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Let Ecobob keep you up-to-date with the latest news and opinions on environmental issues. We will be compiling a range of articles on eco living topics from a number of news sources, making it easy for you to be informed about the latest happenings.

NZ's first 8 star affordable priced eco homes, and they're quake proofed!

Sunday, March 10, 2013 New Zealand

Architectural Designer Bob Burnett has overseen the completion of two affordable eco- homes designed to 8 stars, which will resist earthquakes, and both are owner occupied, this follows his design and rating of the first 7 star Homestar rated house in New Zealand in 2011 His next project which is currently in for building consent and to be built...

New sustainable building company

Sunday, August 26, 2012

A new Upper Hutt company designing and building energy efficient and sustainable homes has started from a team who say a home should not only be healthy and comfortable to live in, but should also last for generations. Owned by Trevor Salisbury and Kevin Turley, Enviro Homes design and build energy efficient, solar passive and sustainable homes ...

Passive House introduction video

Monday, August 13, 2012 New Zealand

This video gives an introduction of the passive house concept with a walk-through of a passive house in Ireland.

The Journey to a Passive House

Tuesday, July 24, 2012 New Zealand > Bay Of Plenty

In 2011 Ellen and Casper Valentin purchased a section in Raglan and decided to build a certified Passive House (PH). In this article we follow their journey as they take the project from conception to completion.

Video: Passive Eco Home in Raglan NZ

Thursday, July 19, 2012 New Zealand > Waikato > Raglan

Watch the video of a New Zealand couple talking about the building of their passive eco home.

The Story of Change

Monday, July 16, 2012

Video from the makers of 'The Story of Stuff' about how people can (and need to) change.

Tokelau on track to become world’s first entirely solar-powered country

Sunday, July 15, 2012 New Zealand

A Mount Maunganui company is spearheading a pioneering project to transform the diesel-dependent South Pacific nation of Tokelau into the world’s first solar-powered country.

Click here to see the full article

How much will this house cost...to run?

Sunday, July 15, 2012

There's now no excuse for not getting a good energy analysis done on your house, before it's even built. That is, if you or your designer is an ArchiCAD user.

Video: Eco-Village In Maine

Friday, July 06, 2012

The village is said to be super sustainable, using Germany's green "passive house" model as its guide. Built to withstand those harsh Maine winters, the village's homes feature glare-proof windows with roll-down, see-through shades and electric baseboard heaters (standard issue in any bathroom). Solar electric panels will also keep things...

Eco-upgrade to a Christchurch home

Wednesday, July 04, 2012 New Zealand > Canterbury > Christchurch

The purpose of this project was to upgrade some parts of the house while at the same time improving its overall sustainability, as measured under the Green Homes Scheme, to achieve as high a Star Rating as practical.

Solar panels in a cow paddock

Saturday, June 23, 2012 New Zealand > Marlborough

Solar panels in a cow paddock feed power to the grid from sunny Golden Bay.

Want to hear about sustainable housing opportunities in New Zealand?

Saturday, June 23, 2012 New Zealand > Auckland > Auckland City Area

t’s not too late to register for the Inaugural Sustainable Housing Summit. This is your opportunity to hear the latest in national and international thinking on green homes, participate in debate and discussion, and network with like-minded peers. We will be investigating the political, economic and technical issues facing the residential building ...

Noho Kainga at Tapu Te Ranga Marae Wellington

Wednesday, June 20, 2012 New Zealand

Noho Kainga at Tapu Te Ranga Marae Island Bay Wellington We’d like to meet people interested in living in a Noho Kainga (village) at our Marae at Island Bay (established 1974). We occupy 50 acres – it is freehold - 60% has been reforested in natives. Our aim has always been to create a co-operative – a self sustaining/ community lifestyle b...

How good is the Energywise Warm Up New Zealand: Heat Smart Scheme?

Saturday, June 02, 2012

The official results are out and it makes for some very interesting reading. The team at He Kainga Oranga have released their evaluation report of the government’s $340 million Warm Up New Zealand: Heat Smart (WUNZ:HS) programme. Perhaps the most impressive result is the bottom line 4:1 benefit ratio. Put simply that means that the estimated net...

