By Richard Holledge
Published: Feb 16, 2008
Check Google for the phrase "sustainable development" and 26 definitions pop up, littered with buzz words such as "preservation", "eco-system", "biological system", "resource base" and "social equity".
Though it is given only a passing reference in Google's 26 search results, many accept the Brundtland Report from the 1987 World Commission on Environment and Development as the definitive statement: "Humanity has the ability to make development sustainable - to ensure that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs."
All these words make Wayne Hemingway groan. The radical property developer and creator of the fashion house Red or Dead argues: "It's more about loving the place you live in. If you don't, no one will do anything to stop it being pulled down in 25 years' time and what's sustainable about that? If it's a lovely place and people put down roots, they will do the work themselves and care enough to put in their own solar panels."
By 2020 the number of new homes in the UK is supposed to reach a total of 3m - and all carbon neutral. To achieve those goals the British government has established a Code for Sustainable Homes with standards for energy and water efficiency that are more rigorous than the US with its federal guidelines, which are followed - or ignored - at state or community level. Read more