Post by Sherford on Mar 26, 2006 9:47:29 GMT
Healthy, wealthy and wise Inc
(Filed: 25/03/2006)
British Lohas zones
'Sustainability' used to be just for hippies. In America, it's now big business, says Oliver Bennett
John Schaeffer hasn't paid a utility bill in five years. "And I haven't been to a gas station in five years," he says. The California-based businessman is a new kind of citizen, living in an eco-house, driving a bio-diesel car, and selling solar-power products.
"I started in 1978, catering to people who lived off the power grid - basically, hippies who lived in the woods," he says. Now, he says, business is more mainstream, involving not yurt-dwellers, but ordinary folk like you, me and, indeed, David Cameron, who has appointed architect Alex Michaelis to put all manner of eco-appurtenances on to his west London home.
Mr Schaeffer is part of an American movement-cum-trade group called Lohas (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability). "It is conscious consumption, by cultural creatives," says Tracy Mallozzi, a spokeswoman for Lohas. Spending on Lohas-type goods is worth $229 billion (£130 billion) in the US every year, she adds, and about 30 per cent of US adults - some 63 million people - are Lohas consumers.
Lohas followers are interested in health, environment, social justice, personal development and sustainable living. They eat organic and Japanese food, do yoga and Pilates, sleep in unbleached cotton duvets, wear hemp clothing and drive Toyota Prius "hybrid" cars. "It's chic," says Ms Mallozzi. "It's not about looking like a sack in Birkenstocks."
And they buy houses. Ms Mallozzi cites the Californian company Living Homes, which makes what she calls the "first 100-per-cent sustainable homes". One developer is building a Lohas condo in Japan, an event significant enough to be reported by Wallpaper* magazine, which reported that in some areas of Tokyo "you can hardly move for shops selling linen tea towels, rustic cooking implements and raw ceramics".
Mr Schaeffer says that, in parts of the US, a home with a high Lohas score gains a sales advantage. "In northern California, Lohas-type homes are selling for 50 per cent extra," he says. "Appraisals [valuations] are definitely up for homes that have solar panels and other ecological fittings." Plus, he adds, they attract tax credits and incentives.
Topics at the last annual Lohas conference included "Making Sustainability Sexy". Rickie Lee Jones played guitar while speakers included film star Daryl Hannah and Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. "There's a lot of entertainment people involved," says Ms Mallozzi. "And there's a growing international dimension to Lohas."
So is it growing here? Yes, although the British market doesn't yet enjoy the Lohas sobriquet. Charles Couzens, of South West Eco-Homes (SWEH), points to the rise in Britain of the "light greens" as opposed to the more purist "deep greens".
"The light greens are our target market, which chimes well with the Lohas idea," says Mr Couzens. "They have the same busy lives and expectations as most people, but they want to live in a healthy way, with less impact on the environment." Mr Couzens started SWEH five years ago: "Our first building was in Langport, Somerset, to prove that there was a market for sustainable development."
Julian Brooks, of Green Moves estate agency - a specialist buyer and seller for British Lohas types - says he has been joined by several developers working in a similar spirit: Gusto Homes in Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire; Sunley Homes in Kent; BioRegional/Quintain in Brighton and Middlesbrough; Seldown in Poole; Berkeley Homes' EcoHomes at Shoreham on Sea; and the Living Village Trust in Shopshire. The market focuses not only on new-builds but also on green-minded refurbishers.
"The developments still tend to be relatively small - from 12 to 30 houses - but they are driven by business," says Mr Brooks. The buyers, he adds, are professionals in their thirties and forties.
Mr Couzens says he does not lose any custom catering to the Lohas crowd. "Not at all. It's classic niche marketing. I think some developers make the mistake of thinking everyone wants a standard box."
It is akin to organic food, he argues - a choice people will make if offered. René Elliott, of the London organic supermarket Planet Organic, says that about 75 per cent of households buy something organic each week. "It's growing and, whereas it was once driven by ideas such as personal health, people now cite the need to support British farmers and to avoid food miles," she says.
Increasingly, too, they are buying ethical mortgages. Last year, the Co-operative Bank's Ethical Consumerism Report found that £3.4 billion was attributed to consumers concerned about climate change, and that the "micro-generation" market - favouring devices such as solar panels - soared by 314 per cent.
"It's reached a mass," says Julia Hailes, author of the Green Consumer Guide. "There's now a large group interested in farmers' markets, green building, organics and yoga. That Lohas-type market has really increased." Ms Hailes adds that retail giants are following them: "Marks & Spencer, for instance, wants to be the prime supermarket for this kind of consumer."
"Light green" homes tend to favour a certain style: timber frames, lots of south-facing windows, open-plan interiors, low carbon temperature and light control, such as shutters. "There's a certain look to sustainable housing," says Mr Brooks. "They like shared gardens, too. It's community they're after: a revival of the 'village green' idea."
