Definition of Leanness
Paolo Soleri used Leanness to measure a society's commitment to frugality. The aspiration to leanness and frugality is described in his vision of the Lean Hypothesis, Lean Society and Lean Alternative. A function of leanness is basically how a efficient a society is consuming resources so that the people still live well without destroying the ecological fabric that we depend on for life.
History of Leanness at Arcosanti
By most anecdotal measures early, pre-internet Arcosanti was much more "lean" than the present day one, so in the sense of per unit consumption Arcosanti has actually become less of a model of Leanness. For example in the 1970s there was only one phone line and TV for the whole site. Arcosanti still has fewerTVs than the mainstream, but they have become much more common of late. The rate of computers, internet and phone service (including mobile devices) is at near parity with the mainstream. Similarly car ownership/use was much less at the beginning of the project. Onsite food production is no longer a real priority for the foundation, with minimal funds dedicated to developing a significant agricultural operation onsite. There are reports that now idle fields and gardens were utilized to produce a significant amount of the site's food needs up until the late 80s and early 90s.
The Disconnect between the Lean Society Arcology Vision and Arcosanti Reality
Current Indicators of Leanness
Attempts to measure the Lean Alternative at Arcosanti have been limited. Unfortunately, the Lean Alternative at Arcosanti has been slow to unveiled. Part of the inconsistency may have to do with Soleri's own ambiguity with regards to firmly endorsing a more self-reliant approach to local economic development that focuses. The imperative of reducing dependency on large scale, top down, highly rationalized, globally oriented, capitalist corporations just seemed to became less and less of a priority. This explains why there has been no real progress in the core areas of sustainability/leanness at Arcosanti in the last 30 years.
The below items are possible improvement areas that can be incorporated into the Arcosanti Strategy to improve "site leanness:"
Put a moratorium on the number of units featuring room or window air conditioners has continued to grow which has significantly increased the site's power load in the hot month
Return to a freeganism culture that included growing food onsite collecting from donated food from area and minimizing institutional food distributors.
Minimize unnecessary media such as phones, TVs, computers, etc and the infrastructure to connect them with the mass media such as internet networking and phone equipment as well as satellite TV receivers.
Place moratorium on onsite car ownership and use
Insulate and redesign buildings to conform to passive solar design standards so that conventional propane heating and electric space heaters for heating spaces can be phases out
Develop alternatives to Concrete in new construction and better design projects to minimize the use of cement as well as seek out alternatives to eventually phase out the use of cement.
Ecological Footprint
An Analysis of the above items can be done by a Ecofootprint analysis so that we can have empirical data on how sustainable or lean Arcosanti is. This can help guide the formulation of a strategy to move Arcosanti towards becoming a showcase prototype for the Lean Alternative. A strategy should emerge that seeks to identify the low hanging fruit in terms of least cost improvements that bring the quickest return on investments or pay back.
Potential Key Systems for a Lean Arcosanti
Part of a Arcosanti Strategy should include improving Arcosanti in terms of the key components of what it takes to create a lean society prototype habitat/ecovillage considering ecological designs and appropriate technologies such as solar hot water, rainwater collection, renewable energy and biomass nutrients recycling.
Biomass Nutrients Recycling - This includes a mapping out of all biomass flows and the setting of goals to ensure zero waste. Currently Arcosanti uses flush toilets that go into a sewage lagoon. We might consider a Living Machine built into one of the Energy Apron Greenhouses. Ideally this would all be gravity fed with the water from the top of the hill down to the greenhouses processing the blackwater into nutrient rich fertilizer for a organic hydroponics system
Water Conservation and Rainwater Collection - There are plans for rainwater collection at Arcosanti but it has to go hand in hand with serious conversation efforts. That's a sticking point because Soleri has some nostalgia for grass and other non-native plants that require a lot of water. Also there is currently serious water conservation plan in place that includes replacement of toilets and other plumbing with low flow systems. Until we reduce the per person water production dramatically, water collection systems will not be able to significant impact on supply.
Sustainable Food Production - Currently there is a focus to complete a prototype of the Energy Apron. In this process we will conduct studies to evaluate the feasibility of the larger scale implementation of the Energy Apron Greenhouse.
Green Building Materials - Green building should include the use of local materials in the construction of Arcosanti and a careful analysis of how to build Arcosanti with the least ecological impacts.
Renewable Energy - A five year goal in Arcosanti's strategy could and should include the reorganization and refocusing of Arcosanti so that it can five years from now state concrete progress in reducing energy consumption while also boosting local production of renewable energy