corus system - carbon zero, neutral or greenwashed?

I couldnt let the Corus ad on the Building website go without comment.
Is the Corus Confidex Sustain® zero carbon, cradle to cradle, building envelope systems nothing more than elaborate greenwash? It would appear the claim of being carbon zero (and occasionally zero neutral in the same marketing) is based soley on carbon offsets.  A case [...]

bloggers greenwash kit

Thanks to Mel over at Elemental for pointing out the Greenwash Guide (pdf) at Futerra - very timely as I prepare for a workshop today.
Now we have the10 signs of greenwash,  six greenwash sins,  and greenwash misleading adverts regulations.

Eco town locations revealed - but is it all another greenwash?

The government has released today the short list for Eco Towns, and they are:

Bordon, Hampshire
Coltishall, Norfolk
Curborough, Staffordshire
Elsenham, Essex
Ford, West Sussex
Hanley Grange, Cambridgeshire
Imerys, Cornwall
Leeds city region, West Yorkshire
Manby, Lincolnshire
Marston Vale and New Marston, Bedfordshire
Middle Quinton, Warwickshire
Pennbury, Leicestershire
Rossington, South Yorkshire
Rushcliffe, Nottinghamshire
Weston Otmoor, Oxfordshire

isite has commented on the viability and concept of Eco-Towns on many occasions, and along [...]

sustainable connectivity

A new look for isite with a new image on the top banner(*). I like this design as it includes a RSS button - to get isite delivered to your desktop, and a search facility to search back through isite items.
But a little more too. After reflection on this blogs contents and [...]

coal - a great green scam?

Continuing the coal theme (seam?) … for an astute insight to the coal issue in the UK read George Monbiot’s article Burnt Out, on his blog and published in todays Guardian.

Hanham Hall … eco-village

At the weekend I visited the Hanham Hall exhibition, set up to inform local residents of the development. A nice chat with the project lead gave a nice feeling that this is an exciting project, yet I still have a feeling that this is not quite the direction to go…
Focus seems to be on [...]

oh no Darling …

In December 2007 Alistair Darling was quoted as saying:
“Sustainability will be at the heart of the next Budget.
This is not an optional extra. It is essential for all our futures”
So was it? - well hardly, pale green, maybe, at its best - but with the focus on plastic bags - just another greenwash exercise. [...]

isite weekly round up 3rd March

What a week for sustainability related news.
I should try and get to do more weekly round ups - the last couple of weeks have been quiet on the blog posts so here are things that hit my radar last week. (The WordPress linking seems to be broken at the moment - so [...]

Eco … build, homes, villages and towns - pah… greenwash?

James Meikle’s article in yesterdays guardian paints a picture of growing concerns and gaps in the thinking behind the current push towards ‘eco‘ villages and towns.
As a flagship for the huge number of homes to be built and eco towns to be created, Northstowe, if the Guardian report is correct has problems:
As the town takes [...]

Code level 6 too easy ? - go to level 7 or beyond

Following on from earlier posts (whats wrong) on this site where I raised the question that Level 6 of the Code for Sustainable homes was seemingly too low a standard - as Barratts and Eddie Shah, and others, already claim they can achieve it , apparently without doing to much different, it is encouraging to [...]