Ecobreves – CUBA: First Eco-Friendly Apartment Block

By - - and IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

HAVANA, Jun 6 2011 (IPS) - Construction has been completed on Cuba’s first "green" apartment building, equipped with technology for the more efficient use of water and electricity, thanks to a project supported by the government of Norway and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). The 16-unit apartment block was built in Havana by the Cuban Technical Center for the Development of Construction Materials (CTDMC). "It will benefit the environment and contribute to saving water, which is scarce in Cuba," Anne Heidi Kvalsøren, first secretary at the Norwegian embassy in Cuba, told Tierramérica.

The building will be inaugurated after Norwegian experts have tested and certified the technology used, she added.

The building is equipped with tanks for the collection and treatment of sewage for use as fertilizer and for the production of biogas as a power source for external lighting.