Three Car Free Days Planned in Response to the Tauranga Oil Spill, Over the Next Three Months

Tuesday, November 01, 2011 New Zealand

Could you forget fossil fueled transport for one day? This Sunday marks the first of Three Car Free Days being launched this year in what's being labelled a 'positive, proactive response' to the Tauranga oil spill currently happening off the east coast of New Zealand. Organiser Charlotte Squire, Editor of the good news website Happyzine says Car ...

Deploying electric vehicles in New Zealand

Thursday, October 27, 2011 New Zealand

A guide to the regulatory and market environment. Electric vehicles (EVs) are an emerging form of transport worldwide which could help New Zealanders meet their private transport needs while reducing their climate change impact. The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) is assisting the introduction of EVs into the New Zealan...

Green Dream Launch Pad

Sunday, August 07, 2011 New Zealand

Got a green dream you're ready to launch? Charlotte Squire, founder of the Kiwi green positive news website HappyZine is running the Green Dream Launch Pad online course to help people dream, define, strategise and launch their green projects, businesses or careers.

Fracking for Gas in New Zealand

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

There is nothing good that can be said about fracking. In what Naomi Klein calls "extreme energy" it is one of the ways in which humanity is taking extreme risks to get fuel. But in this case they are potentially deadly -to you. And I wish I was being alarmist, but I fear not. Anna Chinn in the Otago Daily Times last week put it very w...

Click here to see the full article

The Deepening of Green: Vastu Architecture

Monday, July 18, 2011

Many years ago, I made my first trip to India after receiving permission from my Vastu mentor Dr. V. Ganapati Sthapati of Mahabalipuram, to come for studies. My wife, Karen, and I landed in Chennai on a hot afternoon and made our way to a dusty hotel near the city center. Little did I know of the heartwarming and intriguing experiences that lay bef...

Taking a safe bet: renewables

Thursday, June 30, 2011 New Zealand

We live in a world dominated by risk. Corporations obsess over it; governments are ruled by it. Those in power make decisions based on the likelihood of unforeseen events—sudden conflict, popular uprisings, disasters. As we enter the second decade of the twenty-first century, we’re beginning to see a new pattern, a new landscape of threat, emerging...

Living off the grid and off the water mains

Wednesday, June 29, 2011 New Zealand

A new house design bound for Christchurch promises its occupants can live off the grid and off the water mains. A warm home that provides its own water and power and costs only about $10 a week to run? It sounds like a dream, particularly in disaster- struck Christchurch. But a Waikato couple say they have designed just such a home, and are b...

Warning that wind farms could blow the earth off its orbit

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Coal lobbyists warn that wind farms could blow the earth off its orbit if too many of the devices are installed globally.

Magnetic South

Thursday, June 09, 2011 New Zealand > Canterbury > Christchurch

From Rhys Taylor (www.sustainableliving.org.nz) The web project is organised by my former colleagues at Landcare Research, Lincoln, using software that has been tested internationally and now locally (I had a preview). It asks what would make Christchurch an attractive place to live in or move to, 10 years from now? By starting in the future it he...

Chinese eco-city to model cutting edge technologies

Tuesday, June 07, 2011

Plans for a new eco-city south of Beijing were unveiled on Thursday by former Australian prime minister John Howard. Located in Langfang in the Hebei province, the 30 square kilometre development will feature a theme park and an exhibition centre, designed to be the world’s largest with over 1.3 million square metres. Green space will flow throu...

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New qualification in Natural Building

Tuesday, May 31, 2011 New Zealand

While building using natural materials was certainly the norm in pre-industrialised societies, modern day construction methods have favoured energy intensive and highly processed materials. Now, however, a growing awareness of the impacts that our buildings can have on both human health and the environment have led to an increased demand for more...

The Oil Crunch (Must watch video on OIL)

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Australia's ABC Catalyst travels from Paris, to London, to the outer space like world that is deep sea drilling, to find out where we stand with our oil supply.

The Problem With GMO (genetically modified organisms)

Monday, May 16, 2011

David Murphy of Food Democracy Now interviews Dr. Don Huber, Professor Emeritus of Plant Pathology, Purdue University on discovery of new organism and crop disease, livestock infertility and threats to U.S. food and agriculture.

