Elemental

What caught my eye today, March 9th:

• How to save money running a startup (17 really good tips) – The article that started the workaholic furore. Leaving that point aside, the tips are pretty good, especially the second monitor and the expensive chairs. Look after your staff appears to be the mantra – it pays for itself in the end.
• Fire the workaholics – This response by 37 Signals to Jason Calacanis’ (slightly) misrepresented tip of firing folks who are not workaholics has some good points. Worth following the thread to read Jason’s original and subsequent posts.
• Yorkshire’s Top Architects – Carey Jones knock SMC Gower off the top of the chart and DLA jump 3 places. Rance Booth and Smith drop from 21 to 30. All the usual suspects really…
• Go Caroline! – Building – Chris Addison (best known to me from ‘The Thick of It’ – what’s he doing writing for Building?) spoofs Caroline Flint. Best line – ‘I saw it on Grand Designs once’.
• Lightweight vs Heavyweight Construction Seminar – 13th March, Bristol – Is it better from an environmental point of view to build lightweight framed construction with insulation infill or heavyweight masonry construction with thermal mass?
• What’s wrong with cheap flights to Krakow? – Building – What on earth was Mark Leftly thinking? Gets quite rightly trounced in the comments, not so much for his views (he’s welcome to them) but the lack of journalistic rigour to the article. Nil point. Could do much better…
• Second Life avatars and Brazilians: the same carbon footprint – Ack! The internet’s carbon footprint revealed! Not good news…
• A New Form of Accounting as Carbon Calculator Goes Live – CALM is the first free business-based calculator which shows the balance between annual emissions and carbon sequestration of the key greenhouse gases associated with the activities of individual land-based businesses.
• Government fails to deliver on Part L – members of M&E Sustainability have denounced the Govt?s reluctance to enforce Part L. Describing the situation as ?shambolic?, they have raised serious doubts about the future impact of of other sustainability measures.
• Planning policy on renewable energy – Scottish proposal to dump planning permission for domestic renewables
• As Indians get power, carbon emissions rise – India has pledged to ensure that its per capita emissions never exceed those of the developed world. It points out that it contributes 4.6 percent of the world’s greenhouse gases although its people represent 17 percent of the world’s population.
• ASHRAE green building standard (189.1P) open for second public review- 3/3/2008 1:43:00 PM – Building Design & Construction – Proposed Standard 189.1 will provide minimum requirements for the design of high-performance new commercial buildings and major renovation projects, addressing energy efficiency, a building?s impact on the atmosphere, sustainable sites, water use etc
• Water to be the next commoditised resource – Wind generation requires just five litres of water to generate five megawatts, the average amount of energy consumed by a household per year. Coal requires 10,000 litres, while nuclear needs 12,500, to produce the same amount of power.
• Rising energy prices could make microgeneration viable – Faithful and Gould at EcoBuild

mel starrs News Carey Jones, Caroline Flint, Chris Addison, Energy, energy efficiency, energy prices, Freemasonry, India, M&E Sustainability, Mark Leftly, pence, Rance Booth, renewable energy

Plenty around on skyscrapers and tall buildings currently.  Fogetting for a minute Ms Greer, we have:

• New guidance from CABE on tall buildings. Tall buildings may in future be acceptable at outline planning consent stage provided the proposals are part of a robust and credible long term master plan. The new guidance (pdf, 8 pages), just published, has called for tall buildings to exceed the latest regulations for minimising energy and reducing carbon emissions over the lifetime of the development:

  • para 4.1.6 The sustainable design and construction of the proposal. For all forms of  development, good design means sustainable design. Tall buildings should set exemplary standards in design because of their high profile and local impact. Proposals should therefore exceed the latest regulations and planning policies for minimising energy use and reducing carbon emissions over the lifetime of the development. The long-term resource and energy efficiency of tall buildings will be enhanced if their design can be adapted over time.

• And not one, but two blogs/feeds to check out the world of tall buildings. James Newman’s Skyscraper News.Com which has plenty of UK news and Preston Koerner’s Skyscraper Sunday, a green look at global tall buildings every Sunday.

*I’m only going to have one Skyscraper Monday – Preston has a S2 (Skyscraper Sunday) every week…

mel starrs Uncategorized Energy, energy efficiency, energy use, Green Building, Greer, Guidance Documents, James Newman, Preston Koerner, United Kingdom

Found this great little article by M. BHUVANASUNDAR, chairman, Indian Institute of Architects, Coimbatore Chapter, Coimbatore in The Hindu on green buildings.  Two definitions of green to add to the arsenal:

The voluntary pursuit of any activity, which encompasses concern for energy efficiency, environment, water conservation, use of recycled products and renewable energy is defined as green.

and

Green buildings embody a design intent on balancing environmental responsiveness, resource efficiency, and cultural and community sensitivity.

mel starrs Uncategorized Coimbatore, Coimbatore Chapter, energy efficiency, Green Building, India, Indian Institute of Architects, renewable energy

Looks like Matt Grace has moved to Enermodal Engineering (a Canadian company) in Calgary:

Leading UK Sustainability Expert Joins Enermodal Calgary: Matt Grace, B.Eng., M.Sc., C.Env.

