Ten Rules (Characteristics)--The Practicalities:

1. Low energy consumption / high performance
2. Facilitate renewable energy equipment and products
3. Recycle, eliminating waste and pollution
4. Low Energy production cost and Embodied energy
5. Longevity and Accommodate change
6. Total life cycle costing
7. Responsive to Context or Place: all designs must be respectful of existing social and environmental norms as this speaks to a method / approach and not design style.
8. Health and Nature
9. Community and Social Connectivity
10. Social and Community Development: Considerations should always be made to construct all buildings and structures with local materials and products using skilled craftsmen, artists and artisans from the community to create spaces and elements that can be identified, thus creating a place of intrinsic value.

ECCO LINK:
www.eccokidz.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=215:10-rules-for-s ustainable-architecture-in-jamaica&catid=63:green-by-design&Itemid=197

Talk about low energy consumption...

Liter of Light, a sustainable lighting project, aims to fix the problem of no easy source of direct sunlight using old soda bottles:
http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2011/07/letting-the-light-in.html