Mr Brooks has been involved with sustainable housing for six years and has seen lots of growth: "The market now brings people to us," he says. "I'd say that this year we'll see about 1,000 properties developed to high ecological standards. Next year, it'll be 2000. That's the way it's going."
But there is a slight paradox in that low-carbon, Lohas types are often counter-urban refugees who, ideally, would like off-grid autonomy rainwater baths but find that the cost is prohibitive. "In terms of sustainability, the country is a nightmare," says Mr Brooks. "Services cost more to put in, and not driving is a pain."
In fact, high-density urbanism is seen by many as the greenest way of life. "I'm involved in the development of Sherford, an extension of Plymouth, where 5,000 new homes are to be built," says Mr Brooks. "It has all the best aspects of urban living."
So lose that (organic) hair-shirt and get shopping. As the Lohas slogan goes, you too can "change the world, one purchase at a time".
British Lohas zones
The highs …
The South-East is probably the top. "After all, it is the most dense population zone," says Julian Brooks. Availability of organic juices, tai-chi and biodegradable yoga mats: high. Brighton and hinterland shows particular Lohas concentration. The South-West is, perhaps, Lohas's British heartland. "The hippie towns - Totnes, Glastonbury, Stroud - have led the way," says Mr Brooks. Bristol runs on ethical juice. Somerset has become a major zone.
The M4 corridor has helped spread Lohas ideas northwards. Shropshire, Gloucestershire and the Welsh borders are all places where a sizeable chunk of the population has heard of wheatgrass. Even Milton Keynes, says Mr Brooks, is surprisingly eco-friendly.
… and the lows
Mostly in the North. "There's a bit of a desert in the North-West, says Mr Brooks. Nor does the North-East seem particularly strong, although BioRegional Quintain aims to develop Middlehaven, a waterside scheme in Middlesbrough, based on the distinctly Lohas premise of "enhanced health, happiness and reduced household expenditure". It would be wrong to write off Yorkshire entirely: the old mill town of Hebden Bridge, is a hotbed of Lohas-type activity.
Contacts
The 10th Lohas conference is on April 26-28 at The Fairmont Hotel, Santa Monica, Ca. For further information, see www.lohas.com. Green Moves 01308 455715; www.greenmoves.com. South West Eco- Homes 01458 259400; www.swecohomes.co.uk.
(Filed: 25/03/2006)
British Lohas zones
'Sustainability' used to be just for hippies. In America, it's now big business, says Oliver Bennett
John Schaeffer hasn't paid a utility bill in five years. "And I haven't been to a gas station in five years," he says. The California-based businessman is a new kind of citizen, living in an eco-house, driving a bio-diesel car, and selling solar-power products.
"I started in 1978, catering to people who lived off the power grid - basically, hippies who lived in the woods," he says. Now, he says, business is more mainstream, involving not yurt-dwellers, but ordinary folk like you, me and, indeed, David Cameron, who has appointed architect Alex Michaelis to put all manner of eco-appurtenances on to his west London home.
Mr Schaeffer is part of an American movement-cum-trade group called Lohas (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability). "It is conscious consumption, by cultural creatives," says Tracy Mallozzi, a spokeswoman for Lohas. Spending on Lohas-type goods is worth $229 billion (£130 billion) in the US every year, she adds, and about 30 per cent of US adults - some 63 million people - are Lohas consumers.
Lohas followers are interested in health, environment, social justice, personal development and sustainable living. They eat organic and Japanese food, do yoga and Pilates, sleep in unbleached cotton duvets, wear hemp clothing and drive Toyota Prius "hybrid" cars. "It's chic," says Ms Mallozzi. "It's not about looking like a sack in Birkenstocks."
And they buy houses. Ms Mallozzi cites the Californian company Living Homes, which makes what she calls the "first 100-per-cent sustainable homes". One developer is building a Lohas condo in Japan, an event significant enough to be reported by Wallpaper* magazine, which reported that in some areas of Tokyo "you can hardly move for shops selling linen tea towels, rustic cooking implements and raw ceramics".
Mr Schaeffer says that, in parts of the US, a home with a high Lohas score gains a sales advantage. "In northern California, Lohas-type homes are selling for 50 per cent extra," he says. "Appraisals [valuations] are definitely up for homes that have solar panels and other ecological fittings." Plus, he adds, they attract tax credits and incentives.
Topics at the last annual Lohas conference included "Making Sustainability Sexy". Rickie Lee Jones played guitar while speakers included film star Daryl Hannah and Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. "There's a lot of entertainment people involved," says Ms Mallozzi. "And there's a growing international dimension to Lohas."
