Elemental

I was just about to draft a blog post which pointed out one of the advantages of LEED over BREEAM was that the assessors were listed on the LEED Accredited Professional Directory at the gbci website here.

Historically, you have only been able to see which companies offer BREEAM with no way of knowing who in each office is qualified to do which scheme. I say historically, as Martin Townsend has launched Green Book Live, where you can now search for BREEAM assessors on a geographical basis, and under each company listing you can find who is registered for each scheme. This is a brilliant addition – the only thing I would ask is to be able to search for individuals as a variable, but I have ways round that (using google search term ” name site:http://www.greenbooklive.com ” would work).

There is also a database of “Building CO2 emission rate calculation – Competent Persons Scheme” people too. From the description:

The current scope of this scheme is for non-Domestic buildings using the user interface for the Simplified Building Energy Model (iSBEM) and the Hevacomp Design Database Package (Non domestic).

There are currently 139 people listed. Of course, this does not include anyone who is qualified via CIBSE under IES software packages. For these, you would have to go to the CIBSE LCEA database here. CIBSE obviously believe their accreditation to be superior:

CIBSE Certification does not offer a qualification in ‘energy assessment’. All LCEAs have considerable professional experience in offering services with a direct link to energy certification, rather than having qualified after only a short period of desk study, so you can be sure that their recommendations will be based on sound knowledge and practical experience of what actually works in real life.

Another thing to remember with the Green Book list is that the competent persons are unlikely to be level 5. The definitions from the CLG website:

Level 5 – uses dynamic simulation modeling (DSM) software to produce EPCs for very complex buildings, including those with large amounts of glass and those which are curved

Level 4 – uses SBEM (Simplified Building Energy Model) software to produce EPCs for complex buildings without those special features listed above.

Level 3 – uses SBEM (Simplified Building Energy Model) software to produce EPCs for simple buildings

To further add to confusion, in addition to BRE and CIBSE running accreditation schemes, a further 5 companies are listed under APEL as offering non-domestic accreditation. I’ve not checked to see if each of these have databases too.

Is it too much to wish for a concerted effort which pulls everyone into one place?

Baby steps – I’m still happy to see further transparency happening over at BREEAM.

mel starrs Uncategorized assessors, BREEAM, database

So today I passed my LEED-AP exam. The intellectual snob in me thought “How hard can a multiple choice 80 question exam really be?”.

The answer – very. The exam is hardcore.

Unfortunately I am under pain of death (well, pain of accreditation removal) if I reveal anything about the test. So instead I shall share how I studied for it, pointing out the useful stuff I found along the way. Unfortunately this information is only going to be useful until 31st March when the new LEED-AP exam comes out, but someone between now and then might find it helpful.

Firstly, I got a copy of the manual. I would recommend getting and then doing the LEED-NC route (not like me, who for boring, unrelated to this post, reasons had got the LEED-CS manual and then did the LEED-NC exam).

As I know BREEAM inside out, I did a credit by credit review, seeing where LEED and BREEAM overlapped, differed and converged. A very useful exercise, and there are a few resources out there which have already done this so I won’t repeat it in this post.

Then it was time to commit to memory the credit numbers, names, intents, requirements and submittals. To do this, I did a couple of things. Printed the number, name and intent onto cards and “played” matching them up; filling in a big A3 matrix of all the information; and finally, drawing out each credit section as a mindmap. Having been in the UK education system, I haven’t really had to do much memorising, except maybe for GCSE Physics, so it was a new(ish) way of learning for me.

Then I used the very very useful site Learning to LEED and did their online flashcards and also the Sample Quizzes. They also have the following list of things to study which I would reiterate and totally agree with – I’ve added comments in italics where I have something to add:

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW FOR THE LEED-NC 2.2 LEED-AP EXAM

1. LEED-NC 2.2 Categories (SS, WR, EA, MR, EQ, ID)
Know the basic structure of LEED: the 6 categories, the points required for each level of LEED award (Platinum, Gold, Silver, Certified) this is where I found a mindmap useful to plot out and remember categories and points

2. LEED-NC 2.2 Prerequisites
Commit the following to memory for each Prerequisite:
Intent
Requirements
Documentation
Referenced Standards
Design or Construction Phase Submission

HINTS:
• Know the Prerequisites for each Category
• You must accomplish all prerequisites to have a building certified
• There are no points awarded for prerequisites I hadn’t picked this up in the manual first time round!
• There is no Exemplary Performance for prerequisites

3. LEED-NC 2.2 Credits and Points
Commit the following to memory for each Credit/Point:
Intent
Requirements
Documentation
Referenced Standards
Design or Construction Phase Submission
Exemplary Performance level if any

