Plans to build an environmentally friendly housing development in Goritsa, west of Athens, aimed at slashing household energy needs, have been approved by Aspropyrgos council.

Katerina Vouza, head of town-planning studies on Aspropyrgos council, told Kathimerini yesterday that the idea for the green construction project came up as part of a town-planning study being prepared for the area.

“We have satisfied the need to relocate residents from the industrial areas,” said Vouza.

“Why shouldn’t the new housing area be based on energy-efficient architecture? We are living in a period where saving energy and protecting the environment is necessary,” she said.

Buildings are considered responsible for consuming 40 percent of total energy production in Greece.

Similar housing complexes abroad have resulted in more efficient power management with each house having its own solar power energy panels, airtight doors and windows insulated with three layers of glass.

The council’s plan envisages the construction of 100 homes in a total area covering 1.7 hectares.

The move is in line with an EU statement released yesterday calling on nations to adapt to climate change by changing the way they live and work in order to mitigate the effects of rising temperatures.

The paper also raised the possibility that entire cities may eventually have to be moved.

“Climate change is happening here and now, and we must start adapting to it,” Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said.

“For some people it is really a question of adapt or die,” he added.

The 27-nation EU aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020 relative to 1990 levels and is pushing for a worldwide agreement that would seek even higher cuts.

But at least some degree of climate change is inevitable even with efforts to halt or slow the process. Temperatures in Europe rose by almost one degree Celsius over the last century, which was higher than the global average.