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When I had discovered in my Imagine1 blog that my dream for 2020 was to be the founder and project manager of an ecovillage. I decided to investigate a little bit closer to home. I live in Cape Town, South Africa, when i was doing research on ecovillages in South africa I found the Lynedoch EcoVillage which is virtually on my front doorstep. The Lynedoch EcoVillage is situated 30 minutes just outside of Cape Town. The funny thing is I drive past the amazing village everyday on my way to spear where i volunteer at eagle encounters.

Set just outside of Cape Town, the Sustainability Institute has become synonymous with the Lynedoch EcoVillage, a hamlet promoting sustainable lifestyles through efficient energy usage, the utilization of natural resources and knowledge empowerment. The Lynedoch EcoVillage stands as a shining example of the first ecologically designed socially mixed community in South Africa. A Montessori-based preprimary school accommodates 35 children from nearby farms while the primary school has 475 children. The housing scheme caters for 42 sociologically designed houses foremployees and community members, of which 14 are subsidised by the government.

In addition to the low energy benefits of using unfired natural building materials sourced in close proximity to the site, houses will use solar energy for water heating and will acquire an increasing proportion of their electrical energy from renewable sources (wind and solar).The ecovillage will treat all sewerage onsite using shared septic tanks, a biolytic filter and a vertically integrated artificial wetland system. Water from the wetland will be recycled back into the homes of the village for flushing and irrigation. Further measures such as water saving equipment in all houses and rainwater harvesting will also be employed to increase water efficiency.

A Summary of the Lynedoch EcoVillage current initiatives:
  • A home base at the Lynedoch EcoVillage Development which demonstrates child-centred sustainable living in practice
  • Mphil in Sustainable Development Planning and Management (130 participants in 2006)
  • Phd (up to 10 candidates)
  • Early Childhood Development (50 participants in 2006)
  • Job creation for youth through Sustainable Construction training (40 participants)
  • Community Development Management and Practice focusing on capacity building and career pathing in the HIV/Aids sector and then impacting on civil society as a wh***
  • Further projects (applied research) on strategic design of sustainable neighbourhoods at Phillipi Agri-Business Place, Oude Molen and other locations
  • Ongoing research such as Government's Economic Policy, Sustainable Cities, the Non-Profit Sector, complexity theory, leadership development
This is an amazing project and is self-relient on the wind and sun. I love the idea of doing and eco friendly school and personally think this should be implicated globally

I am hoping to drive out there tomorrow and get some hands on information and pictures. I will give you the feed back on how it go's tomorrow.

Here is a video showing how they made one of the eco-houses.





This is my follow up to this amazing journey to the ecovillage.



Views: 611

Comment by Deborah Cazden on March 8, 2010 at 3:19pm
I think it is very courageous of you to set up the appointment to talk to the professor in charge. Great Job and Great Find!
Comment by Alessandra Giabbani on March 8, 2010 at 4:03pm
+Local Insight
Sometimes is just arround the corner...aware
Wate for your feedback from meeting on saturday
Comment by Christian Caldwell on March 8, 2010 at 8:43pm
Great research. How do they integrate with the larger society? Surely they aren't completely self sufficient. Do they put any energy back into the grid or do they need more energy than they are generating? What is their interest or capacity to grow and teach beyond the village?
Comment by Reid Falconer on March 13, 2010 at 4:23pm
@ Danijela Thanks for the lovely information look forward to seeing the photos in the summer.
Comment by Bongumusa on March 13, 2010 at 6:46pm
Yes, I see part of project development that are taking place in RSA. this is to provide houses to homeless and those who are living in shelters

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