An Australian carbon positive prefabricated house believed to be the world’s first – designed by Archiblox – has made the top ten finalists for an international sustainability accolade, the Sustainia Award, which will be announced at the upcoming climate change conference in Paris.
Sustainia is a Danish think tank that hosts the Sustainia Awards, which are judged by former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and other high-profile environment figures. The Archiblox project beat 1,500 other submissions from around the world to make the top ten.
A prototype for the carbon positive prefabricated house created by architect Bill McCorkell and builder David Martin, directors of Archiblox, was on display in Melbourne’s City Square from 8 to 15 February earlier this year. The one-bedroom home has a floor space of 75 square metres and is said to achieve less than zero carbon emissions by using recycled water and harvesting solar energy to contribute back into the grid. It also manages temperature changes through the strategic use of sunlight, an earth berm wall, and a green roof.
The Sustainia awards program takes submissions from around the world to find projects, solutions or technologies that have significant potential to create a more sustainable future.
More than 1,500 projects were submitted for the award and an initial list of 100 projects, Sustainia100, was selected before the final ten were chosen. Other projects that made the list of ten finalists include solar-powered hearing aids with open source design, a 3D solar potential mapping tool and an urban design project in Chennai, India, that aims to dramatically change the city’s streets to prioritize walking and cycling.
Each year the winner of the Sustainia Award is selected by a committee, and the winner of the Sustainia Community Award is selected through a popular vote. This year, the award-winning projects will be announced at the international climate change conference in Paris on 6 December.
The Sustainia Award Committee for 2015 is made up of the former governor of California/actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Christiana Figueres, the former European Commissioner for Climate Action Connie Hedegaard and the former chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Dr. Rajendra Pachauri.
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