HINTS:
• Absolutely know all the percentages and levels of performance required for each LEED credit. Know the levels for achieving Exemplary Performance.
• There are usually a lot of questions (1) on Referenced Standards, (2) about in which phase a credit is submitted (design or construction), and (3) the levels of Exemplary Performance.
• Know the differences between EAp1 (Fundamental Commissioning) and EAc3 (Enhanced Commissioning). Beyond EAp1, EAc3 requires:
(1) CxA reviews OPR, BOD, review comments and construction documents prior to mid-construction documents phase
(2) CxA review of submittals for building energy systems
(3) CxA to prepare O&M manuals
(4) CxA to verify training of building occupants and operators
(5) CxA to review building commissioning about 10 months after substantial completion

4. LEED-NC 2.2 Processes
Know in detail the following LEED-NC 2.2 processes:
The CIR Process
The Registration Process
The Certification Process Much of this I had gleaned from acquaintances and experience rather than book knowledge – if anyone knows a good online source for this stuff, please leave a comment

HINTS
• The CIR database is accessible by both USGBC member organizations, and non-members who are project team members.
• When you submit a credit for consideration for which you have made a CIR ruling request, include both the request and the ruling with your submission
• The project does not receive a point at the time the CIR request is approved. The CIR request and ruling must be submitted with the other LEED Online documentation.
• Know the number of business days allocated to each phase in the Certification Process: Prelimary Review by USGBC (25 business days); Project Team Response (25 business days); Final Review by USGBC (15 business days); Appeal by Project Team (25 days); Review of Appeal by USGBC (25 days)

5. LEED Products
Know when to apply LEED-NC, LEED-EB, LEED-CS, and LEED-CI

6. Role of LEED-AP and Project Team Administrator
Know what the LEED-AP is supposed to do and what the Project Team Administrator can or cannot do.

7. LEED Online
Know how to administer the project team, assign roles, assign credits to roles, and what information must be input to LEED Online.

8. LEED Synergies
Know which approaches cut across several credits. Some examples:
(1) On-site renewable energy affects EAc2 and EAc1.
(2) Green or eco-roofs affect SSc6.1, SSc6.2, SSc7.2, EAc1 and also may be eligible for Exemplary Performance (100% green roof for SSc7.2)
(3) Use of rainwater or reclaimed water to replace potable water affects WEc1,1, WEc1.2, WEc2, WEc3.1, and WEc3.2 as well as SSc6.1
(4) Low flow and waterless fixtures affect WEc3.1, WEc3.2, and WEc2.
(5) Daylighting strategies affect EAc1, and EQ8.1

9. LEED Calculations
Be sure you understand the following types of calculations:
(1) Glazing Factor for EQ8,2
(2) Water use calculations for WE3.1 and 3.2 reiterate this – calculating water use is worth revising
(3) All the MR calculations involving materials reuse, recycled content, local and regional materials, rapidly renewable materials, and certified wood.

10. LEED Glossary
(1) Know the technical terms in LEED and what they mean, for example, Tvis, Glazing Factor, post-consumer recycled content, pre-consumer recycled content, local/regional materials, sustainably harvested wood, rapidly renewable resources, renewable energy systems, tertiary treatment

(2) Be sure you know what abbreviations used in LEED: ASHRAE, IESNA, SMACNA, SCAQMD, SMACNA

All in all, it is one of the toughest exams I’ve every done, even if it was multiple guess!

I must mention Twitter for being a fantastic resource during my LEED study and special thanks to everyone across the pond who put up with my endless questions, especially: @CindyFW, @sarasweeney, @elaineishere and @chrischeatam. All their advice was invaluable. And to everyone else on Twitter who’s put up with my wittering on about LEED for the past 3 weeks – thank you!

edit 31 Jan 2008: The Green Building Education Service comes recommended by some – I did not use it myself, and it is not free. They have flash cards and on-line prep exams. If you are in the UK and are not used to north american multiple choice, it may be useful to try a few. A taste of how hard multiple choice exams can be can also be found in the GMAT (the standard test used for admission into MBA programs).

mel starrs Opinion BREEAM, LEED

These are my links for January 21st through January 26th:

