Amsterdam a new self-sufficient colony infopost

The outskirts of Amsterdam will soon have a new community of 100 homes that have the vocation to be completely self-sufficient: ReGen Village, a neighborhood designed so that its inhabitants can produce their own food, generate their own energy, and manage their own waste in a complete circle. The project, which wants to be a pioneer in self-sufficiency, has been promoted by the Californian company ReGen Villages, which presents itself as the Tesla of eco-housings, together with Danish architectural studio Effekt.

The colony will have an area of ​​15,500 m2, in which houses of different sizes will be built that will have vegetable gardens, water tanks, a greenhouse and solar panels. According to the promoters, the houses will use a combination of the most advanced agricultural techniques to produce organic food with few resources. These methods include aquaponics, an agricultural system that uses up to 90% less water; aeroponics, a process for planting without the need for soil; edible forests; or high-yield organic agriculture. The entire project is based on permaculture, the philosophy that integrates housing and landscape to save materials.

All waste that can be composted will be used to feed cattle or soldier flies. The soldier flies will feed fish, and the waste from the fish will be used to fertilize an aquaculture system that will produce vegetables and fruits. Seasonal orchards will be fertilized with cattle manure. Power will also be self-sufficient with a mix of geothermal, solar, solar thermal, wind, and biomass. As can be foreseen, the energy will be used to power electric cars.

The one in Almere, a town 20 minutes by train from the center of Amsterdam, will be the first of several similar colonies that ReGen plans to build around the world. Construction will begin this summer and is expected to be completed in 2017. The developers say they have similar projects planned for other parts of northern Europe (in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Germany) and are studying how to adapt it for more arid climates in the Middle East.< /h3>