Matt Grace brings to Enermodal 12 years of professional experience in sustainable building design and assessment, including work on office, institutional, industrial and housing developments, renewable energy and energy efficiency. He has conducted over 150 assessments of green buildings, developed BREEAM (the UK equivalent to LEED), and conducted building research for the International Energy Agency. Matt’s education includes degrees in both Engineering and Energy and the Environment, and he is a Chartered Environmentalist (UK). We look forward to the fresh perspective on green building design and rating that Matt brings to Enermodal.

Matt was last seen at Ferguson Brown, whose website is still under development some 8 months after I first reported it ‘coming soon’.  The Calgary office of Enermodal opened in November from what I can gather.

Good luck in Canada, Matt…

mel starrs Uncategorized Calgary, Canada, Energy Agency, energy efficiency, Enermodal Engineering, Ferguson Brown, Matt Grace, News, renewable energy, United Kingdom

Yvette Cooper estimates we need between 2,500 and 4,500 qualified assessors. She sets out how much setting up HIPs has cost here (£11.7m total). Let’s remind ourselves why HIPs and EPC exist:

The Housing Act 2004 requires that a mandatory Home Information Pack (HIP) is put together on every home that comes to the market from June 1st 2007. Crucially, each pack will contain a mandatory Energy Performance Certificate (EPC).

What’s more, the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) provides that an Energy Performance Certificate to be provided for all residential lettings no later than January 2009.

The Daily Mail reckons assessors will be earning up to £80,000 a year each. Connells Limited and LSL Property Services plc joint venture, energy-assessors.com reckons £50,000 a year.

200 companies have been set up to ‘cash in’ as the Daily Mail terms it. These are in general micro-independents or KTC*’s (kitchen table consultants). In addition, energy-assessors.com reckon they can provide 870 assessors.

www.energy-assessors.com personnel comprises 300 DEAs, 100 home inspectors, plus 470 chartered surveyors employed by LSL and Connells. Energy-assessors.com said it would also provide training for those wishing to become energy assessors.

In just 12 weeks and for £1,995 you too could be an assessor with them.  Or opt to spend £3,250 with NHER (if you have no previous experience) or £2,750 if you are an experienced practioner.  Again, it takes 12 weeks to get qualified. BRE will charge you £1,700 for their training.

Government has indicated that the only suitable qualifications will be the Home Inspectors Diploma (Level 4 VRQ) or a QCA approved Domestic Energy Assessors (DEA) qualification.  It appears that three different awarding bodies; the Awarding Body in the Built Environment (ABBE), City & Guilds, and the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA), will be offering DEA qualifications. The ABBE was the first of these to be approved by QCA towards the end of December, City & Guilds launched on the 23^rd January and the NAEA has been approved as of 31^st January.

All of the training providers I have mentioned are registered with one or other of these qualifications, but as you can see there is a wide range of prices available.  I’ve not managed to track down how much it would be just to turn up on the day of the exam without training, but it appears there’s a market developing in providing training, never mind the certificates themselves.

As Yvette Cooper keeps reiterating, the price of certificates will be set by ‘the market’. But with the market effectively sewn up with 1/3 of assessors under the same umbrella, is this somewhat compromised? I’m no economist, but I’m sure there must be a theory or name for this?

On a different note, Rat and Mouse have a slightly gloomy asssessment here, with very few of the public actually taking any notice of the proposed rating scheme given the buoyant property market, especially in London.

It looks like Wednesday’s budget (para 7.68) may have answered Yvette’s wish back in September for green mortgages to be linked to EPC’s:

Based on consultation with major banks and building societies, the Government anticipates that these measures and improved energy advice and information have the potential to create a market for ‘green’ financial products designed to help householders invest in energy efficiency and microgeneration installations.

It’s just 10 weeks until 1 June – fun and games ahead…

* “copyright”, JTB

mel starrs Uncategorized Connells Limited, Energy, energy assessors, energy efficiency, financial products, GBP, improved energy advice, London, LSL Property Services plc, National Association of Estate Agents, Sustainability, www.energy-assessors.com, Yvette Cooper

CASPAR (city centre apartments for single people at affordable rents), a development of 42 apartments on North St in Leeds (just opposite Hansa’s Gujarati curry house) is now to be demolished. The Yorkshire Post have the latest developments here. Guardian report here and Treehugger comment here.

