Future Projects

[ Sustainable Evansville ]

EcoHouse Project

Eco-Buildings
Buildings account for 40% of the energy used in the United States and building construction waste makes up a significant portion of public landfill content. Building design techniques, resource-efficient construction, and new technologies and materials are now available that can reduce these numbers by 50% - 80%.
Approximately one-third of new commercial buildings have significant indoor air quality problems. Siting of buildings and developments has significant impact on the overall transportation patterns and other urban infrastructure issues.

What's the Eco stand for? It's the beginning of eco-logy and eco-nomics. Both words come from the same Greek root, Oikos, which means house. It's time for ecology and economics to be reunited.

Eco-Houses

To demonstrate to students, homeowners, architects, building supply retailers, and builders the advantages of sustainable design. Eco-Houses will incorporate the latest thinking in sustainable design. They will be designed to be energy efficient, resource-efficient, healthy, ecologically-sound, durable, marketable homes in a variety of price ranges.

Eco-Offices
To demonstrate to commercial building owners, architects, and contractors the advantages of sustainable design on a larger scale.

Eco-Depot
Establish a regional clearinghouse and warehouse for recyclables that can generate threshold quantities of raw material to attract new industries to the region that use waste as raw material to create jobs. Ideally, this should be housed in a building that is an example of a reclaimed "brownfield" in the near-downtown area.

Eco-Exposition and Conference
A national exposition and conference to showcase sustainable design and manufacturing, showcase environmentally sustainable products and process, and to facilitate the creation of new industires that can utilize the Evansville region's waste stream as raw material.

Eco-Developments
Facilitate residential and commercial developments that demonstrate the principles of sustainable development.

In addition to these projects, SEI hopes to collaborate with other public and private agencies to promote and improve: environmentally sustainable regional urban planning; closed-loop, zero-waste manufacturing; mass transit, bikeways, and other alternate transportation systems; environmentally sustainable economic development; natural ecosystem protection and restoration; and long-term quality of life for all citizens.

Sustainable Evansville is currently conducting workshops in the four County region including Gibson, Posey, Vanderburgh, and Warrick Counties. We are inviting various decision makers and the general public and non profit groups to attend and participate. Data has been gathered about land use and other growth factors. We hope to provide information about planning and the decisions required today to make positive steps toward a better tomorrow. There are three workshops planned yet this year.

September 29 at the Alexandrian Library in Mt. Vernon. This will start at 5:30.

October 12 at the University of Southern Indiana, Health Professions Building, room 1025. This will start at 6:30.

November 30 at the Warrick County Library in Boonville. This will start at 5:30.

Please RSVP to Jim Daniels at 812-436-7801 or via e-mail at jdaniels@vanderburghgov.org.