Text by Ian Hall Photos by Emran Taib, Melissa Cornejo and Ian Hall See original post on Wild Asia's RTA blog. Responsible tourism at its best can allow us to trial a lifestyle that may counter the ecological crisis and bring us closer to nature. At Nikoi Island in Indonesia guests are separated from their air conditioning and consumer gadgets and provided instead with a low-energy beach front house without walls. The luxury here is to be able to smell the sea from your room, to be able to hear the insects as you sleep and enjoy...

Energy efficiency isn’t normally a consideration in building Malaysian homes, which is why it came as no surprise that the first good example I have found was built by Expats who called their home Cooltek. Harry and Stephanie Boswell decided that retirement in the tropics was more appealing than in the UK. They moved to Melaka in Malaysia, bringing everything with them including a brand new Toyota Prius and their environmentally friendly philosophy. The brief for Cooltek was simple. It must be air-conditioned to give respite...