Elemental

These are my links for August 30th through September 1st:

• Coal verses Nuclear (Jonathon Porritt) – I've not made much comment on George Monbiot's comments on nuclear – mainly because I agree with his qualifications. JP explains here why the green movement are in a kerfuffle about it by explaining: "a communicator as astute and clever as George should (and surely does) know the difference between a 'Yes … If' position and a 'No … Unless' position." JP's a "No…Unless" man…
• Rod Sheard leads MBO at HOK Sport – Building – After a long period of consolidation and M&A are we due for increased fragmentation and MBO's? The current economic climate would suggest not, but HOK Sport are going for it…
• Deadlines provide an opportunity – BSEE – Building Services and Environmental Engineer – BESCA's new accreditation scheme is the only one that certifies assessors to inspect both Level 1 (simple, packaged or VRV) and Level 2 (complex, central-cooled air or water) air-conditioning systems.
• Mission Creep | Neil Williams » Blog Archive » How to be an interesting civil service blogger (and not get fired) – via Tom Watson, a guide to blogging if you're a civil servant. Private sector bloggers can learn from this too – a good summary of things as they stand.
• CIBSE RESET tool (Excel spreadsheet download) – Further to TM38, this tool is intended to provide guidance to those responsible for the design, installation, commissioning, operation and maintenance of building services. It is not intended to be exhaustive or definitive and it will be necessary for users of the guidance given and results produced to exercise their own professional judgement when deciding whether to abide by or depart from it.

mel starrs News Blogging, business, calculators, certification, CIBSE, debate, EPBD, George_Monbiot, green, guide, m&a, MBO, nuclear, part_L, renewables, spreadsheet, TM38, UK

These are my links for June 24th through June 26th:

• My M&M’s® – Get Your Favorite Faces on Your Favorite Candy – Upload a Picture and Message – Completely OT, but really? Printing photos on M&M's.
• Sex and the City and Handbag Insanity » Transition Culture – Poor Rob is stunned that women rent handbags in NY. I don't have the heart to tell him they do it in the UK too…
• workinproperty: Spinning Blocks in Dubai – OMG. In fact OMGG. Where do I even start on this one. Twisting to optimise orientation would be almost forgiveable, but on the occupants whim? Barking…
• Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (National) RAB says UK’s proposed renewable energy target is achievable – 3.3% of 15% to come from built environment.
• GOOD Magazine: The Life And Death Of Green Design – Living on The Huffington Post – Excellent article on LEED from Huffington Post: "Like any standardized test, LEED works best as a measurement tool, not a paradigm shifter. Change has to come from the architects themselves."
• BeGreen Launches First-of-Its-Kind Calculator to Help Businesses Achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED(R)) Certification – The tool allows businesses to calculate the number of RECs required to meet the Green Power LEED certification standard, based on actual or estimated energy usage.
• Home – The Carbon Trust Standard – The Carbon Trust Standard certifies that an organisation has genuinely reduced its carbon footprint and is committed to making further reductions year on year.
• Where Has All the Water Gone? | The American Prospect – via the Triple Bottom Line. "The world may not exactly be running out of water, but it is running out of clean water."

mel starrs News BERR, blogger, calculator, carbon_footprint, certification, crisis, Dubai, Economics, global, LEED, orientation, OT, renewable, renewables, skyscrapers, water

These are my links for April 6th through April 8th:

• So you want to be an environmental performance assessor – Article from BSJ on EPC, etc. Interestingly, Gifford plan to have 6 assessors, but do not want to waste "good" engineers on the scheme. Certification already seen as a second tier profession and it has scarcely kcked off yet…
• An apple a day gets thrown away – via WRAP, the Love Food Hate Waste campaign finds over 4 million apples a day are being chucked out in the UK – scandalous
• Design for Good – Blogger jking has a useful history of green building. Favourite phrase re: BREEAM and LEED "a lot of scorecard-motivated 'eco-architecture' that lacked anything resembling a sustainable ethic"

mel starrs News BREEAM, building, certification, EPC, food, green, history, LEED, United Kingdom, waste, wrap

These are my links for April 1st through April 5th:

• How To Find Lost Objects – via LifeHacker – a 122 page pdf on a similar vein to www.flylady.net
• IES <VE SBEM> EPC SOFTWARE MEETS 6TH APRIL DEADLINE – IES on the ball again when it comes to SBEM (even though their DSM software IMO is the tool you ought to use)
• Cover It Live – via Simon Dickson, a killer live blogging app. Might try this for Think 08…
• Cutting carbon will grow US economy – Researchers at Yale University reviewed 25 leading economic models and showed that GDP would increase by around 3 %/y if dramatic carbon cutting measures were adopted across the country.
• 1 April 2008: New release of iSBEM_v3.1.a for EPCs – The overheating calculation still isn't working – expect yet another version in the future…
• Hong Kong BEAM – Green Building Label – Interesting statistics – "A US study, for example, found that certified green buildings cost 1.8% more to design and construct, but yield 20% cost savings over the life of the building."
• PM helps householders go green – Article not that exciting in itself, but found it via Twitter. I love Twitter…"Green Neighbourhoods initiative will give a "green makeover" to up to 100 neighbourhoods in England with an aim to reduce their carbon footprints by more than 60 per cent."
• China Launches Green Building Council: An Interview with Kevin Hydes, World GBC Chair – China, BREEAM and LEED. International standards currently only used in office buildings for multinationals or upscale apartments. China's version called what? (link goes to mandarin site)

mel starrs News BEAM, Blogging, BREEAM, business_case, calculator, carbon, certification, China, commitments, dsm, ebook, Economics, free, government, green, Green Building Council, gtd, ies, Kevin Hydes, LEED, lifehacks, Productivity, SBEM, Simon Dickson, Software, United Kingdom, United States, web2.0, www.flylady.net, Yale University