Elemental

These are my links for December 21st through December 27th:

• Waking Up from the ‘Nightmare on Tech Street’ – O’Reilly Radar – "maybe we've reached the pinnacle of waste in our consumer culture. I do wonder if we will look back at the past few decades as a kind of sick aberration rather than a golden age, with good times we want to get back to. Like Saul, I'm hopeful that we can get rid of the waste, and get back to creating things of lasting value."
• Government to cap cost of zero carbon to housebuilders – Building – "Paul King, chief executive of the UKGBC, said: “Simply offsetting emissions in nearby existing homes through energy efficiency improvements is not a solution – we need radical action in both new homes and existing homes; it's not an either/or. We urge government to stick to its guns. A 'zero-carbon home' built using this mechanism would not be doing what it said on the tin.”"
• NYT: No Furnaces but Heat Aplenty – Passivhaus gets a write-up in the New York Times. Good, balanced piece, with drawbacks as well as benefits listed (not suitable for large or north facing, internal environment feels a bit spaceship like). Also mentions Europe heading to Passivhaus by 2011.
• Cognitive Edge – liberty is the recognition of want – "…the human response to the commons historically has been enclosure and feudalism. I see no reason to change that judgement; in a world of increasing resource restriction it is the most likely model that will emerge. I would also argue that you already see its early modern form in multi-nationals. CEOs have the absolute power of medieval monarchs, Vice Presidents mange their estates and occasional unite to overthrow the King. Serfs (contractors) and Freemen (tenured employees) all have their role and there even incidents of droit du seigneur. Countries and international bodies have a similar role to that the Papacy."
• Sustainable Development in Government Assessment – This is the seventh annual Sustainable Development in Government (SDiG) assessment, examining central government's performance against the operations and procurement targets and commitments of the Framework for Sustainable Operations on the Government Estate (SOGE). It is based on data provided by departments for the period 2007/08, and is undertaken by the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) – Government's independent advisor and watchdog for sustainable development.
• Paul Miller » Blog Archive » “Representative democracy was based on the idea that people are thick” – "The infrastructure of representative democracy, which in the UK is really political parties, is struggling far more than people recognise. I don’t think it would take much for any of the political parties to collapse very quickly because alternative ways of organising and financing are very close to having the same efficiency as parties."
• BD+C White Paper Takes a Hard Look at Green Building, Climate Change – Green Building Blog – Jetson Green – Good review of the paper which is sitting in my in-tray for reading right now…
• ‘Green’ consultations costing industry millions – "She said that research by consultant Grace Bennett from JDS Associates indicated that a total of 12 consultations had been undertaken by various government departments on zero carbon homes and the Code for Sustainable Homes since 2005. She pointed out this was equivalent to one consultation per zero carbon home built so far."
• What’s old is green | Gristmill: The environmental news blog | Grist – "Before the thermostat age, he likes to say, which lets us command internal temperature and climate with a press of a button, "the things we built had to be green, otherwise you simply couldn't live there." In hot climates, homes had to naturally cool themselves. In cold climates, they had to trap the heat. And this happened by design, with architectural elements that these days may seem like decoration, but once had form that came from function."…"One other ingredient that makes a house green, an often overlooked ingredient in sustainability: lovability. It can be solar as all get-out, but if you don't love it, you might be tempted to tear it down and start over. "If a building can't be loved," Mouzon says, "it can never be completely green.""
