Overview The aim of this project is to construct an environmentally and economically self-sustainable village that could support a population

of 480 by the banks of the Physt River, in Washington State, USA, with an initial budget of $160 million USD, later increased to $182.4 million USD. As stated in the projects information sheet, the site for the village was on virgin territory, and classed as an area of outstanding natural beauty (more detail on that later), surrounding a small tidal delta inside which there was a small tributary leading into the Physt. Just south of the site there is a 112 road, which is useful for linking the soon-to-be-built community to the rest of the world. Ecological and geological surveys showed that the area would be suitable for construction. This sounds ideal, but, due to the sites status as an area of outstanding natural beauty, there were several imposed limitations that we had to work around. These were that no heavy industry could be moved into the area, no buildings could be more than two stories high, at least 60% of materials must be sourced locally, and that impact to the local ecosystems must be minimal. The Experts The experts that we chose were R. Rachnid, Professor Corn, Chris Botanic, Sgt. Jones, Envirotreat and Energy Dynamic. They did not prove to be very useful, so we did not utilise any information that they gave us, preferring to do the research ourselves. Construction We decided, after consideration, to construct the village just north of the Tree Farm road as possible, for both environmental and economic reasons. From an environmental point of view, there is less plant life close to the road (the land constituting woodland of medium thickness), and a much lower tree density than deeper in the wood. Thus construction next to the Tree Farm Road would require less deforestation, and result in a lesser impact on the local ecosystems. From an economic point of view, less woodland to clear costs less money, so construction next to the road would be considerably cheaper than placing it right in the middle of the woodland, or by the bank of the river. For the record, both of these ideas were considered, but were scrapped because large amounts of land would have to be respectively cleared of thick woodland, or drained, both costly processes that would impact heavily on the local ecosystems. Constructing next to the Tree Farm road also means that we have to construct fewer roads ourselves, saving even more money. The village will be placed into a small an area as possible, for the reasons given above, and also to facilitate an easy life for the residents by keeping everything within walking distance. The village will not, however, contain the bare minimum in terms of commodities, as the plan is to make it a potential tourist attraction by providing entertainment facilities such as a cinema and shops, not to mention holiday cabins. All of these, along with essentials such as a medical centre, police station and administrative buildings will make the village into a self-sustaining community. A real problem was materials and construction. Naturally, we decided that the trees that will be cut down in order to make space for construction will be used

as a local source of wood (as a construction material). In order to do this the trees, after logging, will have to be shipped to an external processing plant, which could prove to be a logistical and financial difficulty, then the processed material shipped back. Housing We decided, in the end, that we will be constructing 215 good specification low-energy houses at 81,000 ($128,582) each. The houses all have modern, up-to-date insulation, double-glazed windows and thick doors, all of which reduce heating costs and thus the amount of energy required and CO2 emitted (using 6800kW of energy per year, 23.6% less than the average American household). Each house will have a set of 12 solar panels installed on the roof (each set costing $4760 and rated at 2.94KW). The solar panels will produce electricity and improve the image of the village as an environmentally sustainable development. On top of that, the solar panels will be provided by Solarworld USA, a locally-based firm. Solar panels will also be fitted onto the roofs of other buildings, such as shops, the police station, the cinema and so on. Electricity Production Our first consideration was a carbon-neutral, renewable source of electricity. Thus we thought it would be a good idea to harness wind power (this filling in the required criterion of carbon-neutrality), but due to height restrictions (two stories, and the average wind turbine being roughly 120 metres tall), this proved to be unfeasible. Our second idea for a renewable source of energy was to construct a hydroelectric dam. Our line of thinking was that a hydroelectric dam would not only produce enough electricity to power the village, but also a huge excess which could be sold back to the American equivalent of the National Grid (thus making the village more economically viable). It could also provide jobs for residents. However, this too proved to be impossible as it was beyond our budget, and, moreover, tampering with the river was forbidden (except to construct a small pleasure boating marina, or some such small venture). Eventually it became a choice between constructing a small nuclear power plant or a field of solar panels, and eventually the latter was decided upon. We calculated the costs of constructing a solar field (the panels provided, yet again, by Solarworld USA) Waste As the village produces all of its own electricity, the CO2 output is next to nothing (though vehicles have to be put into consideration). In regards to human waste, Every single building is connected to the villages sewage pipeline, which runs to an environmental treatment centre of proportions capable of handling the waste output of 625 people (thus capable of handling the additional waste of any visitors, tourists or holidaymakers). It will dispose of waste matter in an environmentally friendly, low-energy manner, and has been placed a tasteful distance from the village, in the middle of the forest, so to screen it in a both visual and olfactory manner.