So is it growing here? Yes, although the British market doesn't yet enjoy the Lohas sobriquet. Charles Couzens, of South West Eco-Homes (SWEH), points to the rise in Britain of the "light greens" as opposed to the more purist "deep greens".
"The light greens are our target market, which chimes well with the Lohas idea," says Mr Couzens. "They have the same busy lives and expectations as most people, but they want to live in a healthy way, with less impact on the environment." Mr Couzens started SWEH five years ago: "Our first building was in Langport, Somerset, to prove that there was a market for sustainable development."
Julian Brooks, of Green Moves estate agency - a specialist buyer and seller for British Lohas types - says he has been joined by several developers working in a similar spirit: Gusto Homes in Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire; Sunley Homes in Kent; BioRegional/Quintain in Brighton and Middlesbrough; Seldown in Poole; Berkeley Homes' EcoHomes at Shoreham on Sea; and the Living Village Trust in Shopshire. The market focuses not only on new-builds but also on green-minded refurbishers.
"The developments still tend to be relatively small - from 12 to 30 houses - but they are driven by business," says Mr Brooks. The buyers, he adds, are professionals in their thirties and forties.
Mr Couzens says he does not lose any custom catering to the Lohas crowd. "Not at all. It's classic niche marketing. I think some developers make the mistake of thinking everyone wants a standard box."
It is akin to organic food, he argues - a choice people will make if offered. René Elliott, of the London organic supermarket Planet Organic, says that about 75 per cent of households buy something organic each week. "It's growing and, whereas it was once driven by ideas such as personal health, people now cite the need to support British farmers and to avoid food miles," she says.
Increasingly, too, they are buying ethical mortgages. Last year, the Co-operative Bank's Ethical Consumerism Report found that £3.4 billion was attributed to consumers concerned about climate change, and that the "micro-generation" market - favouring devices such as solar panels - soared by 314 per cent.
"It's reached a mass," says Julia Hailes, author of the Green Consumer Guide. "There's now a large group interested in farmers' markets, green building, organics and yoga. That Lohas-type market has really increased." Ms Hailes adds that retail giants are following them: "Marks & Spencer, for instance, wants to be the prime supermarket for this kind of consumer."
"Light green" homes tend to favour a certain style: timber frames, lots of south-facing windows, open-plan interiors, low carbon temperature and light control, such as shutters. "There's a certain look to sustainable housing," says Mr Brooks. "They like shared gardens, too. It's community they're after: a revival of the 'village green' idea."
Mr Brooks has been involved with sustainable housing for six years and has seen lots of growth: "The market now brings people to us," he says. "I'd say that this year we'll see about 1,000 properties developed to high ecological standards. Next year, it'll be 2000. That's the way it's going."
But there is a slight paradox in that low-carbon, Lohas types are often counter-urban refugees who, ideally, would like off-grid autonomy rainwater baths but find that the cost is prohibitive. "In terms of sustainability, the country is a nightmare," says Mr Brooks. "Services cost more to put in, and not driving is a pain."
In fact, high-density urbanism is seen by many as the greenest way of life. "I'm involved in the development of Sherford, an extension of Plymouth, where 5,000 new homes are to be built," says Mr Brooks. "It has all the best aspects of urban living."
So lose that (organic) hair-shirt and get shopping. As the Lohas slogan goes, you too can "change the world, one purchase at a time".
British Lohas zones
The highs …
The South-East is probably the top. "After all, it is the most dense population zone," says Julian Brooks. Availability of organic juices, tai-chi and biodegradable yoga mats: high. Brighton and hinterland shows particular Lohas concentration. The South-West is, perhaps, Lohas's British heartland. "The hippie towns - Totnes, Glastonbury, Stroud - have led the way," says Mr Brooks. Bristol runs on ethical juice. Somerset has become a major zone.
The M4 corridor has helped spread Lohas ideas northwards. Shropshire, Gloucestershire and the Welsh borders are all places where a sizeable chunk of the population has heard of wheatgrass. Even Milton Keynes, says Mr Brooks, is surprisingly eco-friendly.
… and the lows
Mostly in the North. "There's a bit of a desert in the North-West, says Mr Brooks. Nor does the North-East seem particularly strong, although BioRegional Quintain aims to develop Middlehaven, a waterside scheme in Middlesbrough, based on the distinctly Lohas premise of "enhanced health, happiness and reduced household expenditure". It would be wrong to write off Yorkshire entirely: the old mill town of Hebden Bridge, is a hotbed of Lohas-type activity.
Contacts
The 10th Lohas conference is on April 26-28 at The Fairmont Hotel, Santa Monica, Ca. For further information, see www.lohas.com. Green Moves 01308 455715; www.greenmoves.com. South West Eco- Homes 01458 259400; www.swecohomes.co.uk.