• Eat Low Carbon Diet Calculator – Bon Appétit Management Company – via Guy Battle's blog – very neat pictorial site comparing carbon footprints of food.
• FT.com | The Undercover Economist | I’m backing Britain – and everybody else – With my economist hat on, I disagree with sourcing materials locally for social or economic reasons. If there are environmental arguments (i.e. carbon) which override others, then fair enough. Tim Harford puts it in simple terms: "The economist Gary Becker has tried to calculate the economic costs of discrimination. What he found was common sense. When a large group and a small group discriminate against each other, it is the small group that suffers. The rest of the world could happily do without British products, but Britain cannot happily do without the rest of the world." The basis of the economic argument against local sourcing is comparative advantage (as explained in Tim's excellent book – Undercover Economist).
• IPD Environment Code – Just in case you don't have enough standards, tools, codes and checklists, here's another: "Recognising the importance of environmental concerns, IPD has developed the Environment Code to help organisations deliver high quality environmental performance information about their occupied real estate.
  The Environment Code is a ground-breaking new standard for measuring the environmental performance of corporate buildings. Through the use of common terminology, the Code enables property executives to compare the environmental performance of buildings anywhere in the world. It is applicable to a broad range of property types from retail shops and offices to hospitals, universities, hotels and airports."

mel starrs News

These are my links for January 14th through January 20th:

• 6 ways to justify A/E salaries to clients in a tight market, from PSMJ Resources- 1/19/2009 10:38:00 AM – Building Design & Construction – 1. Identify significant contributions that your people have made to actual projects.
  2. Assess your negotiating position accurately.
  3. Make sure that you can successfully demonstrate all the high-level activities your managers are doing on your client’s project.
  4. Quantify how much your project management team’s expertise adds to the client’s bottom line.
  5. Make the client believe that they are competing for the team they want.
  6. Don’t over-negotiate looking to gain the last penny.
• Paul Miller » Blog Archive » Why education needs start-ups – Paul on why start-ups are better at innovation: "But why start-ups? Why can’t established large companies or agencies innovate? I believe that small, cheap, nimble organisations using technology to develop new products and services will be better at coming up with completely new ways of thinking about the structure of the education system. When you decide to put your energy into a start-up, you don’t start from the perspective of ‘designing a faster horse’, you think differently. You have an interest in the overall success and scalability of the project, not in a contract. You focus on the end user rather than what somebody would like who already has a vested interest in the way things are organized now."
• A.nnotate a PDF document – CIBSE response to Zero Carbon consultation – CIBSE are getting increasingly digitally connected! They're using a.nnotate to collect comments on Definition of Zero Carbon Homes and Non-Domestic Buildings: Consultation. Very impressed!
• REALZero | welcome – via CIBSE newsletter. Potential to tie in with BREEAM credit "Pol 2 – preventing refrigerant leaks" – which is one of my bugbears – never have I seen a refrigerant based system meet this credit. REALZero might be a better angle to come at the problem from: "The Refrigeration and Air Conditioning sector supported by the Carbon Trust is working across all sectors of business and industry, to help achieve significant reductions in carbon emissions due to refrigerant leakage from installed systems. The Institute of Refrigeration led initiative is building a clearer understanding of where and why leakage occurs as well as how to prevent it.
  Our conclusions are based on detailed site investigations on a wide range of equipment in operation. This valuable knowledge is being rolled out amongst equipment users, designers and service contracting companies so that UK industry can take a lead in developing a zero tolerance approach to refrigerant leakage – the project is known as REAL Zero!£
• BOMA, Clinton Climate Initiative team to create owner-friendly contract model for energy performance contracting- 1/16/2009 12:36:00 PM – Building Design & Construction – The benefits of BEPC are significant compared to previous energy performance contracting previously offered:
  • The owner controls the process and specifies all project criteria, streamlining project development.
  • The standardized model minimizes costs, including up-front legal costs, man-hours, project management and component costs.
  • The template documents are easily edited to incorporate specific goals and objectives.
  • An industry-vetted model means high confidence in project implementation without having to be an expert in performance guarantees or energy efficiency.
  • The potential for commercial real estate firms to self-finance, using the energy savings produced by the retrofit to reduce operating costs even after amortizing the cost of the improvement.
  • Building performance is assured through a performance guarantee by the energy service company, guaranteeing performance throughout the life of the agreement.
• Carbon Confusion « – "At least for design teams, the figure used to be constant throughout the project stages, but now the pre-planning process for renewables projects may be using this lower figure. When that project is building-related, architects may start by using the 0.43 figure they get from the suppliers, then 0.422 for grid-supplied and 0.568 for grid-displaced electricity for planning submissions, Part L and Code, 0.55 for the Display Energy Certificate if the building is public, and finally 0.523 when the building owner is calculating its ISO 14064 emissions, per DEFRA guidance. That’s five different emission factors for the same project!"
• Green Building Resource @ greencampus.harvard.edu – "The Harvard Office for Sustainability (formerly Harvard Green Campus Initiative) has developed this Green Building Resource to support the implementation of Harvard’s Green Building Guidelines and Harvard’s Sustainability Principles.
  The Resource documents the experience and knowledge gained from 13 completed LEED projects and another 38 pending certification at Harvard. It has been designed to foster continuous improvement in cost-effective green building design, using LEED as the accountability tool. The Resource will be continuously updated and expanded to reflect the frontier of best practice across the university.
  It is our hope that by creating and sharing this Resource, we can both support and learn from others as we all strive to meet the profound challenge of becoming an environmentally sustainable society."
• Welcome to Green-e! – For LEED credit EA 6 (Green Power), products have to be certified under this scheme. Looks at REC's and renewable energy suppliers – something BREEAM does not yet allow (procuring green electricity does not comply with ENE5): "Green-e is the nation's leading independent consumer protection program for the sale of renewable energy and greenhouse gas reductions in the retail market. Green-e offers certification and verification of renewable energy and greenhouse gas mitigation products. It is a program of the Center for Resource Solutions. external link"
• Buildings Energy Data Book – US Department of Energy: "The 2008 Buildings Energy Data Book includes: Statistics on residential and commercial building energy consumption. Data tables contain statistics related to construction, building technologies, energy consumption, and building characteristics."
• When Green Goes Bust : Green Building Law Blog – Shari makes some good points about risk and bankruptcy surrounding green building developments: "In addition to this risk, bankruptcy of green projects may be complicated by their connection to the renewable energy markets. For example, a development installs a solar array and arranges to sell its renewable energy credits (RECs) to a utility. The utility uses the REC purchase to fulfill its mandatory obligation to purchase alternative power. If the development goes bust and no power is produced, the utility and/or state/local government may come calling."