It’s a cautionary tale. What lessons are to be learnt?

The site was initially open to competition and won by Levitt Bernstein on behalf of the client, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Contractor was Kajima UK Engineering Ltd, structural engineers were Alan Conisbee and Associates and Services Engineers were Max Fordham and Partners. According to RIBA contract value was £2,432,916 and was reportedly built without subsidy. JRF expected a return of 6.2%, compared to their average portfolio of 2.9%. Each apartment cost in the region of £60k to build, high for apartments, especially for one occupant dwellings.

The project won much acclaim after it’s completion in 2000 and won awards with both RIBA and the Civic Trust. The SDC (Sustainable Development Commission) have the development rated as a 5 star sustainable case study. The energy efficiency of the development appears to be very good. Where it was obviously fallen down on the sustainable front is that instead of the 60 year expected lifespan, the development has lasted less than 7 years.

The concept of the design was prefab offsite construction carried out by Volumetric in Bedfordshire, part of Potton Group, whose expertise include other modular buildings such as Travelodges. The reason for the initial evacuation, after an investigation by Arup, was “potentially catastrophic structural problems“. The flats have a 2% chance of collapsing in exceptionally high winds. The problem appears to lie with how the units were put together once they arrived on site (hints of what might have gone wrong can be found in the comments here, including putting the ground floor flats on the fifth floor – oops!). Treehugger describe the false economy of deciding to go semi-volumetric (some flat pack, some pods – such as bathrooms and kitchens):

The project team is generally of the view that the decision to go semi-volumetric proved a false economy, as the challenge of tight, steeply sloping site, large overhanging roof and semi-circular plan combined to exert unmanageable pressure on the assembly of flat packs to keep up with the pace of pod delivery.

Further details of the project can be found here and here. CABE still have the details to CASPAR I in Birmingham (a different construction method was used), but there is now no sign of the CASPAR II case study.

The new scheme to take the place of the demolished building will be developed by local developer LifeHomes and local architect 2B. The old scheme was in general well received and despite the problems will probably be fondly remembered. LifeHomes are in talks with planners to see how the spirit of CASPAR can be retained.

The lessons that can be taken away from this are all in the delivery of the project once it hit site. There appears to have been both logistical and communication problems. Anecdotal evidence points to too many pods and flatpacks arriving on site too quickly, pressuring the operatives on site to construct even faster and mistakes being made about which pods went where. I would love to know if a full time clerk of works was employed on this job – could better site inspection have prevented these mistakes?

All this ended up being a mistake too costly to rectify without demolition. Whilst these mistakes are ultimately linked to MMC (modern methods of construction), the proximate reason lies in the delivery, rather than the method of construction. This, I believe, is a problem that can be identified and resolved in the future now it has happened once, rather than to damn MMC to the scrap heap. I’m all for learning from the lessons of others. It seems there is the potential to learn much more from mistakes than successes.

mel starrs Uncategorized Alan Conisbee, Birmingham, Civic Trust, energy efficiency, GBP, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Kajima UK Engineering Ltd, Leeds, Max Fordham, Potton Group, RIBA, Sustainability, Sustainable Development Commission

edit: this was originally posted 22 January, but I fear there may have been a glitch and it has been marked as private.  Odd.  Anyway, here it is again…

Spotted via the IET headlines, this article in the Telegraph highlights the findings of a report in Energy Policy in December which criticises the fragmented approach the UK government has to meeting it’s carbon targets. I’ve hunted out the abstract to the report, but can’t put my hands on the full version. If anyone knows where I might find it, please let me know. It makes interesting reading and reminds us that carbon reduction is a complex issue (as David Attenborough reminded us last night in the BBC program ‘Climate Change: Britain under threat‘ (which you should be able to watch online soon)). I’ve posted the abstract of the report below for information (my emphasis in italics):

The role of energy efficiency in reducing Scottish and UK CO2 emissions Nick Kelly. Energy Policy. Kidlington: Dec 2006.Vol.34, Iss. 18; pg. 3505

Abstract
In 2003, the UK government launched its long-anticipated White Paper on energy, the centrepieces of which were ambitious targets for the production of electricity from renewable technologies and the long-term aspiration of a 60% reduction in UK greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. In the White Paper it was recognized that such a dramatic reduction in emissions will require significant changes in the way in which energy is produced and used. However there has been a general failure to recognize the fact that in order to meet emissions targets, the UK will have to significantly reduce its energy consumption; this is not helped by the general misconception in the UK that reductions in CO2 emissions will occur simply by increasing the production of electricity from renewable sources. Specifically, this paper highlights the current trends in renewables deployment and energy demand, with a specific focus on Scotland, where the authorities have set more ambitious renewables targets than the rest of the UK. As will be demonstrated in this paper, without energy demand reduction, the deployment of renewables alone will not be sufficient to curtail growth in UK CO2 emissions. This is illustrated using a case study of the Scottish housing sector; whilst this case study is necessarily local in scope, the results have global relevance. The paper will also address the magnitude of energy savings required to bring about a reduction in emissions and assesses the status of the policies and technologies that could help bring such reductions about.

