rethinking …

Anyone who has attended one of my presentations or workshops over the last 10 years or so will be aware of my attachment to a great quote from Albert Einstein “we cannot change today’s problems with the same patterns of thought that created those problems in the first place”
Initially this was used to rethink the [...]

zero carbon Britain ??

Following on from yesterdays post on the Lib Dem’s vision for a zero carbon Britain… one with no fossil fuel cars and a zero carbon built environment by 2050 -Leo Hickman considers the implications in today’s Guardian and rightly points out that the Lib Dems may have stolen the clothes from the other parties, albeit [...]

Lib Dems view on low carbon housing

In what will most likely be the first of many reports, papers and manifestos as we approach conference season and elections, the Lib Dems have set out their vision of a zero-carbon Britain by 2050 when it published the most ambitious blueprint for climate change reform ever produced by a mainstream political party. (Guardian article [...]

Local council leading the way with green technology …

Interesting link and article over at edie.
Also worth following the link there to powerperfector , a voltage optimiser device supplier, which contains, amongst others the following ‘testimonial’:
Energy Manager Wigan MBC Legal and Property Services

‘We have recently installed two powerPerfector’s (a 420 kva and a 280 kva), at our Market Hall in Wigan. [...]

the real cost of green building?

A recent report identified high levels of awareness of the issue of sustainable building but low levels of specific knowledge and involvement. It identified three key barriers to addressing energy efficiency in buildings
• Lack of information about building energy use and costs
• Lack of leadership from professionals and business people in the industry
• Lack [...]

Understanding the Merton rule…

There has been a lot of coverage on the Merton Rule this week, with zero champion over at sustainability blog covering events.  here  and here  now, a further article in today’s Guardian attempts to clarify … or not.
Why is this important?
The so called Merton Rule wa introduced by Merton Borough and requires, as a planning [...]

CIBSE Carbon clean up for existing facilities …

CIBSE are repeating their carbon clean up 100 day programme again this year, starting on the 12th Sept. Sign up and get help, advice and tools to help you reduce your carbon footprint.
Programmes like this are important as they address carbon and environmental issues of our existing building stock.

Construction work prices to soar 34% over next five years

From today’s Building daily news :
Rise in PFI and Olympic works will see tender prices grow 2.5 times faster than inflation says report
The price of construction work is expected to surge ahead of inflation over the next five years.
Tender prices are forecast to rise 34% compared to an expected inflation rate of 13%, according to [...]

Certificates don’t cut carbon emissions, people do

Comments to the HIPs post led me to this fascinating site … worth a browse … into the world of HIP’s EPC’s and DEA’s
and check out the blog and podcasts

climate change? … dont worry we have a cunning plan … the moon

If we carry on, business as usual, not making the carbon and environmental targets within the timespan  scientists tell us we must act withi, then all is not lost.  There is another nearby planet we can start all over again on according to the National Geographic Website
 ’Lunar Ark’ Proposed  [...]