mel starrs News

These are my links for January 9th through January 14th:

• BioRegional Newsletter January 2009 – BioRegional and Cabe publish cutting edge guidance for eco-town agencies – "We were motivated to write the guidance by our concern that the CLG’s guidance so far has not been strong enough to deliver truly sustainable towns. For instance it has fallen short of showing how eco-town residents can meet the 80% C02 reduction target that the Climate Change Act requires. What makes an eco-town? defines an eco-town as a place designed to make it easy for residents to reduce their ecological footprint by two thirds and their carbon dioxide emissions by 80 per cent below 1990 levels – or what we call one planet living.
  The guidance proposes features of places designed for living within ecological limits, these include: generous space to grow food; ample tree canopy cover; attractive alternatives to shopping as the default leisure activity; and substantial reduction in car dependency. It provides clear criteria and practical guidance on how the sustainability of settlements can be monitored and tested. "
• BioRegional Newsletter January 2009 – BioRegional and partners publish new research into the availability of wood for heating and power in London – "The key finding of the report is that London has a potential wood fuel resource exceeding
  the requirements of currently planned wood fuel plant by a factor of 20 if not more.
  However, a lot of this is waste wood which would require Waste Incineration Directive
  (WID) compliant boilers and for some of this wood, recycling and reuse might be better
  environmental options. In general, most of this resource is not available now and policies
  and support frameworks need to be put in place to ensure London can better develop its
  wood fuel supply chain.
  A substantial increase in wood fuel boilers/CHP would have air quality implications in
  London. It is beyond the scope of this report to address this issue in any detail but it is
  recognised that more work is needed to ensure that climate change mitigation objectives
  are balanced with concerns about other emissions."
• Opal [Tomoye Ecco] – via Tom Chance: "Welcome to Opal (One Planet Action Learning), BioRegional's online action learning portal.
  Opal is a space for sharing challenges and helping solve practical problems, in delivering cost-effective solutions for sustainability."
• Choking to death in the suburbs – Opinion – smh.com.au – The press in Oz have a slightly more upfront attitude to gender issues than the UK – this made me giggle: "Planning, mostly run by women, does the words and pictures; making and announcing plans (such as the Metro Strategy) that never hit the ground. Public Works, by contrast, has no strategic capacity, no cerebellum, but just builds things – roads, tunnels, bridges and rail lines. This, you will be unsurprised to learn, is generally a boy thing."
• The Measures Taken: Living Façades – Owen takes issue with green roofs: "the greening of architecture is not just an aesthetic question, but a moral one, something necessary. Some of these proposals seem eminently sensible – no doubt, there are few better ways of insulating a building than chucking a few layers of sod onto it. Nonetheless, looked at in detail, what we have here is a rather superficial phenomenon – something which we could call, with a nod to the similarly vacuous policy of atoning for pollution by engaging in a bit of philanthropy, 'urban offsetting'."
• Aguanomics: Preventing the Tragedy of the Commons – David quotes Elinor Ostrom:"No institutions generate better outcomes for the resource and for the users under all conditions. Many of the lessons learned from the operation of communal property regimes related to natural resource systems are theoretically relevant to understanding of a wide diversity of property regimes that are extensively used in modern societies."
• How the city hurts your brain – Boston.com – "Given the myriad mental problems that are exacerbated by city life, from an inability to pay attention to a lack of self-control, the question remains: Why do cities continue to grow? And why, even in the electronic age, do they endure as wellsprings of intellectual life?"
• CIBSE design compass – "The CIBSE “Design Compass” is an online tool to assist professionals involved in building design to incorporate weather/climate related information into a clearly defined framework. It provides a common methodology and a frequently updated database where professionals can find information to help them deal with the extra layers of complexity that have been added to the design process in recent years. Most challenging of these is the changing climate and the associated and increasing needs for both adapting to it and mitigating against it."
• Rediscovered Masterpiece: The Ford Foundation – "More than four decades after its completion, the Foundation is still a remarkably prescient piece of architecture. It excels in several areas where many architects continue to struggle: how to integrate natural light and decent views into the workplace; how to provide privacy to workers without sacrificing a feeling of community (or sequestering them in bland cubicles); and how to create a daring, iconic form that is a good neighbor and a true contribution to the city. Visiting the Foundation today is still a unique and thrilling experience, one of those New York moments that should not be missed."
• Sustainable Industries | Green Building | Green building sets the code – "While 2007 and 2008 proved big years for the widespread adoption of stricter green building standards by major cities—including Los Angeles, Boston and Seattle—the coming year is expected to bring even more. And while the trend has traditionally applied to government-owned buildings, the early adopters of green building standards, such as San Francisco and Portland, are starting to build green building measures into code for all commercial buildings.
  But updating building codes is not an easy task. In Albuquerque, N.M., for example, a new green building code set to become effective Oct. 1, 2008, was placed on hold when the Air Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute and several distributors sued Albuquerque, alleging the code would have created energy efficiency standards for furnaces, water heaters and air conditioners that were more stringent than those allowed under Federal law."
• | Autodesk® Ecotect™ WIKI | Ecotect WIKI – Fantastic resource – a wiki for Ecotect.
• Ecofont | Take a look at the Ecofont – A step too far? Or a cunning way to save ink (and money, I guess). Has anyone tried this out yet?
• Solar Panels will add value to your home « Robert Kyriakides’s Weblog – "evidence that in the United States a home’s value rises on average by $20 for every $1 decrease in its annual energy bill and that this formula has held pretty much true since the 1970s. That means that if your solar system in the United Kingdom saves you around £150 per year, then it adds £3000 to the value of your home. "

