Posted on May 16, 2008 by fairsnape
Barratt Developments has unveiled what it calls the first zero-carbon house developed by a volume housebuilder, built at the Buildings Research Establishment in Watford, packed with the latest technology, including solar panels, rainwater harvesting and an air source heat pump.
Its new kind of concrete walls and floors, combined with super insulation and triple-glazed windows, means [...]
Filed under: News, carbon, carbon footprint, comment, energy, housing, sustainability | Tagged: Barratts, route2zero, zero carbon homes | No Comments »
Posted on May 16, 2008 by fairsnape
Zero carbon homes in 100 words.
The UK Green Building Council released a report this week defining what a zero-carbon house should be in practice. Download from here
Still to read in detail but on first read appears to be a welcomed, considered and helpful guide, with a time-line to help organisations on a route to zero.
There [...]
Filed under: carbon, comment, construction, energy, housing, route2zero | Tagged: code level 6, route2zero, zero carbon | 1 Comment »
Posted on May 15, 2008 by fairsnape
Paul at ExtranetEvolution carries the news that Constructing Excellence is to restructure, maybe even downsize to focus on delivering value to membership.
Constructing Excellence has announced an organisational restructure to enable a sharper focus on its core business of delivering value to its membership.
Over the last two years, Constructing Excellence has moved from its original Government [...]
Filed under: comment, construction | Tagged: collabor, collaborative working champion, constructing excellence | No Comments »
Posted on May 13, 2008 by fairsnape
Within a month of the release date for the UK Construction Sustainability Strategy ( due 11 June) we see another initiative announcement from government:
a parliamentary enquiry into the greening of existing offices, shops and warehouses, aimed at providing industry leaders and public figures the opportunity to contribute evidence that will go into the final [...]
Filed under: comment, green buildings, sustainability | No Comments »
Posted on May 13, 2008 by fairsnape
Welcome to Sherford, the Prince of Wales’s south Devon ecotown for 12,000 people, which has recently been granted planning permission. With a typical car based high street.
I read recently if you take the basic elements of a sustainable community - living, shopping, working, leisure etc and move them outside of the walk zone, then [...]
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Posted on May 8, 2008 by fairsnape
I have been talking about building within second life recently to a number of people and groups. Without actually experiencing second life it is difficult to grasp how individuals, all working from computers in different countries can work collaboratively to design and construct a building.
The following time lapse video may go some way to [...]
Filed under: collaborative working, comment, second life, virtual worlds | No Comments »
Posted on May 8, 2008 by fairsnape
I attended Think08 yesterday afternoon, visiting some of the free seminars and chatting to a good number of exhibitors. It was also good to meet up with fellow bloggers Phil, Mel, Paul, Rob and Casey for an early evening drink.
My impressions from the afternoon was that it didn’t quite have the buzz of last [...]
Filed under: built environment, comment, facilities management, links, resilience, sustainability | Tagged: eco-towns, Think 08 | No Comments »
Posted on May 5, 2008 by fairsnape
Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and
implement solutions to the environmental crisis.
Patagonia’s Mission Statement
I have mentioned Patagonia the outdoor clothing organisation a few times before on this blog, and recently searching for a model CSR policy or statement for a Masters course I am in part delivering, went [...]
Filed under: CSR, blogs, comment, ecological, green buildings, innovation, links, sustainability | Tagged: Patagonia, Yvon Chouinard | No Comments »
Posted on May 5, 2008 by fairsnape
Green, innovative and zero carbon project development on our doorstep in Preston, Lancs, !
The RIBA have recently awarded a zero carbon design as the visitor center at the new Brockholes Wetland and Woodland Nature Reserve in Preston, to regenerate a former quarry site into a major visitor attraction.
The project called “A Floating World”, consists of [...]
Filed under: Local News, News, carbon, carbon footprint, comment, construction, ecological, education, energy, green buildings, innovation, sustainability | Tagged: brockholes, floating world, preston | 2 Comments »
Posted on May 1, 2008 by fairsnape
How green is your data center? Stumbled upon an amazing post and comments over at The It Sanctuary
According to figures from IT market research company Forrester Research, a data centre with 2,500 servers - relatively small compared to many out there - will devour enough electricity over the course of one month to power 420,000 [...]
Filed under: CSR, IT, comment, energy, facilities management, housing, waste | Tagged: Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR, ISO 14001 | 2 Comments »