Quotes of the Day

At the Beddington Zero Energy Development in South London, they're shouting their environmental credentials from the rooftops. Tidy little lawns sprout on top of each house — helping to insulate the buildings — as pastel-colored cowls swivel in the breeze, gently ushering fresh air into homes and offices while funneling stale air out. Solar photovoltaic panels soak up the sun — even on cloudy days — contributing to the development's overall power mix. Most of the community's heat and electricity come from a 130-kW generator fueled by timber clippings and similar waste from landscaping work.

The Beddington eco-village (BedZED for short) is Britain's premier sustainable housing estate. Why? Because it's carbon neutral: the community's energy use and production releases no extra carbon dioxide into the environment. "We wake up every morning and think we're on holiday," says resident Steve Tabard. His neighbor, Danny Burrage, says that outside BedZED, "I don't know anybody who has a flat on the second floor with a conservatory and a garden. The kids love it."

BedZED won its place at the top of Britain's green living charts because it's a pioneer in microgeneration — the local production of clean, renewable power by individuals and small communities to meet their own energy needs. As evidence of global warming increases, microgeneration is touted as a sustainable alternative to the fossil fuels that help form greenhouse gases. Conservationists argue that only clean energy technologies derived from wind, solar, wave and other natural power sources can ensure a healthy environment and sustainable economic growth. Micropower is far less of an imposition on the landscape, though, than big wind farms and solar arrays, and it's also part of a growing trend toward local production of goods and services, including energy. "Mini-wind turbines and solar arrays should become familiar household fixtures," according to Joanna Collins, author of the British environmental think-tank Green Alliance's A Microgeneration Manifesto. "These new technologies cut greenhouse-gas emissions [and] provide reliable energy supplies."

Microgeneration forces architects and builders to think green from the start. Homes in the three-year-old BedZED development, for instance, are south facing and fronted by conservatories to capture natural heat and light. There's no need for central heating because thick brick walls are heavily insulated, and windows are double- and triple-glazed, helping to retain the heat produced by domestic activities such as cooking. As a result, fuel bills can be as little as 10% of those for traditional houses of similar size. Lighting is low energy, too, and water-saving washing machines and low-flush toilets are standard. Solar panels can also recharge the batteries of electric cars, though there are as yet few such vehicles on the road.

Green Alliance wants the government to make it easier for individuals to use these technologies. "For this to happen," says policy officer Tracy Carty, "the government needs to commit to planning, building and energy policies that can support microgeneration." Critics, including many in the nuclear industry, fault microgeneration as inefficient, uneconomical and overly romantic — too small-scale to power industry or to make much of a dent in greenhouse gas emissions. Many want a fresh look at the nuclear option, arguing that it is one of the cleanest ways to produce power. Microgeneration fans disagree. Jeremy Leggett, ceo of Solarcentury, Britain's leading solar photovoltaics company, thinks nuclear power is risky and that a combination of dwindling oil reserves and global warming will eventually propel microgeneration technologies into the mainstream.

Widespread use may be years off, but microgeneration is starting to catch on. In Goudouras, a small seaside village in southeastern Crete, Greenpeace helped set up Greece's first grid-connected solar power unit, at the local elementary school. The solar system mollified residents who opposed plans for a potentially environmentally harmful oil-powered plant in nearby Atherinolakkos.

In Spain, the agricultural town of Cuéllar, in the central province of Segovia, generates hot water and heating for 250 homes by burning pine bark and other wood residuals. The system, using no fossil fuel and similar to BedZED's wood-burning plant, also heats an indoor swimming pool, a cultural center and a school. Spain now produces 7% of the world's solar photovoltaic energy, and solar sources are "growing at a 50% clip per year," says Javier García Breva, director of the Institute for Energy Diversification and Savings, the government body responsible for promoting and subsidizing renewable energies. Local authorities are even reviving some of the tiny, forgotten hydroelectric plants that dot the Spanish countryside.

In Portugal, the BioRegional Development Group — the independent British environmental organization that started up BedZED — and the global conservation organization wwf are working with a developer to create a "one-planet living" ecotourism project south of Lisbon. Using 100% renewable energy and creating a transport network designed to virtually eliminate private cars, the Mata de Sesimbra development will combine a 4,800-hectare cork-forest restoration project with a 500-hectare tourism development. Based on their experiences with BedZED, BioRegional and wwf will be incorporating similar innovative ecological elements into the Portuguese project. They don't plan to stop at Europe's borders, however. Next stop: energy-hungry China.

• Maryann Bird
• Forget the national power grid. Small communities are starting to make their own energy from clean, renewable, local sources