mel starrs News

It’s been quiet on here and likely to continue for the next few weeks, partly due to the fact that I am studying madly for my LEED-AP exam. I’m also considering finally getting my ASHRAE membership sorted out, something I’ve been meaning to do for years.  The two go hand in hand, as ASHRAE members get a discount on key LEED documents like User Guide 90.1 (which is also the key energy standard referenced in Estidama and many other international building rating systems).

In lieu of me blogging, have a wander over to 2 new kids on our block.

Su (aka @SuButcher on Twitter) has started blogging over at Just Practising. Having followed Su on Twitter, I’m looking forward to posts longer than 140 characters!

And Liz Male (who many of you will know) has started a blog AND a Twitter feed. Find Liz at Footings or @LizMale.

Welcome to both, and they and others can be found on my blogroll under bloggers.

And if you’re reading this asking yourself what on earth Twitter is, perhaps you need to read Pam‘s excellent guide to social media (pdf – warning – LARGE file size).

I’m off to memorize a 400 page manual – see you on the other side…

mel starrs Geekery American Society of Heating Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Social Networking, twitter

These are my links for January 2nd through January 7th:

• House 2.0: Zero carbon? Stuck on page 9 – I'm not really pitching in on the zero carbon consultation, but Mark makes a very valid point here (and yes, if more new stuff gets built, I'm still in a job, so I'm as guilty as others): "Following on from this, I am also worried that the consultation on this document will be mostly carried out by development professionals, all of whom have a vested interest in seeing new development go forward because that is how they make their living. Hence there will be loads of debate about the minutiae of zero carbon, carbon compliance levels and allowable solutions, that sort of thing, but almost nothing on whether this is a good time to be planning new developments at all, or whether we should be moving towards a very different kind of building industry, based on repair, rebuilding and repositioning what we already have."
• Aguanomics: It’s Hard Being a Revolutionary – I'm really enjoying David's blog which I stumbled on over Xmas – he usually blogs on water (in the US) and economics – hence aguanomics, but I loved this sentiment: "I've run into that problem many times in the past. A combination of righteous fury, youthful idealism, and sang froid has always served me well, but it's uncomfortable to get the feeling that you've just sprouted another head in the other person's mind.
  Unfortunately, this is the price that one must pay upon introducing new ideas — ideas that may not survive but at least force people to reflect on their stand and alternatives in the debate."
• CTBUH releases 11 technical papers on tall building design- 1/7/2009 11:11:00 AM – Building Design & Construction – "Architect Gordon Gill’s vision of "A tall, green future" and Yale professor Kyoung Sun Moon's breakthrough analysis on reducing material in tall buildings are among 11 new research papers published in the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat's 2nd Annual Special Edition of The Structural Design of Tall and Special Buildings."
• 01/05/2009 Architect, Heal Thyself! Business New Haven – "In the minds of many lay people, architects are the fashion designers of built form. Because we are trained as artists first and purveyors of a process second, we have largely become a boutique profession when it comes to houses. So very few people listened to what even fewer of us were saying. A significant number of us would rather create beautiful designs than useful buildings, and see the usefulness and budgetary fit of a project as being secondary to its publication and veneration by other architects.
  Because of this predilection of ours a "star system" – dubbed "starchitecture" by critics – has been the public face of what architects do for most people. What we gain in fame we lose in street cred. Despite the fact that many of us have dedicated our careers to serving homeowners, architects have yet to change the perception that we are not a relevant or credible resource when it comes to how people evaluate their homes."
• RSA – Carbon Limited – Personal Carbon trading – Carbon Limited final report – "The report argues that there is value in taking the idea forward in some form, initially as a structured voluntary network, but that the Domestic Tradable Quota model of personal carbon trading poses too many problems in the immediate term.
  A voluntary network supported by government and/or corporate funding, which takes a more 'community scale' view of the idea, would greatly advance it and overcome the more problematic issues of unintended inequities and the roll out of a massive personal carbon market. It could also generate valuable impetus and positive alignment with community-owned sustainable energy services and such community initiatives as the Transition Town movement. "
