FIRST CITY GHG INVENTORY & SMART GREEN VILLAGES!! In 2011, Green Urban Design Center (GUDC) at U Makati started conducting 6-week workshops for officials from city’s 33 bgys , crash courses w/c introduced them to basic concepts of urban planning, sustainable landscape design & public space management, among others. 2 years after program opened, Saturday sessions have produced plans and designs worth trying for citizens , visions that can be turned into reality w/ enough funding & political will from their leaders. City Hall is considering holding a competition among bgys w/in the year—w/ a P2-M prize that can serve as “seed money” for winning village to implement the plans developed at GUDC. San Lorenzo, came up w/ rooftop gardens on their bgy halls or horizontal gardens on their walls. Other designs incorporated of energy-efficient lighting and appliances.Pitogo suggested a recycling facility, complete w/ solar panels & rainwater harvesters. Cembo proposed a neighborhood vegetable farm “Oh May Gulay! (OMG)” while Pio del Pilar suggested linear parks along Tripa de Galina. Pembo explored “adaptive reuse” of underground tunnels in the area—once part of military reservation—by turning them into tourist attractions.Lorenzo proposed “Meatless Mondays.”. Other villages pushed environment-friendly transports like electronic and pedal-powered tricycles. City govt has begun drawing up a GHG inventory based on power, water & fuel consumption & amount of solid waste generated by its residents & business establishments. Inventory gathered data starting 2011, showing govt bldngs in Makati alone produce 12 T tons of CO2 annually, Villas said. “You already know your sources, now you can have the interventions,” he said, citing the main rationale for putting up the GUDC.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Jul 2013 10:24:27 +0000