In Russia many families, especially former military, young people and refugees, do not have a place to live. We must find new ways to solve this problem.

"Ecodom", a program based on the idea of constructing environmentally sound, individual homes, was established in 1989 in Novosibirsk, Siberia, to address this problem. The program is based on the experience of many similar projects in other countries as well as on local Siberian traditions.

The goal of the program is to strengthen local technological capacity to build energy-efficient, environmentally sound and affordable individual housing for low-income people.

Eco-houses reduce environmental pollution by reductive the consumption of energy, using renewable sources of energy, and recycling organic wastes and waste water. When a person constructs such a house for himself, he not only provides himself with housing, but he also helps to solve environmental problems. Environmentally sound and affordable individual homes can become an important tool for preserving of the environment in the hands of mankind.

Over 9 years we have accumulated experiences from around the planet and learned about local technologies and traditions. Now we are ready to build our first eco-village.

ECODOM, the Institute of Thermophysics, and GIPRONII with support of the UN Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat), will organize in Novosibirsk a conference on environmentally sound housing in Siberia, September 29 - October 2, 1998.

The basic themes of the conference:

• Eco-houses and the UN Program on Sustainable Development
• Eco-villages around the world
• Energy Efficient and Solar Architecture
• Alternative Energy Sources for Environmentally Sound Housing
• Energy Efficient Technology: Water and Solid Waste Management, Biointensive Waste Utilization, Heating Systems
• Energy Efficient Minitechnology of Building Materials Production and Housing Construction
• The Economics of Energy Efficient Ecohousing
• Ecological training, education; eco-tourism as means of transfering ecological information

Unfortunately, we cannot cover travel and accommodation expenses for conference participants. Nevertheless we hope you can find a way to join us.

We hope to promote cooperation among Russian participants and to attract participants from other countries.

Please let us know as soon as possible whether you can accept our invitation to the conference. If you agree to make a presentation, please, send a summary of your presentation (up to 1 page) as soon as possible. Presentations should be 15 to 30 minutes.

Yours sincerely,

Dr. Igor Ogorodnikov
Prof. Sergey Alekseenko
Sergey Milovzorov

Address:

Igor Ogorodnikov
ECODOM
ul. Nikolaeva, 8, 307,
630090, Novosibirsk,
telephone: 7 (3832) 34-46-29
E-mail: [email protected]

Message received by CCSI: June 2, 1998

Center for Civil Society International [email protected]