Open Source Ecology

Thursday, April 28, 2011

The Global Village Construction Set (GVCS) is a modular, DIY, low-cost, high-performance platform that allows for the easy fabrication of the 50 different Industrial Machines that it takes to build a small, sustainable civilization with modern comforts.

Sustainability explained through animation

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

A short animated movie which explains sustainability.

Nuclear Power: Good or Evil?

Friday, April 15, 2011 New Zealand

With the recent radioactive catastrophe at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan the merit of building nuclear reactors to meet our rising energy demands is again in question. Prior to Fukushima the world had gone on a nuclear spending spree and there are now over 440 nuclear plants dotting the planet with a further 65 plants under constructio...

The Kai Rakau Project - “Mother Orchard” of 3000 fruiting trees and native plantings

Thursday, April 07, 2011

The Kai Rakau Project, currently being developed by Emma Williamson and Savannah Carter-Green, is a community based project with view to create a “Mother Orchard” of 3000 fruiting trees and native plantings, in Sanders Reserve, Paremoremo, Auckland, New Zealand. Kai Rakau has been granted Land Owners Consent to use a portion of the 100 acre res...

The hidden cost of driving

Thursday, April 07, 2011

It’s time to consider a better way to get from A to B. We’ve been chugging around in our combustion engine powered cars since the oil began pouring out of the ground and Henry Ford’s factories started massing producing affordable cars back in the early 1900’s. Around 60% of our fossil fuel usage goes to powering our vehicles. Back then it made sen...

Town Planning for a better Christchurch

Friday, April 01, 2011 New Zealand

With the recent destruction in New Zealand’s second largest city it’s a good time to think about sustainable town planning. While existing cities often require expensive ‘retrofits’ of environmentally friendly features, there is an opportunity in Christchurch to begin with a semi-clean slate. Town planning is often short-sighted and does not take ...

Eating to save the planet

Sunday, March 27, 2011

What if we could eat fresh, local, great tasting food and save the environment while doing it? We hear so much in the news these days about the deteriorating state of the global environment and most of us would like to play our part in correcting this imbalance. What if, by being more conscious of the food we choose to put on our dinner plate we co...

Our homes, our egos, and our environment

Saturday, March 26, 2011

I think I’ve discovered the root cause of all our environmental ills. Okay, that might sound like an outrageous claim, but let me explain. The particular villain I blame for mankind’s relentless attack on the planets eco system is our Collective Ego. The more I investigate, the more I see the fingerprints of this villain everywhere. Take for exam...

A primary school with a green roof

Monday, March 07, 2011 New Zealand > Otago > Queenstown

A New Zealand green roof company has put a small Queenstown Primary School on the international map by becoming the first school in New Zealand to wear a ‘green roof’. Remarkables Primary School, a newly built enviro school, is one of a handful of schools throughout the world who can boast a green roof, which doubles as an outdoor classroom. ...

REFIT NZ Update

Monday, February 28, 2011 New Zealand

Eight weeks ago the first decade of the new millennium has ended – a decade that brought about an enormous change to the energy sector. An increasing number of people, from Joe Average to some leaders of the worlds largest businesses, have begun to realize that fossil oil, coal and gas are finite resources we can less and less count on to satisfy o...

Dealing with Christchurch Quake Sewage

Sunday, February 27, 2011

This is a message to all those in Christchurch without adequate sewerage from Transition Towns NZ. "I have asked a permaculture teacher if there is a better way to deal with it than by burying in it or digging a long drop or using a chemical toilet. The answer from Bryan Innes is this, so please pass it on to anyone you know. "T...

New Awards for Best and Worst NZ Packaging

Wednesday, February 02, 2011 New Zealand

Wanaka Wastebusters are proud to launch the Unpackit Packaging Awards for the best and worst packaging sold in New Zealand stores. “We’re really excited to open nominations for the awards today,” said project manager Sophie Ward. The Unpackit website www.unpackit.org was launched yesterday. One of the first nominations for the best packaging awar...

Green Star NZ PILOT Custom tool framework

Tuesday, January 18, 2011 New Zealand

Seeking your feedback on the Green Star NZ PILOT Custom tool framework The NZGBC are pleased to announce the release of the Green Star NZ PILOT Custom tool framework for stakeholder consultation. The NZGBC receives regular interest from developers/clients/project teams who wish to get their buildings rated under Green Star, however their buil...

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