In the US, suburban shopping malls can become green community spaces

At the recent Ecobuild conference, architect Ellen Dunham-Jones spoke about how some suburban shopping malls in the United States are changing into green community spaces. Juliet Heller reports

With much of the suburban landscape in the United State now aging, architect Ellen Dunham-Jones, author of Retrofitting Suburbia, says there is an opportunity to re-develop and re-invent malls and business parks into green and “walk-able” spaces.

The carbon footprint in suburbs is three times bigger than in cities. People in the suburbs depend on fossil fuels, particularly oil, and there are public health issues also emerging. For instance, obesity from the sedentary lifestyle is leading to heart disease and diabetes.

There has also been a surprising demographic shift: it looks as if around two-thirds of suburban households will no longer have children. Increasingly the suburbs is populated by retirees and young professionals, so the needs and demands of these spaces are changing accordingly.

By greening the landscape with trees, greening the transport system to reduce car use, and redesigning the buildings to be more comfortable and efficient, the areas are being transformed, and others are following their example.

You can watch Ellen Dunham-Jones's TED talk on retrofitting suburbia

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How will we retrofit 26 million UK homes?

The three-day Ecobuild conference in London kicked off yesterday with Transforming the existing stock.

BBC journalist Stephen Sackur chaired the panel, which featured Gregory Barker MP, Paul King, CEO of UK-Green Building Council, Robert Peto, President of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors and Kevin McCloud, presenter of Grand Designs.

Carla Jones reports.

The basic issues were clear: our homes account for 27% of our carbon emissions. So we need a big shift if we are going to meet our 2020 carbon reduction target. But what will drive the retrofitting of UK households over the next 10 years? The Government says it has the ambition to achieve this aim. But what exactly are the practical changes that will get us there? And will the changes be driven by "carrots" or "sticks"?

Kevin McCloud said: "Regulation is a critical 'stick' for sending a clear message to the market. It is fundamental to boost change and instill confidence" But Greg Barker was reluctant to use coercion, which he argued would simply annoy people.

The discussion centred around how change would be funded. The various suggestions emphasised that the money should clearly come from a set of taxes for a direct subsidy of retrofitting changes, including VAT reductions for retrofitting and reclaiming the potential for the Green Investment Bank to reduce the risk from of private finance. Greg Barker emphasised the Green Deal pay-as-you-save scheme, but was hazy about any details, prior to the Budget announcement on 23 March, as to which tax measures would incentivise change.

The panellists all agreed that changes must be stimulated at the community-level. People will be more likely to act if their neighbours were getting similar work done and the resources could be collectively leveraged.

The overall motivating force for change? People act because they want a "nicer" home, above and beyond financial or environmental reasons.

McCloud summed up the need for clarity to drive this action:

"For people to make decisions to retrofit their homes we need to be offering clear 'no brainer' solutions - it needs to be clear what they will save and how it will operate".

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Housing Retrofit is the biggest carbon saver

John Doggart, director of The Sustainable Energy Academy.

Housing emits 27% of the UK’s carbon emissions, providing a huge challenge for the year’s ahead. But the good news is that even owners of the five million older homes have the power to drastically reduce carbon. By retrofitting old houses with energy saving measures you can save between 60-80% of the property’s carbon footprint.

We’re calling on the government to help homeowners and social housing landlords by kick-starting a massive retrofit process. By providing low interest finance that makes repayment costs lower than fuel bill saving, the UK will move closer to meeting the goal of using 80% less carbon by 2050. German experience has shown that a euro spent by Government can stimulate up to six euros of energy improvements.

The Sustainable Energy Academy has set up the Old Home Superhome campaign, a network of more than 40 exemplar hard-to-treat homes across the UK that have reduced their energy use by at least 60 percent. We help ‘Superhome’ owners promote their achievements by opening their houses to the public during Open Days.

The Open Days have inspired thousands of visitors to take action in their own homes by seeing and experiencing the warmth and comfort of a low carbon home, and how easy it is to achieve.

“But how much does it cost?” everyone asks. About the same as you would spend on upgrading a kitchen or bathroom. Well worth it for the huge carbon savings you can make for yourself and for the planet.

Read more Voices on Copenhagen

The Sustainable Energy Academy (SEA) is spearheading the Old Home SuperHome scheme to transform the existing housing stock in the UK, with the ultimate aim of reducing domestic carbon emissions by 60%.

View the Ashden Awards video of SEA:

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