• Centered leadership: How talented women thrive – The McKinsey Quarterly – centered leadership – Organization – Talent – "From the interviews and other research, we have distilled a leadership model comprising five broad and interrelated dimensions (exhibit): meaning, or finding your strengths and putting them to work in the service of an inspiring purpose; managing energy, or knowing where your energy comes from, where it goes, and what you can do to manage it; positive framing, or adopting a more constructive way to view your world, expand your horizons, and gain the resilience to move ahead even when bad things happen; connecting, or identifying who can help you grow, building stronger relationships, and increasing your sense of belonging; and engaging, or finding your voice, becoming self-reliant and confident by accepting opportunities and the inherent risks they bring, and collaborating with others."
• In China, overambition reins in eco-city plans | csmonitor.com – "If all had gone to plan, by now the first residents of China’s newest city would be unpacking boxes. An experiment in sustainable living, Dongtan was billed as a urban center where green technologies and smart design could slash the carbon footprint of up to a half-million people.
  On recent rainy afternoon, the onsite view was less electrifying: miles of sodden farms and wetlands, and not an ecobuilding to be seen.
  It’s unclear if any will be built. The state-owned developer has torn up a timetable to accommodate 50,000 residents by 2010. Some permits for the project have already lapsed.
  In a country overloaded with environmental challenges, Dongtan is a symbol of political overreach that straddles nearby Shanghai and Britain, the home base of Arup, the firm that dreamed up Dongtan. Its failings show the limits to getting bold ideas off the drawing board, even in China’s top-down political culture, where outsized schemes get traction."
• Waste could fill many of nation’s wants by 2020, says fuel report – Times Online – Of course we should first minimise waste (which should be taken into account, otherwise we'll end up *creating* rubbish to burn for fuel, which is just daft), but the point about recycling vs. fuel use is important – no point recycling if it uses more carbon in the process. Pollution also needs to be considered of course:
  "Ian Arbon, lead author of the report by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and a visiting professor at the University of Newcastle, said the public were being deceived over the value of recycling. Materials such as metals were ideal for recycling but paper and plastic were worth more as fuel. "
• AFP: Dubai dream turns sour as job losses mount – "Ex-patriate people who lose their jobs in Dubai or other Gulf countries have to pack up and leave within one month, a potential life wrecker for many families.
  Employers are supposed to notify the banks of their sacked employees about their contract termination, potentially prompting the banks to demand repayment of any loans before the employee leaves the country.
  "Our banks will be informed by February 1," said one of the Nakheel former employees, who added that he was lucky not to have loans to pay, unlike many others in the UAE who took advantage of easy credit over the past few years.
  Many Nakheel employees have invested their savings in property being developed by the company and people who are sacked face losing that money."
• Attention: Controlling Your Attention is the New Work Ethic – One of my New Year Resolutions – don't try to pay attention to *everything*: "A person who works six hours a day but with total focus has an enormous advantage over a 12-hour-per-day workaholic who's "multi-tasking" all day, answering every phone call, constantly checking Facebook and Twitter, and indulging every interruption. It's time we upgraded our work ethic for the age we're living in, not our grandparents' age. Hard work is still a virtue, but now takes a distant second place to the new determinant of success or failure in the age of Internet distractions: Control of attention. Hard work is dead. Are you paying attention?"
• Sustainable Energy Management and the Built Environment Project – The aim of the Foresight Powering our Lives: Sustainable Energy Management and the Built Environment Project was to explore how the UK built environment could evolve to help manage the transition over the next five decades to secure, sustainable, low carbon energy systems that meet the needs of society, the requirements of the economy, and the expectations of individuals.
  The Project has used the best available scientific evidence to develop four scenarios around the future of sustainable energy management and the built environment, outlining some major areas of future uncertainty as well as potential future challenges and opportunities.
• Crafting a message that sticks: An interview with Chip Heath – The McKinsey Quarterly – Chip Heath interview – Governance – Leadership – Chip Heath’s research suggests that sticky ideas share six basic traits.
  1. Simplicity. Messages are most memorable if they are short and deep. Proverbs such as the golden rule are short but also deep enough to guide the behavior of people over generations.
  2. Unexpectedness. Something that sounds like common sense won’t stick. Look for the parts of your message that are uncommon sense. Such messages generate interest and curiosity.
  3. Concreteness. Abstract language and ideas don’t leave sensory impressions; concrete images do.
  4. Credibility. Very often, a person trying to convey a message cites outside experts when the most credible source is the person listening to the message. Questions—“Have you experienced this?”—are often more credible than outside experts.
  5. Emotions. Case studies that involve people also move them. “We are wired,” Heath writes, “to feel things for people, not abstractions."
  6. Stories.