• Estidama – Launched in May 2008, Estidama, which means 'sustainability' in Arabic is Abu Dhabi's sustainable buildings and communities program and aims to ensure sustainable design, operation and maintenance of all types of buildings and communities in the Emirate.
• Riba Practice – Riba Journal – Jon Goodbun shakes up the political agenda over at RIBA Journal with a review of be2camp: "Technology is not in itself inherently progressive, of course. It is entirely possible that these ‘trendy web tools’ could end up supporting more unsustainable capitalist development. However, new technology is always in some sense ‘up for grabs’ – it is always a site of political and social struggle – and it was clear that for many of the delegates at be2camp 2008, these tools were part of a broader intellectual shift towards a ‘networked ecological human-planetary systems’ paradigm, which, it was argued, must form the essential infrastructure of any modern future post-capitalist sustainable society." awaiting outraged letters of complaint…
• ArchNewsNow – Best Architecture Books of 2008 – Review of Irena's book: "Bauman Lyons Architects, How to be a Happy Architect (Black Dog Publishing, $40). The jive title is simply an obvious bait to get you to buy a book that is really about how to be an architect happily profiting from an integrated practice. The case for integrated design here is a bit intellectually lightweight, but this combo advertisement for the UK’s boldest firm of recent years attached to a manifesto for integrated design is an entertaining read. The bile directed against design competitions will make you smile – even if you beg to differ. "
• The Stupidity of Government Intervention – You Decide « Keeping Ahead of the Oil Curve – "Intervention kidnaps money that would otherwise be available to businesspeople and entrepreneurs… and it invests it in places that businesspeople and entrepreneurs would never put their money… like uncompetitive car companies or failed banks. Then it creates unintended consequences that make everyone poorer."
• Sustainability and the role legislation has to play « – Enjoying XCO2's new blog, including: "A lot of legislation can lead to alienation of designers and the whole sustainability design process can become a “box-ticking” exercise for architects and engineers. This can result in repetitive solutions and the stifling of innovation, for example, the proliferation of biomass boilers in the London area to meet the aforementioned renewable targets. The increase in wood-burning biomass boilers has also led to another weakness of legislation, unforeseen circumstances. Biomass boilers typically have NOx emissions five to ten times greater than condensing gas boilers, a negligeable issue in low density areas, but a concern in inner-city areas, which may start seeing an increase in NOx levels due to the propagation of biomass."
• OGC – The Public Sector Construction Database and the Econometric Model – The Public Sector Construction Database (PSCD) was developed to collect data on future public sector construction programmes and projects for analysis and reporting, in a web-based and real-time format. The database aims to provide visibility of public sector demand and spending patterns in order for the demand side to take cognisance of the effect of public sector construction demands on their projects and programmes and the supply side with intelligence to inform their investment decisions.
• Cadalyst Online PlanRoom :: Log In – The Cadalyst Online PlanRoom is a secure, Web-based project management system, offering 1GB of free, easy-to-use, time-saving tools to help you collaborate and streamline projects by centralizing plans, large-format drawings and associated small files in one place.

