North West Bicester is going to be the United Kingdom’s first eco-friendly town that was built with the Earth in mind from the time construction began. Everything about this town, from the way the houses are powered, to the special cycling routes, to the lawns placed on the roofs of the houses, is designed specifically to help cut down energy costs and to give back to our beloved planet.
The fully finished town of North West Bicester will be accepting new residents in its Exemplar area starting later this year. Exemplar is one of the communities that will make up North West Bicester once everything is finalized. It will provide residents with beautiful homes, parks, and stores, as well as a school and place of worship.
In an effort to keep costs down as much as possible, Exemplar will be using a power plant that will provide both heating to the homes, as well as electricity. The homes will also be using solar panels to help cut down energy costs and they are well insulated so that they are nice and warm during the winter, but not so much so that everyone will suffer from the heat in the summer. It is a great way to enjoy life and give back to the environment while doing it.
The hope is that more of these eco-friendly towns will catch on and expand their presence across the globe.
The One Planet project is looking to do just that. North West Bicester is one of seven cities that One Planet has built over the past decade in an effort to help raise global awareness of climate change and promote healthier and more sustainable lifestyles. Currently, along with this new city in the UK, there are cities in North America, Australia, Mexico and South America.
The homes that will be in North West Bicester are estimated to be 30% affordable. This means that the homes will help people who live in them to cut costs and have a better, more economically friendly lifestyle. The homes will also be designed and built to meet with the highest standards for Sustainable Homes and BREEAM excellence, coming in at a code level 4 out of 5. These standards are very high indeed with scoring for all of the major areas such as water consumption, energy efficiency, waste, pollution and even carbon emissions being taken into account. In all of this, the One Planet eco-friendly town has greatly exceeded expectations and is planned to be the very first zero carbon emission town on Earth.
For all of the environmentally conscious individuals out there, this eco-friendly town is a dream come true and it shows just how far we can go to make our lives better and make the planet a better place to live.
