Resource 4: Tlholego Ecovillage

Information sheet: The Tlholego Ecovillage

‘Tlholego’, is a Setswana word meaning:

‘creativity from nature’

The Tlholego Ecovillage is situated on 150 ha of land near Rustenburg in the Northwest Province of South Africa and was established in 1991 to address the challenge of rural sustainable development. One of their main aims is to inspire people towards more integral and sustainable lifestyles.

Tlholego has evolved through a process of practising, learning and teaching sustainable approaches to land use, housing, food security and cultural/social development within our local community and watershed.

Tlholego works with leading professionals from Southern Africa and around the world to develop and refine an integral model for rural settlements. The project is focused on five key areas: sustainable agriculture, cooperative economics, education, cultural/social development, and the Molokwane Iron-Age Village Conservancy [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] .

The Tlholego Building System (TBS)

The TBS is a flexible, owner-built, low-cost, high-quality housing system. It avoids the serious shortcomings of current low-cost housing construction in South Africa, while addressing environmental and resource problems that are not usually considered in South African low-cost housing. It combines the principles of sustainable building systems with natural waste treatment and the permaculture approach for designing food self-reliance. This includes using modern techniques of unburned mud brick, passive solar design, appropriate technologies of rainwater collection, compost toilets, grey-water irrigation and solar water heating.

TBS houses perform to modern standards and use natural materials to minimise damage to the environment. Although this system was conceived as a solution to the low-end of the housing market, it is in fact applicable to all sections of the housing market. It is also flexible enough to accommodate conventional building materials.

Water harvesting

Harvesting of water is a key element of any sustainable housing system. The general idea is to build up the water harvesting capacity around our house over time. The more water a household is able to harvest in this way, the greater the level of food and water security. This strategy can be applied equally well at the household level as it can at the village scale or wider catchment level. The first level of water catchment takes place on the rooftop through a gutter system into a storage tank, which is then available as a high-quality water source for drinking or irrigation. If there is insufficient funding for water tanks and guttering in the initial stages of construction, water flowing off the roof during the rainy season can be directed along the ground into tree plantings, or to food gardens around the house. Excess water can be directed into below-ground storages and used for irrigation during the dry times of the year. Wastewater is another available source of water at the household level. The TBS incorporates a grey water filtration, which cleans wastewater, so that bathroom and kitchen wastewater can be used for irrigation purposes.

Permaculture food security

There is a natural integration between the TBS and permaculture food security gardens that have been established in the immediate vicinity of the house. Permaculture is a system of producing food that integrates traditional systems of knowledge and modern science with common sense. This provides a complete food production system incorporating annual and perennial plants, small animals and useful trees. It relies on low external energy inputs. The beauty of this system is that, in addition to establishing a valuable source of healthy food, it increases the size of a family homestead’s living environment, and adds a tangible dimension of quality to a rural or urban lifestyle.

Energy efficiency, solar design, thermal mass

It is generally accepted today that housing designed with good thermal performance includes the basic concepts of passive solar design. One of the basic principles of passive solar design is the use of wall materials of high thermal mass to mediate hot and cold temperature extremes. These high thermal mass materials include burnt brick, concrete, stone and earth. A second principle of passive solar design is solar orientation, which in our case allows solar energy to enter the large north-facing windows during the winter months and to soak into the walls and floor, which then radiates back into the house during the colder evening time. In summer months, the roof overhangs prevent sun heat from entering the building and the thermal mass of the walls help to retain the coolness. With this passive solar technology for heating and cooling, residents can save up to 50–60% of the lifetime energy costs for providing a very comfortable living environment.

Another important aspect of TBS is that materials are chosen so that the overall energy embodied in them, as well as the carbon emitted into the atmosphere during their manufacture, is minimised. This, together with the long life of the buildings and ease of recyclability, produces a housing system that minimises the production of greenhouse gases, while providing a high-quality lifestyle.

Adapted from: Changemakers, Website