mel starrs News

These are my links for December 19th from 12:35 to 12:35:

• Wind, water and sun beat biofuels, nuclear and coal for clean energy, study finds – Death knoll for nuclear and biofuels? Case study is for cars rather than buildings, but an interesting study: "Jacobson has conducted the first quantitative, scientific evaluation of the proposed, major, energy-related solutions by assessing not only their potential for delivering energy for electricity and vehicles, but also their impacts on global warming, human health, energy security, water supply, space requirements, wildlife, water pollution, reliability and sustainability. His findings indicate that the options that are getting the most attention are between 25 to 1,000 times more polluting than the best available options. The paper with his findings will be published in the next issue of Energy and Environmental Science but is available online now. Jacobson is also director of the Atmosphere/Energy Program at Stanford."
  And crucially: "Jacobson received no funding from any interest group, company or government agency. "

mel starrs News

These are my links for December 10th through December 15th:

• Monbiot.com » One Shot Left – "… if we are to give ourselves a roughly even chance of preventing more than two degrees of warming, global emissions from energy must peak by 2015 and decline by between six and eight per cent per year from 2020 to 2040, leading to a complete decarbonisation of the global economy soon after 2050. Even this programme would work only if some optimistic assumptions about the response of the biosphere hold true. Delivering a high chance of preventing two degrees of warming would mean cutting global emissions by over 8% a year.
  Is this possible? Is this acceptable? The Tyndall paper points out that annual emission reductions greater than one per cent have “been associated only with economic recession or upheaval.” When the Soviet Union collapsed, they fell by some 5% a year. But you can answer these questions only by considering the alternatives. The trajectory both Barack Obama and Gordon Brown have proposed – an 80% cut by 2050 – means reducing emissions by an average of 2% a year. "
• Monbiot.com » At Last, A Date – Peak oil prediction by IEA within next 20 years: “Although global oil production in total is not expected to peak before 2030, production of conventional oil … is projected to level off towards the end of the projection period.”(10) These bland words reveal a major shift. Never before has one of the IEA’s energy outlooks forecast the peaking or plateauing of the world’s conventional oil production (which is what we mean when we talk about peak oil).
• Blog | Yudelson Associates | Green Building Consulting – The town of Santa Coloma de Gramenet, near Barcelona, Spain, installed 462 solar panels on top of mausoleums in the town cemetery, after an extensive public relations campaign with the kin of the deceased, proving once again that there is space for solar just about in any town.
• The Natural Edge Project – Australian Sustainability Think Tank – "The Natural Edge Project (TNEP) is an independent Sustainability Think-Tank based in Australia. TNEP operates as a partnership for education, research and policy development on innovation for sustainable development.
  TNEP's mission is to contribute to and succinctly communicate leading research, case studies, tools and strategies for achieving sustainable development across government, business and civil society.
  Driven by a team of early career Australians, the non-profit Project receives mentoring and support from a range of experts and leading organisations in Australia and internationally, through a generational exchange model. "
• A Mortgage Banker In Amish Country : NPR – "When you lend to the Amish, you're making a loan that you're going to keep. You can't sell that loan to some other investor.
  That's because Amish loans can't be securitized — they can't be turned into a mortgage-backed security or a collateralized debt obligation — like all of those subprime loans that have caused so much trouble.
  You can't do that for an odd legal reason. Homes that don't have electric power don't qualify for securitization. Neither do homes without traditional insurance. Amish homes are unmodernized, and the Amish use their own kind of insurance. "
• Real Advice Hurts | 43 Folders – Merlin is back on top form. "We can’t get good at something solely by reading about it. And we’ll never make giant leaps in any endeavor by treating it like a snack food that we munch on whenever we’re getting bored. You get good at something by doing it repeatedly. And by listening to specific criticism from people who are already good at what you do. And by a dedication to getting better, even when it’s inconvenient and may not involve a handy bulleted list."
• Reject environmentally harmful work, says engineer Mark Whitby – Building Design – Glass houses and all that. Who among us is completely beyond reproach when it comes to a squeaky clean portfolio of work? Mark Whitby calls for a boycott – do they work? Tricky topic and something I've mulled over to no conclusion (yet).
• Prince looks to past for the future – Building Design – What should low energy housing look like? Prince's Foundation says veracular rules and it's what the public want. Is this true? Do the public want this or do they simply buy what is available? Have they any choice given the business model for house building in the UK? Interesting questions…
• London heating standards in pipeline – Building – The Greater London Authority (GLA) will develop a technical standard for district and combined heat and power (CHP) in the capital as well as rules to ensure customers get a “fair deal” for heat.
• Obama’s Green Building Agenda – BusinessWeek – As the President-Elect prepares to take office, The U.S. Green Building Council has put together an agenda of sustainable policies he should pursue
• Carbon-calculating data site Amee scores seven-figure investment | Media | guardian.co.uk – Two of my online worlds colliding – venture capital and low carbon: "Amee – the Avoiding Mass Extinction Engine – has built up a loyal following since it launched in 2005, its strategy of developing a "Wikipedia for carbon data" approach hitting a very distinct need among government and big business alike.
  The site, which has grown from 2.5 staff at the start to 12 today, has scored seven-figure funding from O'Reilly Alphatech Ventures, Tag Venture, and Union Square Ventures, one of the investors behind Twitter."
• Mark Brinkley on Whatever Happened to MMC? – So why does MMC work so well in other countries and why has it had such difficulties in establishing itself in Britain? Could it be that it’s actually nothing to do with British builders being backward and everything to do with the boom-bust nature of our property markets. There is little point investing heavily in manufacturing plant if, every twenty years or so, you get wiped out by a bust. Twenty years just isn’t a long enough timespan to make it all worthwhile. The countries where MMC prospers tend to be ones with very low rates of speculative housebuilding and, conversely, very high levels of custom home building, what we would call selfbuild.