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These are my links for December 27th through January 2nd:

• Life With Alacrity: Community by the Numbers, Part One: Group Thresholds – Excellent post explaining Dunbar's number and group sizes.
• Masdar plan: Abu Dhabi has embarked upon an ambitious plan to build a zero-emission clean-tech centre in the desert. Will it work? – Great article on Masdar from the Economist: "Mr al-Jaber says that Masdar has studied successful technology clusters around the world in an effort to recreate the same conditions in Abu Dhabi. He is particularly keen to mimic the welcoming regulatory environment and efficient infrastructure of places such as Singapore and Ireland. Foreign firms setting up shop in Masdar city will, he points out, be able to work without local partners if they want, and to move capital freely in and out of the country. There will be strong protection of intellectual property and little in the way of paperwork. Most alluringly, they will not pay any taxes."
• A PR Guy’s Musings – Stuart Bruce: The best of social media over the holiday season – Always a sucker for a cool flowchart – how to respond to blogs by USAF via Stuart Bruce.
• Gaian Economics: Is this the year of the steady state? – Best (and most simple) definition of capitalism I've seen in a while: "The problem with interest and other forms of using money to make money is that it is mortgaging the future. Since money is expanding, goods will need to be increased so that they are available when the people who have that money come to demand them. And all those goods need resources and energy to make them. This is an unsustainable way of running an economy."
• Nice but nasty: ‘sustainability’ in 2018? | Forum For The Future – Perhaps if we ever get to scenario A, engineering firms can stop have seperate 'sustainability' departments and we can all go back to our day jobs? Sustainability is *not* a discipline:
  "Scenario A – The global interest – this is a ‘best case’ scenario, where an effective globalised response to global challenges prompts increased resource productivity, closed loop production processes and low-carbon growth. In this scenario, successful companies have embedded sustainability management throughout their organisations, and separate CSR departments are a thing of the past. "
• Gardening for food security | Forum For The Future – Intriguing numbers, but I'm still concerned about distribution, supply and demand (having been witness to various friends gluts of eggs and apples). By taking averages across the country, peaks and troughs are totally discounted:
  "To begin with, it’s important to investigate whether it’s possible to create a sustainable food supply sourced from the UK alone. There are 60.6 million UK inhabitants, each estimated to eat 0.5 kg or 150 kcal of fruit and vegetables every day. To supply this population would require 450,000 ha of land.
  The equivalent of 150,000 ha could come from gardens and allotments (calculated by the average household size being 2.4 people and 82% of households having a garden with an average area of 186m2). The remainder could come from 200,000 ha of commercial vegetable production on arable land and 100,000 ha of orchard land including agroforestry. So, it is possible for us to feed ourselves, but do we have the will and the expertise? "
• A record year for carbon-cutting BREEAM – Over 2,000 buildings have been assessed in 2008, a 40% increase on 2007 and the highest number in any one year since BREEAM's inception.
• EU directive recognises air source heat pumps – The European parliament has expanded the definition of renewable energy sources to include aerothermal and hydrothermal energy sources, effectively recognising air-source and water source heat pumps.
• Towards my new progressivism – part one | Matthew Taylor’s blog – Loving this series from Matthew Taylor. As a slightly left of centre libertarian, this makes perfect sense to me: "To be sure, freedom and fairness are likely to be important components of the objective conditions for, and subjective experience of, well-being. But the way we experience and express freedom, and the translation of objectively fair rules into a society in which people both feel equally valued and committed to reciprocity depend upon the development of individuals as social actors and the creation of the contexts which encourage individually fulfilling and socially benevolent preferences and actions."
• Towards a new progressivism | Matthew Taylor’s blog – "Using the categories of cultural theory, I have argued in earlier posts that roughly between rearmament in the 1930s and the oil shocks of the 1970s hierarchical solutions were predominant. This was a time of large corporations, national planning, a relatively structured global politics and a faith in technological expertise.
