Eco-minimalism

Book excerpt: "In this age of 'eco-bling' where sustainability becomes yet another buzz word and people rush to technically fix green badges to their unsuspecting buildings, not all 'green' additions to buildings are necessary. Eco-minimalism: the antidote to eco-bling is timely in highlighting more realistic and cost effective approaches to becoming 'green' and in showcasing 'eco-minimalism' - a good-housekeeping approach to ecological building design and specification, involving apparently non-glaringly obvious strategies such as insulation, draught-proofing and the use of healthy materials. This book aims to expose the pitfalls of ‘greenwashing' in an immediate, visually-arresting and authoritative way. The intention is to present basic tenets in a quickfire, highly accessible format that is deliberately not technical or in-depth. A number of case studies support its central message, that the scattergun, 'Christmas tree' approach should be ditched in favour of 'eco-minimalism' – the holistic, considered and appropriate deployment of building science in support of truly ecological, affordable sustainable architecture for everyone." - product description.