mel starrs News advice, amee, amish, BRE, carbon_footprint, CHP, clients, construction_industry, csh4, ethics, foundation, MMC, Mortgage, princes, Procurement, renewables, Software, US, USGBC

Been tidying up my RSS feeds, doing a bit of pruning and catching up on feeds. One of the feeds I’ve been diligently ignoring has been Brian’s Brickonomics. Having now read back over the past month, I’m utterly depressed.

Having had a quick look at the mortgage market out there, the best deal I could find was 20% deposit, 1.5% tracker and only 2.7 times combined earnings. Yikes. Given the median salary for the UK in 2008 (pdf), for a couple both in full time employment (both earning median wage), this means an “affordable”* house is roughly an overall price of £132,030 with a massive deposit of £26,406.

The average price according to the Halifax in November is still £163,605 (not sure if this is a median?). So, there are two paths. Either the lending gets ‘unfrozen’ and goes back up to 3.5 (i.e. 3.5 times median combined salaries of £171,150) or house prices continue to fall. The second scenario seems the most likely currently.

Brian has been accused of being gloomy. Looks to me like he’s just being realistic.

*affordable in this context is not the same as the generally accepted definition of “affordable housing” where rent or mortgage (and in some definition utilities) are no more then 30% of household income.

mel starrs Uncategorized

These are my links for December 9th from 09:37 to 09:37:

• Toolkits. London Energy Partnership – "Low Carbon Designer"
  An electronic toolkit that allows developers, building design engineers and planners to assess the energy performance of a proposed development using the London Plan energy hierarchy. The software has been designed to encourage energy statements to be produced and assessed in a consistent manner.
  "London's Community Heating Database"
  A database of London's community heating, CHP and district heating schemes. The database is designed to assist those looking to safeguard, develop or connect to these schemes in line with London Plan policy 4.A.It is also designed to be 'future proof' – i.e. it will accommodate new schemes as they are approved and new connections between schemes as the planned expansion of decentralised energy networks materialises in London.

mel starrs News LEP, London, renewables, toolkits

What I’ve been reading about:

• Green Building Impact Report | GreenerBuildings – The Green Building Impact Report (GBIR) is the first integrated assessment of the land, water, energy, material and indoor environmental impacts of the LEED for New Construction (LEED NC), Core & Shell (LEED CS) and Existing Building (LEED EB) standards.
  In this report we attempt to answer whether green buildings live up to their name.

mel starrs News LEED, via:lagavulin

What I’ve been reading about:

• Population (Jonathon Porritt) – "And the mega-reality I'm talking about here is carrying capacity: how many people can the Earth’s resources and life-support services sustain on an indefinite basis? The answer to that is obviously determined in part by the level of consumption of each individual human being. But even if, by some currently unimaginable miracle, the richest people in the world today learn to lead what WWF calls "one planet lifestyles", does anyone seriously suppose that this would work for the next 3 billion people aspiring to live in the same way – and the next 3 billion who will be staking a claim on those self-same resources and services before 2050?"
• H&V News – Flaws in SAP ‘cost builders millions’ – The Sustainable Building Association (AECB) has criticised The Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) as inaccurate and says it promotes expensive technology at the expense of cheaper but more effective products.
  The association has predicted this will lead to at least half a billion pounds of inappropriate spending on microgeneration technologies.

mel starrs News population, porritt, renewables, SAP