UNECE exhibition on sustainable housing
UNECE presented the exhibition “Building the Future We Want” at the Palais des Nations in Geneva (2012).
The exhibition displays photos of sustainable buildings and green design from the UNECE region.
Projects presented include:
The United Nations Palais des Nations, which incorporates sustainable features, such as: air conditioning insured from water from Lake Geneva, energy-efficient lighting, solar panels for the production of hot sanitary water as well as solar lamps;
The plus-energy Aspern IQ Technology Centre in Vienna, which produces more energy that it consumes;
The Green Lighthouse in Copenhagen, which is the first carbon-neutral public building in Denmark;
The High Line in New York City, a unique public park using green roof technologies which resulted from the concerted action of citizens to rehabilitate a urban neighbourhood;
The new symbol of Astana- Khan Shatyr Shopping and Entertainment Centre, resistant to both cold winters and hot summers through the use of energy-efficient technology, ensuring comfort under one vast tensile structure;
The recently built energy-efficient school in the city of Osh, Kyrgyzstan, from which energy savings are estimated to be around 40 % ;
The Pilke House in Rovaniemi, Finland, with its ecological wood construction.
The exhibit, in addition to the examples above, features sustainable design from 19 other countries, including hospitals, schools, research centres, housing and residential buildings.
Some of the projects presented include:
The American Heart Institute in Nicosia, Cyprus, which received the EU’s Green Building Award 2011, for its role as a high performing, energy saving building;
The “Efficiency House Plus with Electric Mobility” in Berlin, which is more than just a single-family home; it is a micro power plant, resource depot, research project, platform for dialogue and, last but not least, a contribution to improving the quality of the built environment;
The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research Administration in Negev Desert Highlands, Israel, which integrates a number of climatic response strategies, including internal thermal mass for heat storage and external thermal insulation to minimize heat loss;
The National Laboratory for Energy and Geology- Solar Building XXI in Lisbon, Portugal, is a building with low energy consumption, integrating solar and thermal renewable technologies and passive systems for heating and cooling.
