarely become isolated within an ecovillage because of shared goals, activities and facilities, minimising issues such as depression which are becoming commonplace in modern society. This type of environment therefore also leads naturally to improved physical health, since most physical ailments are a result of underlying mental or emotional problems. Another way that ecovillages contribute directly to the health of its residents is through the production of fresh, whole organic foods.
2. Ecovillages and sustainable housing are profitable, and increasingly in demand.
Climate change has brought environmental issues to the forefront of the public consciousness, where they are likely to remain for decades. The general public is beginning to realise the need for more sustainable habitation practices, and there is a definite market shift towards environmental products and services. At the same time, population growth and industrialisation in developing nations, plus mass displacement caused by rising sea levels, is leading to increased demand globally for high-quality, safe, sustainable housing solutions. Hence we can expect our products and services to be in high demand for at least the next few decades, and probably indefinitely.
We improve our early profitability by beginning in Queensland, the fastest growing state in Australia. Most Queensland millionaires built their wealth through property investment and/or development.
3. Ecovillages are good terrestrial analogues for moonbases or marsbases.
While most people would probably not consider this to be a particularly important advantage, for AscensionTek, it is.
There are many common elements between space settlements and ecovillages. Like a moonbase or marsbase, an ecovillage is a highly independent community which produces most or all of its energy, food, and water. Both space settlements and ecovillages require high energy and water efficiency, water recycling, energy production, and small-scale agriculture, and each includes shared facilities for things like health-care, equipment maintenance, community meals, and scientific research. Each also represents a small population living and working together, thus many of the same human factors issues exist, such as consensus decision-making and conflict resolution.
Hence, gaining experience with ecovillage design, construction and operation over the next 3 or more decades will generate valuable insight into moonbase and marsbase design, both at the level of the built and natural environments, and in the psychological factors relevant to small integrated communities.
For more information:
Our First Ecovillage
Silvergreen is our first ecovillage project, and has already begun. Ecovillages are usually put together by a group of like-minded individuals, and therefore do not require a large amount of business resources to create (although of course this is an advantage!). It means that the Silvergreen project can be started now, even before the company has sponsorship.
This initial project will help to catalyse the development of a core design and management team, as well as solutions for sustainable buildings and community design.
Because the house construction component of the company does not yet exist, the current plan for Silvergreen is to use a 3rd party builder, and consultants for other parts of the design as required. This first project will be a big learning experience for the company, in which we use mainly outside advisors. However, with each successive project we will be able to rely more on our own knowledge and experience.
Progressive Challenges
Our strategy for the ecovillage development part of the business is to progressively increase the difficulty of our projects, in terms of size and/or habitability challenges. This is done for three reasons:
- To show that the ecovillage concept can be extended to practically every corner of Earth.
- To show that ecovillage design principles are applicable at every scale, from single-house lots to cities.
- As a steady progression towards moonbases and marsbases.
This progression must be managed with a degree of restraint - each project must be evaluated for its economic feasibility and our tendency will be to avoid risk as much as possible. However, with each project our confidence and knowledge will increase, as will our ability to make challenging projects successful.
The progression might go something like this:
- Small ecovillages with 10-100 houses.
- Large ecovillages with 100-1000 houses.
- Urban and suburban ecovillages within cities.
- "Ecotowns", with as many as 100,000 houses.
- Ecovillages and ecotowns in the desert - important for Australia and elsewhere, offering challenges in local production of food and water.
- "Mining ecotowns" - remote but sustainable mining communities. Remote mining towns are a good analogue for future moonbases and marsbases.
- Ecovillages and ecotowns in polar regions - challenges in environment control (see Phase 2: Future Developments).
- "Ecocities" with populations of 1,000,000 or more. Planned cities designed around ecovillage principles.
At the moment it may seem hard to imagine that one company could consider taking on this range of projects. However, over a 100 year period, with continually developing technology, locations around the world, and a great system, this is exactly what will happen.
Proceed to Software and Business System.