  This period was superseded by the long era of dominant individualism which may finally have come to an end with the credit crunch and subsequent downturn. Individualism fostered a remarkable era of innovation and freedom but was already subject to powerful critiques, especially from egalitarians emphasising growing inequality, high levels of social and individual pathology and, most of all, the dangers of climate change."
• Creative destruction: Interview with Richard Foster – The McKinsey Quarterly – Creative destruction Interview Richard Foster – Strategy – Growth – "The essence of capitalism is capitalizing—bringing forward the future value of cash to the present so that society can grow more quickly by taking risks. It goes back to the Dutchmen in the 16th century, sitting at their coffeehouses in Amsterdam and Leiden, loaning each other money for a guaranteed return. Someone said, “I’ll give you a little higher return if you give me a piece of the action”—and equity was invented. That had the effect of bringing forward, into real cash today, the net present value of future earnings. That levered society and allowed it to grow at a much higher rate than it would otherwise have. Equity was a very clever invention, and we are not going to give it up. This is the way people are. This is the way commerce works and will continue to work unless capitalism ends. And that won’t happen, regardless of what you read in the press"
• www.les-ter.org – Landlord’s Energy Statement, Tenants Energy Review – home – LES-TER is an industry initiative led by the British Property Federation, with technical assistance from the Usable Buildings Trust and financial support from the Carbon Trust.
  It is a set of tools and a process designed to enable landlords and tenants to measure, understand and reduce their emissions from their ownership and occupancy of commercial buildings.
• Britain from Above on Youtube – Missed "Britain from above"? Loads of clips uploaded onto Youtube – some great visualisations.
• The Atlantic Online | December 2008 | “Be Nice to the Countries That Lend You Money” | James Fallows – Another riff on engineering vs. accountants/bankers, this time from China: "Individually, everyone needs to be compensated. But collectively, this directs the resources of the country. It distorts the talents of the country. The best and brightest minds go to lawyering, go to M.B.A.s. And that affects our country, too! Many of the brightest youngsters come to me and say, “Okay, I want to go to the U.S. and get into business school, or law school.” I say, “Why? Why not science and engineering?” They say, “Look at some of my primary-school classmates. Their IQ is half of mine, but they’re in finance and now they’re making all this money.” So you have all these clever people going into financial engineering, where they come up with all these complicated products to sell to people."
• Op-Ed Columnist – Time to Reboot America – NYTimes.com – In my blackest moods at work, I've often threatened to run off and become an accountant. I'm glad now I didn't – perhaps the impending doom and gloom spells good news for engineering and science? From Thomas Friedman on the US: "we’ve fallen into a trend of diverting and rewarding the best of our collective I.Q. to people doing financial engineering rather than real engineering. These rocket scientists and engineers were designing complex financial instruments to make money out of money — rather than designing cars, phones, computers, teaching tools, Internet programs and medical equipment that could improve the lives and productivity of millions."
• Bits Of Destruction – From Fred Wilson: "This downturn will be marked in history as the time where many of the business models built in the industrial era finally collapsed as a result of being undermined by the information age. Its creative destruction at work. It's painful and many jobs will be lost permanently. But let's also remember that its inevitable and we can't fight it. Technology and information forces are unstoppable and they will reshape the world as we know it regardless of whether or not we want them to."
• Not Exactly Rocket Science : Lacking control drives false conclusions, conspiracy theories and superstitions – "Even spotting false patterns could have psychological benefits if it restores a person's sense of control, increases their confidence or even reduces their risk of depression. Scientists, fond as we are of truth and fact, would typically argue that it's better to get an accurate picture of the world around you. Whitson and Galinsky agree but they also take a pragmatic stance, saying that "it may be at times adaptive [to allow] an individual to psychologically engage with rather than withdraw from their environment." "

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