The ‘Tesla of Ecovillages’ Is Building Self-Reliant Villages for the Coming Billions

In an interview at Singularity University’s Global Summit in San Francisco, James Ehrlich shared insights on how combining lessons from nature with new technology is pushing sustainable housing into new frontiers.

Ehrlich is the founder of ReGen Villages, a company that spun out of Stanford University and is building the “Tesla of ecovillages.” Ehrlich is also Singularity University faculty and won the Global Grand Challenge award in the shelter category at last year’s Global Summit.

These sustainable neighborhoods integrate renewable practices in food, water, energy, and waste management to create self-reliant communities in which all essential needs for a healthy life are met within the footprint of that community.

“The idea is to take energy positive homes and add infrastructure that is actually regenerative. What that means is that the output of one system becomes the input of another,” said Ehrlich. “We think this is the best solution for the next two to three billion people coming to the planet in the next 30 years.”

Watch the full interview and learn how biomimicry and other lessons from nature are helping build more resilient and sustainable neighborhoods.