How much CO2 does a family emit? It depends on many factors: how large the home is, what temperature the air conditioning is set to in summer, how often the car is used — and the list could go on. Whatever the answer, these greenhouse gas emissions can be calculated, reduced and offset thanks to Impatto Zero, the pioneering project launched by LifeGate in 2001. One very special family has also made this choice: the family of little Alessandro, who are preparing to move into what will not simply be a home, but a platform for innovation and sharing, free of barriers: Ale's house.

Ale's house

It is 2016 when Alessandro, at the age of 4, is struck by a virus that triggers an extremely rare condition known as acute flaccid myelitis. Since then he has been tetraplegic and on artificial ventilation. Once the first, gruelling period was behind them, his parents set themselves a very pragmatic mission: to do everything possible to allow Alessandro to grow up in peace. From this was born an idea that at first seemed visionary but gradually became more and more concrete: Ale's house, in which every space would be designed specifically around his needs. With the location chosen (Villa Guardia, in the province of Como), a network of partners established and all administrative requirements fulfilled, renovation work began in autumn 2021. The timeline calls for the building to be ready to welcome Alessandro, his parents and his sister Gaia in summer 2022.

A concept house dedicated to disability

It soon becomes clear how a project of this kind is capable of changing the life of Alessandro's family for the better — but not only theirs. "We want to create a concept house in which to test technologies that are useful for people with disabilities. The house will be open to visits by appointment, both by private individuals and by architects," explains Marco Meroni, Alessandro's father. The idea already has the backing of a substantial group of partners who have made their products and services available, from home-automation systems to household appliances, from solar panels to flooring. All of them suited to Alessandro's needs, as he moves about in an electric wheelchair. But Ale's house will be a permanent laboratory. "We are creating a network of companies precisely because we would like to develop new solutions and make them scalable — useful for others too," Meroni continues.

A family going Impatto Zero

The Meroni family's electricity consumption is considerable, because there is a great deal of medical equipment that little Alessandro cannot do without. "We asked LifeGate for advice and found that Impatto Zero is a very interesting way of offsetting the environmental impact of our lifestyle," Marco Meroni recounts.

Any family can estimate their own carbon footprint using a free, easy-to-use CO2 calculator. Question by question, the Meroni family discovered they emit around 12,572 kg of CO2 per year, with 54 per cent linked to diet, 32 per cent to mobility and the remainder, to a lesser extent, to their home and energy consumption. How to offset them? By protecting 11,106 sq m of forest in Madagascar for one year. And why Madagascar specifically? Because, by virtue of its geographical position and its characteristics, it is home to extraordinarily rich biodiversity, with numerous endemic species.

LifeGate has been working on the island since 2008, in collaboration with the volunteer ecological wardens, the Alfeo Corassori "La vita per te" association and the Ministry of the Environment. In the Ilena reserve, for example, more than 115 hectares have been planted and protected. Alongside the purely forestry interventions, the project plans to renovate the former leper-colony village, the road and the electricity network, as well as build a small dam and sink wells for the cultivation of algae. 280 hectares have been reforested and protected in the Mananby reserve, and 13.5 (for fifty years) in the Vohitsampana reserve. In all these cases the involvement of the local population makes a real difference, because it ensures that the forest is not only restored to health but, in the medium and long term, becomes a driver of development, growth and wellbeing. For this reason, the management of the Anjà nature reserve and the Antsanitia reserve has been entrusted to the inhabitants of the local villages.

Impatto Zero is an opportunity open to everyone — citizens and businesses alike. For the Meroni family it has represented the closing of the circle. Because a project like Ale's house, so focused on the rights of all, cannot lose sight of the fate of the planet. "If individualism wins out, my son will find certain possibilities closed off to him. It is essential for him to be part of a society that knows the true values of life, such as respect, inclusion and the protection of the environment in which we all live," Marco Meroni concludes.