When Vancouver hosts thousands of athletes and personnel during the upcoming 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Canada, the city plans to do so in a sustainable, eco-friendly manner. Vancouver wants its Athlete's Village — which is actually two villages connected to one another — to fall in line with the LEED energy standard, meaning the project will most likely be more expensive than it needs to be, but ultimately better for the environment, and for the people who live there.

The first portion of the village to be completed will have 16 buildings that account for an area 1.4 million square feet large and shoot for some lofty goals. The community will use alternative sources to gather water, for instance, by way of a rainwater collection system that'll also irrigate the greenery in the streets and on roofs. Each building will be equipped with solar panels, have underground parking and use the latent heat of sewer pipes under the Village as part of a heat exchange system.

These techniques represent sustainable architectural methods that help reduce the buildings' impact on the environment, as well as free them from public utility dependencies.

Vancouver 2010, via Inhabitat