Note from the Netherlands
I just attended the launch event of a 5 year project called Living Green which is funded by the European Union with to renovate five historic landmarks using advanced green techniques and integrating them into the architectural idioms of 5 European cities. We toured the White Rose Foundation building in Delft, where this shindig took place. It’s a 17th century brick structure, 2 stories, about 10 rooms, now gutted on the inside but in the process of an insulation upgrade, and with solar thermal integrated into a back courtyard to create a lovely solarium; when complete, it will use about 20% the energy that it did at the outset.
Han Brezet, Ph.D. of the Faculty of Design Engineering, opened the program with a fresh definition of sustainability as “the possibility that human and other life will flourish on the planet forever,” through technologies that are far less energy and materials intensive, and through benchmarking and innovation so that we continuously learn to design what we need without unintended negatuve consequences. His “tour de technology” covered mobility devices such as a PV powered scooter, furniture with stunning combinations of high-tech and natural materials, and fun experiments like the dance floor, designed by students, which contains lights that are powered by the motion of the dancers.
Our walk through the White Rose opened up one more dimension. In this empty old building was housed an exhibit on solar technologies, created by students at The Solar Lab, a project of Technical University Delft. There were bike lights, backpack covers, patio lights and a charging system in a lightweight container for use on boats, that also keeps your electronic equipment dry. The tour was led by a confident twenty year old.
Various European partners are renovating everything from old industrial spaces to a stable in France, documenting their processes to create a manual, involving the schools and universities. This is an up-and-coming area in the construction industry with job-creation potential, including summer jobs for youth. When complete, each of the centers will be a residential complex with an educational center included.
The vision is compelling. The economics are challenging in terms of investments needed before the economic leverage begins. To balance pragmatism and healthy opportunism, Sustainable Hudson Valley is going to work with this partnership on a small funding proposal to create an online communications platform that can share knowledge about green renovation of old buildings, and other technology issues related to sustainable cities. That will allow us to build a realistic partnership, and hopefully to support similar projects in Hudson Valley cities, from the Basilica Industria in Hudson to the Carnegie Library in Kingston.

As we prepare for a 2009 of new national leadership and New York’s celebration of 400th anniversary of Hudson’s landing, opportunities are coming into focus for knowledge-sharing by inviting some European guests to visit our communities, and bringing local leaders over for a taste of the creativity in play here. We will be working with the Cartesius Institute based in Friesland, which is a sustainable innovation partnership of the Netherlands’ three technical universities; the Netherlands Institute for City Innovation Studies in The Hague; and the International Institute for the Urban Environment in Delft.

While capital and confidence are in short supply in our economy, imagination does not seem to be handicapped. This is where we are putting our faith.