I’ve been following the recent developments on zero carbon housing closely. The current discussions are revolving around the UKGBC’s document defining zero carbon released a couple of weeks ago. I read the document and had a couple of observations to make which I didn’t blog immediately. Instead I sat back and watched the fireworks begin. (This post grew and grew, so see below the jump for the full text).
Poking about the ZEDFactory site I came across yet more standards. Bill Dunster teamed up with Arup’s to give us ZEDstandards, which on first inspection appear to be in competition with CSH (Code for Sustainable Housing) but predate them by 2 years (2004). Arup have been down this path before – SPEAR was drafted as an alternative to BREEAM, but to my knowledge was never a real contender. The ZEDstandards do reference EcoHomes, which is the basis for CSH.
I would be interested to see Bill’s reaction to CSH, especially given his cavalier reaction to LCBP. Pity he doesn’t seem to blog (yet?) – anyone seen anything elsewhere in the press?
Bill has also been involved in Jubilee Wharf in Penryn, Cornwall, which got a favourable write-up in the Guardian back in January. He’s learning from BedZED with:
“Wind cowls on the maisonette roofs provide ventilation when windows are shut, ushering in fresh air with the prevailing wind. Similar cowls on the roofs of flats at BedZED have seized up over time; the solution here has been wheel hub bearings from Ford Mondeos, designed to spin around for a quarter of a million miles or more.”
Good to see. After all, the definition of insanity (attributed to Einstein) is: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
I also have to commend ZEDfactory on the wealth of information they have made available here. No Smeagol attitude to knowledge to be found here.
There’s a few folk who don’t blog, but I wish they did. And now one more does – Jonathon Porritt’s musings can be found here. I also found Tony Jupiter of FOE via JP, blogging over at comment is free, the guardian’s collection of hosted blogs.
Now if Bill McDonough and Bill Dunster would join them, I’d be even more pleased.
Mark Brinkley has written up a great critique of Bill Dunster (of BedZED infamy) and his green philosophy, following on from the article in the Sunday Times at the weekend. Highlights include:
Another thing Mark doesn’t pick up, but jumped out at me was the fact that ZEDfactory are importing cheap ‘green’ technologies from China. With food miles at the forefront of UK consciousness this seems a risky strategy.
Back in December ZEDfabric were promising that from February 2007, they would be offering photovoltaic (PV) panels to generate electricity, and solar thermal hot water panels. Equipment will be offered at competitive market prices.
At the time, Wendy Lee explained:
“The current situation is that, as a homeowner, you can apply for a Low Carbon Building Programme grant. To get a grant, you have to apply within the first few months of each year before funding runs out, and fight your way through the bureaucracy to ensure you meet the criteria. If successful, the grant can only be used for government-accredited products,
installed by government-accredited installers. You cannot use your own contractor or install panels by yourself.
If you opt to participate in our buying consortium, our wholesale prices for panels are better than the government-accredited products with a grant.
As an example, using the Low Carbon Building Programme, 1kWp of PV panels costs around £5,500 + VAT to install. The grant enables you to claim back 50% of the pre tax cost, i.e. £2,750. As the grant doesn’t cover VAT, your bill will be around £3,700.”
Almost spooky how right they got it – LCBP has been suspended for the April round, pending a relaunch in May after funding was allocatted within minutes of becoming available by the March round. One side effect of the LCBP PR disaster has been a collapse in sales for british companies relying on LCBP to stimulate sales. By funding vanishing, buyers are opting to wait, or worse, not bother. By ZEDfabric importing from China and reselling cheaply, they have neatly sidestepped around this. Unfortunately, many of the links on the site are broken and I can’t figure out if this has been a success or not.
Sustainability is a unique conundrum. Is it better to reduce carbon by manufacturing close to home, buoying up the local economy and reinvigorating the manufacturing industry or is it better to import from China, increasing their wealth, and therefore increasing the likelihood that they will be able to afford to mitigate their environmental transgressions? It all depends on your worldview with regards to globalisation, economics and wealth.
It seems contradictory to me that Bill is happy to go off-grid locally, by relying on technologies produced many thousands of miles away? Pragmatic or hypocritical? He is of course ‘trading’ his knowledge directly by being involved in the design of sustainable cities out there.
It’s the kind of thing which gets dissected much more eloquently by Jim or Tim. Like I keep saying, the principles of low carbon building can escalate into much more complex debates.
Today is the last date to book for early bird discounts at the National CIBSE Conference. Find the booking form here (pdf, 8pages) and save £50.
Despite the always frustrating business of juggling a plate of lukewarm buffet with a glass of orange precariously balanced on one of those wholly inadequate plastic holder thingies whilst never being able to find a seat, I have always enjoyed the CIBSE conferences. I wish they still published the academic papers instead of the powerpoint slides (who ever reads these again?). The quality of the speakers looks good, with panel discussions added in for the first time.
Day 1 is fairly Londoncentric (with the Olympics looming I suspect this will get worse over the next 5 years), but Day 2 addresses energy labelling, procurement and materials. Bill Dunster (of BedZED infamy) is talking on Day 2 too, which should be interesting – he’s a brave man getting up there in front of all those technically minded engineers, who no doubt will have some sticky questions for him.
BedZed, Bill Dunster’s pioneering zero-carbon development has been beset by a number of well publicised problems in delivering the vision. For the full details see the piece in the Guardian. The most interesting point to me is that the development has been a success ‘socially’ – always one of the hardest aspects of sustainability to ‘manufacture’.
I’m not going to bash Bill Dunster – his vision is laudible, and rather than rip apart the things the design could have done better, I would urge anyone instead to learn from the mistakes he made and not repeat them.
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