For those people wondering if The Green Village actually has green villagers, the answer is yes. Since the beginning of October the first permanent residents have moved into their apartments, hereby bringing the total population of The Green Village to two.

Having people living at The Green Village, is part of the Living Lab testbed, which forms the test facility for all kinds of innovations related to the living environment. These first two testbed buildings are designed together with Sustainer Homes to be flexible, adaptable and modular, allowing the easy implementation and testing of various innovations. Companies, start-ups and / or researchers are now able to do their research and innovation project in this experimental yet real life environment. Goal is to accelerate the development of their projects, related to themes such as circular economy, new material application, innovative home appliances & services, home automation, DC grids and other sustainable technologies.

An actual living lab for sustainable innovations

One of the unique features is that this Living Lab testbed offers contributing parties the opportunity to gather quantitative and qualitative data on how real people interact with new technologies. Furthermore a specific innovation can be tested and demonstrated in a bigger system context. And since the regulatory regime at The Green Village provides room and space for radical new innovations, this is an interesting location to build, test en demonstrate new solutions for a sustainable future.

Students actively involved

The main target group living in the first two apartments are students. DUWO, Dutch largest student housing corporation is responsible for letting the studio’s. In November the next two testbed building are to be expected. The Green Villagers that moved in the first weekend of October 2017 are two TU Delft students. Even though the students are now literally living in a test-facility, all parties involved are keen to make them feel at home. And in case something goes wrong during testing and experimentation, which they know is part of the deal, help is available at any moment. The students got assured these tests at least will not happen during their exams.

Click here to read more about the experience of the students so far.