The project starts with the fact that in countries like Germany an unacceptable high amount of energy and materials is processed, circulated and degraded, and that tremendous environmental impacts (not necessarily on the territory of Germany) are related to these turnovers. In order to change that situation it is necessary to modify lifestyles and consumption patterns, beside other measures like increasing technical efficiency. In our study we take an existing and proven community of around 70 people living together since the end of the Eighties as an example to clarify how such a community might contribute to a more sustainable lifestyle and what are exactly the reduction potentials realized. We focus on three so-called demand sectors: food, mobility, and housing. Two other initiatives, an eco-village and an estate (Gutshof), are also taken into consideration in order to refer not only to one example of the whole spectrum of alternative institutions. As a reference base we refer to two small families and analyze related energy and material fluxes, and in addition information from statistics about medium household consumption is included.

With these investigations we hope to contribute to a better understanding of the interrelationships between lifestyles and environmental impacts, and to the analysis of the practicability of alternative modes of living.

The environmental impacts, expressed as amount of green-house gas emissions, are calculated using "eco-balances" and life-cycle assessment. These numerical results help to discuss systematically further possibilities for improvement and what has been / can be achieved in view of the main goal: contributing to sustainability strategies. However, numerical results are only one side of the coin, and a qualitative evaluation method is applied in a second step. There, six dimensions covering aspects like adaptability, security, efficiency etc. are used to assess the state of a system, in our case production structures and consumption patterns. This evaluation will give us a more comprehensive picture of the state of quality of life in the communities and the reference families. Typically, states far from sustainability show deficiencies in several of these dimensions.

Further working packages cover the interweaving of the communities with regional production and supply networks because the cut-off of delivery changes seems to be one possibility for contributions to a more sustainable supply structure. Beside these more technical aspects also empirical research is part of the project dealing with questions like recognition and acceptance of the community in the region and the location where it is situated, that is the local authority and people living in Niederkaufungen. Also, people who left the community as well as people who were initially interested in joining but then decided not to, are to be asked about their motives and doubts.

A final activity in the project will be dissemination of results and concepts. We want to analyse which constituents of the community's lifestyle could possibly be generalised and might provide a basis for modifying predominant practices in industrial society. In order to give support to that, also workshops and information booklets will be worked out.