Green Building Takes Off in Turkey

turkey-eco-home leed houses istanbul photoThe global ecologically friendly building trend is taking hold in Turkey as well, according to the English-language daily Hurriyet News and Economic Review.

We’ve covered Turkey’s water agreements with Iraq, along with the country’s hard line against coastline development.

Green construction in Turkey includes waste disposal systems, solar energy, and rainwater collection, Hurriyet reports:

Reghnumj’s Astrum Towers in Haramidere will also collect rainwater. A-Z Yapı’s Meritlife Kent will utilize a system where all domestic waste will be recycled. Soyak’s Mavişehir will consist of houses that reduce heat dissipation, while Milpa’s Milpa Konutları in Esenyurt will help reduce water waste by 50 percent.

Doğa Gayrımenkul will use only wood in the construction of Doğa Meşepark, while Hektaş İnşaat’s İdealist Kent project will include a system to collect rainwater.

Hurriyet adds that in financially bad times, the energy, water and other savings from eco-homes can be up to 50 percent.

I find it heartening to read about eco-friendly towers and not just homes; this leaves hope for creating truly green walkable communities that don’t depend on cars.

Daniella Cheslow
Daniella Cheslowhttp://www.greenprophet.com
Daniella Cheslow grew up in a car-dependent suburb in New Jersey, where she noticed strip malls and Wal-Marts slowly replacing farmland. Her introduction to nature came through hiking trips in Israel. As a counselor for a freshman backpacking program at Northwestern University, Daniella noticed that Americans outdoors seemed to need to arm themselves with performance clothing, specialized water bottles and sophisticated camping silverware. This made her think about how to interact with and enjoy nature simply. This year, Daniella is getting a Master’s in Geography from Ben Gurion University of the Negev. She also freelance writes, photographs and podcasts. In her free time, she takes day trips in the desert, drops off compost and cooks local foods like stuffed zucchini, kubbeh and majadara. Daniella gets her peak oil anxiety from James Howard Kunstler and her organic food dreams from Michael Pollan. Read more at her blog, TheTruthHerzl.com. Daniella can be reached at daniella (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
2 COMMENTS
  1. The UK is supposedly classed as a well developed country so why can’t we be at the forefront of eco projects? This shows that countries that are less well off than the UK can make progress, come on Gordon Brown get off your backside please …..

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

TRENDING

Iran’s water mafia and thirst for war leaves the country on brink of being dry

Iran’s Lake Urmia, once the Middle East’s largest saltwater lake, has shrunk by 90 percent due to mismanagement, dams, and drought. As Tehran pours billions into foreign conflicts, water activists face repression at home. The crisis mirrors Syria’s drought-driven unrest, showing how water scarcity can destabilize entire regions.

Arab agricultural land is on the brink

Across the Arab world, croplands face a perfect storm of stressors. Excessive fertilizers and pesticides erode soil ecology. Poor drainage and over-irrigation drive salinization, leaving fields crusted with salt. Rising temperatures, dwindling groundwater, and more frequent sand-and-dust storms—all amplified by climate change—compound the crisis.

Make mersu, the oldest known dessert in history

Mersu is energy-dense and sweet—think of it as a Bronze Age power snack.

Iraqi Zaha Hadid’s legacy reinvented in Saudi Arabia’s clay-rooted museum?

She was the first woman and first Muslim to win a Pritzker Prize and was notorious for blowing through budgets, with no concern for environmental issues. Her clients did not find this problematic. Has the Zaha Hadad brand become penitent in its latest project?

Foot-and-Mouth Disease Is Spreading Again — What That Means for Farmers, Food, and All of Us

A new wave of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is spreading through Europe and the Near East, and experts at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) are urging countries to take urgent steps to stop it. The recent detection of an unfamiliar strain of the virus in Iraq and Bahrain has raised alarms, especially since this version, known as SAT1, is not normally found in this region.

Qatar’s climate hypocrisy rides the London Underground

Qatar remains a master of doublethink—burning gas by the megaton while selling “sustainability” to a world desperate for clean air. Wake up from your slumber people.

How Quality of Hire Shapes Modern Recruitment

A 2024 survey by Deloitte found that 76% of talent leaders now consider long-term retention and workforce contribution among their most important hiring success metrics—far surpassing time-to-fill or cost-per-hire. As the expectations for new hires deepen, companies must also confront the inherent challenges in redefining and accurately measuring hiring quality.

8 Team-Building Exercises to Start the Week Off 

Team building to change the world! The best renewable energy companies are ones that function.

Thank you, LinkedIn — and what your Jobs on the Rise report means for sustainable careers

While “green jobs” aren’t always labeled as such, many of the fastest-growing roles are directly enabling the energy transition, climate resilience, and lower-carbon systems: Number one on their list is Artificial Intelligence engineers. But what does that mean? Vibe coding Claude? 

Somali pirates steal oil tankers

The pirates often stage their heists out of Somalia, a lawless country, with a weak central government that is grappling with a violent Islamist insurgency. Using speedboats that swarm the targets, the machine-gun-toting pirates take control of merchant ships and then hold the vessels, crew and cargo for ransom.

Leopoldo Alejandro Betancourt López Turned Ocean Plastic Into Profitable Sunglasses

Few fashion accessories carry the environmental burden of sunglasses. Most frames are constructed from petroleum-based plastics and acrylic polymers that linger in landfills for centuries, shedding microplastics into soil and waterways long after they've been discarded. Leopoldo Alejandro Betancourt López, president of the Spanish eyewear brand Hawkers, saw this problem differently than most industry executives.

Why Dr. Tony Jacob Sees Texas Business Egos as Warning Signs

Everything's bigger in Texas. Except business egos.  Dr. Tony Jacob figured...

Israel and America Sign Renewable Energy Cooperation Deal

Other announcements made at the conference include the Timna Renewable Energy Park, which will be a center for R&D, and the AORA Solar Thermal Module at Kibbutz Samar, the world's first commercial hybrid solar gas-turbine power plant that is already nearing completion. Solel Solar Systems announced it was beginning construction of a 50 MW solar field in Lebrija, Spain, and Brightsource Energy made a pre-conference announcement that it had inked the world's largest solar deal to date with Southern California Edison (SCE).

Related Articles

Popular Categories