Oh the joys of living in Sardinia where time works in a totally different way to the rest of Europe.
Last Tuesday when we met the geometra, he was going to have the new plans drawn up this week but, unsurprisingly, that hasn’t happened. He still has to go to the comune (town hall) to sweet talk to his friends into letting us have some leaway on the building regs. Then once he’s sweet-talked them, he has to sweettalk the neighbours who ended up with a roof in their house. He candidly told us this in a meeting tonight when she should have been discussing the next step. Clearly 24 hours in Euro-time is about 1 hour in island-time.
In the meantime, I’m collating as much information as possible on eco-housing. The upside of not having a house and being able to build from scratch means that we can make it as ecologically sound as possible. With the new finanziaria, or budget law, from Prodi’s goverment having just come into play, renewable energy attracts 50 per cent tax deductions which makes it a far more attractive option. I’m also tempted by the idea of a living roof. However, that translates as ‘tetto verde’ in Italian, or green roof, so I suspect they may just think we intend to paint the roof green.
I just can’t believe how non-green Sardinians are. We have temperatures of 20 degrees in winter and endless days of blue skies and sunshine – all ideal conditions for having solar panels. And yet eco-friendly building just hasn’t come into play. But I guess that is only to be expected on an island where they leave empty wine bottles, crisp packets and cigarette ends on the beach. I’m going litter-picking tomorrow to stop it washing into the sea.
4 responses so far ↓
Jason // January 23, 2007 at 3:22 pm
There is a new show here in the States on the HGTV network called “Living with Ed”. It’s a “reality” show about the actor Ed Begley, who is an extreme environmentalist. His house is powered by solar panels and even his stationary bike! There are some highlights and articles on the site below.
Check it out:
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/pac_ctnt_988/text/0,,HGTV_22056_56190,00.html
Emma Bird // January 23, 2007 at 3:36 pm
Jason
That’s a great show and a great site. Grazie mille. I’m going to add it to my blogroll so that everyone can benefit from it.
Ciao
Emma
Ken // February 1, 2007 at 4:33 pm
I agree with the solar panel bit..but as I recall when living in Italy you were actually taxed if you had solar panels..what a joke really. Also if you ran your car on GPL (gas) you had to pay more road tax.
As for the beaches, well it is endemic in Italy I am afraid but especially in places like Sardegna and Sicily the level of rubbish on the beaches is terrible. In Sicily it is a disgrace and in places it is impossible to swim unless you like to ce accompanied by plastic sacks, tampons and cigarette butts.
Emma Bird // February 2, 2007 at 10:31 am
Hi Ken
Yep, you’re right. But luckily the goverment is seeing sense now and there are financial incentives for most improvements if they ensure you are cutting energy needs by 50 per cent. As for Sardinia, the sea is clear here. It’s just some beaches that have lots of rubbish on. Where I live, the beaches are also cleared every day in the summer. It’s the winter that causes the problems.
I believe on of the reasons for this is that Italians aren’t big readers and many don’t read newspapers or watch the news on tv. So, if they don’t read or hear about the need to clean up on the pollution front, they aren’t going to be aware.