Hi, welcome to the Mediterranean Climate - my name is Livia Tirone and I am the coordinator of the Sustainable Construction® Team.

For more than 20 years, we have been working on mainstreaming sustainable construction and refurbishment in this climate region.I am in Portugal, one of the countries on the Planet that is lucky to enjoy the privileged comfort conditions of the Mediterranean Climate. But I could be anywhere along the coastal zones bordering the Mediterranean Sea, central and southern California in the US, North Mexico, coastal Western Australia and South Australia, the Chilean coast and the Western Cape region in South Africa.

All these regions have a very favourable combination of temperature, solar radiation, rain and wind and are ideal environments for Humans, animals and plants to live and prosper. Before the industrial revolution, our ancestors skillfully created buildings that were responsive to the Climate, and carried the best it had to offer into their homes. Contemporary homes, however, have became more and more alienated from Nature and fail to provide end users with health and comfort – even when the climate is pleasant!It is our view that this should be considered a serious offence! Not only because even in the Mediterranean climate, people die during summer heat waves and during winter cold spells, but also because more than 40% of the energy we produce worldwide goes towards making buildings livable. What a waste of resources if we consider what is possible!

What we would like to talk to you about is exactly what can be done! In many of the regions where the Mediterranean climate prevails, there are good buildings we can learn from! Year after year these buildings show us that sustainable construction provides excellent indoor living conditions, while relying only minimally on natural, finite resources. Even though buildings can last several centuries, refurbishment is often a “once-in-the-lifetime” event, and as such should be made the most of.We feel Sustainable Construction and Refurbishment must urgently become common practice – this is a win-win-win situation for the inhabitants, for the construction sector and for the Planet alike.

Over a period of 20 years, the Sustainable Construction® Team has created the benchmark buildings that were essential to demonstrate the benefits of Sustainable Construction to end users and to policy makers, making it perfectly achievable as a Goal. Now the team focuses on disseminating the acquired know how, making it available to all decision makers who influence the quality of the built environment.

With your support we will develop an e-book in Portuguese and in English. We will also develop a dynamic “e-Tool of Thumb”, which will help you make the right decisions when you build or refurbish your home, to increase health and comfort while reducing your energy and water bills and while improving the environment.

You can support us by joining the Sustainable Construction® Community online and by funding this project. As I would my board of directors, I am pitching You this project to raise US$20,000, a budget that will cover translation and updating the Portuguese book into the English e-book as well the creation the “e-Tool of Thumb”, to reach all the locations where the Mediterranean Climate prevails.

Support us and tell your friends!