Vancouver Olympic Village: Greenest Neighbourhood in the World

You'd have expected that the Vancouver Winter Olympics would have made every effort to ensure that the Olympic site and village was as eco-friendly as possible, but the Olympic organisers have gone one step further - by creating the greenest neighbour in the world in the Olympic village.

The village, called Millennium Waters, is the athletes' village and is located on Southeast False Creek across from the BC Place Stadium. This week, it was announced that the site would receive LEED Platinum Certification for the entire neighborhood as well as LEED Gold status for all of the buildings included.

Elite club

The Olympic village is only the second neighbourhood to receive the distinguished LEED Platinum status. The first was also in Canada - Dockside Green in Victoria, British Columbia. That 95-combo home community received its award after using sustainable aspects in every part of its design including Biomass gasification (the use of wood-waste to create all heat energy and hot water), improved insulation and high performance glazing, energy-efficient fixtures, on-site waste water treatment plant, green roofs and a naturalized creek.

Likewise, the Olympic village boasts some state of the art eco-systems such as a renewable energy heating system and a net zero energy building.

As well as featuring natural and non-toxic building materials, the apartments also feature devices capable of measuring the energy and water used by the occupant.

The site also uses rainwater "to help flush the toilets and the entire complex is heated by sewage. Renewable energy systems, like solar panels and solar hot water systems generate power for the households and there is even a net-zero energy building on the site. The neighborhood is a true mixed-use complex with both residential as well as commercial and plenty of common use spaces and gardens."

It is a far cry from how the site originally started - as a former industrial site. Today, the Olympic Village is currently housing 2600 athletes, however once the Games are over individuals will be able to buy the state of the art condos as homes.

Relevant articles:

LEED certified buildings: Not as green as they claim? | Boston Arcology floating city | Making construction greener, brick by brick

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