Primum non nocere

Shouldn't there be some form of Hippocratic Oath for planners, designers and architects?

It is as tragic as it is absurd that we are eating the dust of Europe and Asia in the development of green technology. Take this light 'triple-zero' house in the EU that produces more energy than it uses.

Overlooking the city of Stuttgart in southern Germany, a four-story modern glass house stands like a beacon of environmental sustainability. Built in 2000, it was the first in a series of buildings that are "triple-zero," a concept developed by German architect and engineer Werner Sobek, which signifies that the building is energy self-sufficient (zero energy consumed), produces zero emissions, and is made entirely of recyclable materials (zero waste).

Since the construction of the first triple-zero home, Werner Sobek's firm of engineers and architects, based in Stuttgart, has designed and built five more in Germany, with a seventh planned in France. The energy used by these buildings, including the four-story tower where Sobek resides, comes from solar cells and geothermal heating.

The most recent addition to triple-zero house raises the bar for energy efficiency: It produces more energy than it uses.

The rest of the story: Lightweight 'triple-zero' house produces more energy than it uses by Carina Storrs (Scientific American 2009-12-05)