mel starrs Uncategorized BBC, Britain, Built Environment, carbon, Climate Change, David Attenborough, electricity, Energy, energy consumption, energy demand, energy demand reduction, energy efficiency, energy savings, greenhouse gas emissions, Nick Kelly, renewable technologies, renewables, Scotland, Sustainability, UK government, United Kingdom

The Queen’s speech is now online here and the Climate Change Bill is on her list:

My Government will publish a Bill on climate change as part of its policy to protect the environment, consistent with the need to secure long-term energy supplies.

Other interesting bills include:

A draft Bill will be published to tackle road congestion and to improve public transport.
My Government will publish proposals to reform the planning system.

All in all it is a victory for Friends of the Earth and the green lobby in general. 

admin Regulation Climate Change Bill, electricity, Energy Act, energy efficiency, Friends of the Earth, policy, Queen's speech

A fascinating summary over at EurActiv.com on why energy efficiency may not be the panacea some of us believed it to be. I’ve argued in the past that the way to reduce carbon is to start with the beginning and reduce the energy you use. However, some studies have looked at this in macroeconomic terms (i.e. a big scale):

Building on the work of nineteenth century economist Stanley Jevons, they have looked at the “rebound” or “take-back” effects of energy efficiency policies. This effect takes place when the energy savings produced by the measure are taken back by consumers in the form of higher consumption. An example: a household, which has made big energy savings over the year might, at the end of the year, decide to buy a new car with the money they saved. It is questionable therefore whether, on a macro-economic level, they contributed to less energy consumption.

Interesting. It even has a great name – the Khazzoom-Brookes postulate – and I’m always a sucker for a theory with a great name. The good news is that the magnitude of this ‘rebound effect’ has not yet been agreed upon. General concensus is that it is small enough that the overall effect is still positive (i.e. net carbon is reduced). Always good to know what theories the nay-sayers may throw your way and what the counter-argument could be.

Digging a little deeper, I have found that Khazzoom-Brookes was first put forward by an American economist, Harry Saunders, in 1992. The argument centres around the ‘top-down’ (taxing fuel, etc) versus a ‘bottom-up’ (energy conservation) approach, with Khazzoom-Brookes being in favour of ‘top-down’.

I still stand by the ‘bottom-up’ approach, but I see no reason why ‘top-down’ cannot be employed concurrently? But my grasp of economics* is shaky at best, and I need to do more reading. Can anyone recommend a site or book which will enlighten me?

*BTW, my knowledge of ecomonics, politics and history (the liberal arts?) has multiplied tenfold since starting this blog. Coming from a mostly mathematical, engineering background this has been a bit of a wake-up call. Unlike many engineering problems, sustainability does not have a black and white, clear-cut solution. Which makes life interesting…

admin Psychology carbon, Economics, energy efficiency, Harry Saunders, Khazzoom-Brookes, macroeconomics, rebound effect, Stanley Jevons

On Wednesday DCLG announced details of the home energy certificates which must be in place due to EPBD (European Performance of Buildings Directive) by 2009. The UK version will be ready by next summer:

The certificates will give home buyers and sellers A to G ratings for their home’s energy efficiency and carbon emissions. They will tell them current average costs for heating, hot water and lighting in their home as well as how to cut costs with energy efficiency measures.

Commercial buildings will be following soon, but the implications on the domestic housing market could be enormous. All those poorly built, electrically heated flats built over the past 15 years could be facing a very sticky future. It will be interesting to see what effect this has on the existing housing market. It’s all very well building new buildings correctly but we have a huge stock of existing housing which accounts for a much greater proportion of the carbon emissions. There was a fantastic report published in 2003 by BRE called ‘Domestic Energy Fact file 2003′ which has 103 pages of facts and figures.

In a no doubt related move, BRE have recently announced the launch of EcoHomes XB:

David Strong, MD of BRE Environment comments: ‘Reducing the environmental impact of the existing housing stock is a vitally important issue. BRE has worked closely with the Housing Corporation to develop EcoHomes XB – an environmental assessment tool for existing managed housing stock. We are delighted to have been able to assist the Housing Corporation by developing EcoHomes XB, a valuable addition to our family of environmental assessment tools.’

mel starrs Uncategorized David Strong, energy efficiency, energy efficiency measures, environmental assessment tool, environmental assessment tools, home energy certificates, Housing Corporation, News, Part L, Sustainability, United Kingdom