Elemental

These are my links for July 14th through July 16th:

• Sustainable Homes – This could open the doors for more LA's to impose CSH (and BREEAM?) levels for planning conditions: "Chelmsford Borough Council requires that Code for Sustainable Homes Level 3 is achieved as a planning condition for new buildings. The developer appealed against this condition but following consideration by the Planning Inspectorate the condition was held as "reasonable and necessary"."
• House 2.0: On triple glazing – Mark Brinkley warming to the idea of Passivhaus: "comfort underlies the PassivHaus take on triple glazing. I have been a voice arguing that triple glazing is “overkill” in the UK climate and that the energy used in making these units would probably never be repaid by the energy saved over their lifetime. However, the main reason for using triple glazing is not to save energy but to provide more comfort, as the internal temperatures remain more even.
  Feist produced a table showing what the temperature differences were close to different forms of glazing when the internal temperature is designed to maintain at around 21°C and the external temperature drops to —5°C.
  • next to a single glazed window, the adjacent temperature is around 1°C
  • next to a double glazed window (2000 vintage), the adjacent temperature is around 11°C
  • next to a triple glazed window, with a centre pane U value of just 0.65, the temperature is 18°C."
• Portland Architecture: A man struggling: Guy Battle comes to Portland – Guy stands up for engineers: "Do engineers deserve more credit?
  Yes, I think so. Engineering is the hidden hand. They have an enormous amount to contribute to architecture, but too often their contribution is gently put to one side. I think it’s something that should be celebrated. You look at someone like Peter Rice or Neil Thomas, Chris Wise, Guy Nordenson, and a host of other fantastic engineers, and they don’t really get the recognition they deserve."
• Ashden Awards (Jonathon Porritt) – Kirklees (again): "Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council – one of the unsung heroes of local government who have been doing their "sustainability bit" for the last 20 years. But their current home insulation initiative has really made people sit up and listen as it has succeeded in achieving real scale – where so many of the current measures are just picking around at the edges. Here’s what the Award citation said:
  "In 2007, Kirklees Council committed £10 million to providing free loft and cavity-wall insulation for every home in the borough where it can be used. The scheme targets one council ward at a time, using the local Councillor and local advertising, then individual home visits by assessors. By May 2009, 66,000 out of the 172,000 households in the borough had been assessed, 54,000 referred for surveys, 26,000 surveys had been completed, and 21,000 had insulation installed. This avoids an estimated 18,000 tonnes a year of CO2. 140 jobs have been created by the scheme.""
• Cutting carbon with smart finance | Forum For The Future – Innovative financing examples: "For instance, Kirklees’ Re-Charge scheme loans householders money to install low-carbon technologies in their property, such as solar panels to heat water. It is successful because there are no interest charges and the money does not have to be repaid until the property is sold. The council only has to subsidise the interest on the loans and this costs around three times less per home than using a grant scheme."
• FT.com / Weekend columnists / Tim Harford – Carbon footprinting: time to pick up the pace – The ever lucid Tim Harford:"The carbon-footprinting process often produces surprises. An environmentally conscious consumer in the crisps aisle of the supermarket will probably be thinking about packaging or “food miles”. The Carbon Trust reckons that about 1 per cent of the climate impact of a packet of crisps is from moving potatoes around. The largest single culprit is the production of the nitrogen fertiliser, and half of the climate impact in general takes place at the agricultural stage. The point is not that agriculture is always the problem, but that it is very hard for a well-meaning consumer to work out what the green purchasing decision actually is. For this reason, the Carbon Trust has a carbon labelling scheme. The trouble is that many consumers simply do not care enough to pay more or choose a less enjoyable product simply because of the low carbon label."
• Ground Control | PD Smith | Kafka’s mouse – Minton's book duly added to my wishlist. Review: "Sections of our city centres are being sold off to private developers to create shopping monocultures such as Westfield London or "malls without walls" like Stratford City, which is being built for the 2012 Olympics and is one of the largest retail-led developments in Europe. It is, says Minton, "a private city within a city" and represents a return to the early 19th century when aristocrats owned great swathes of London, fortifying their estates of up-market housing with gates and private security forces.
  Now, “land and property which has been in public hands for 150 years or more is moving back into private hands”. Minton argues that today’s privatised city centres and gated communities are fostering "a new culture of authoritarianism and control"."
• Market Research Strategies – Excellent article on generating leads in a down turn market. Primarily aimed at US architects, but easily relatable to UK and engineers/consultants.

admin News book, carbon, cities, CSH, Economics, engineers, Finance, footprinting, grants, insulation, interview, kirklees, Marketing, passivhaus, planning, renewables, research, review, triple-glazed, urbanism, windows

Ten years later, and still not everyone gets all of this. However, things are changing. Facebook has a lot to answer for. When my brother (a chef, so not often “connected” to the internet except by SMS) gets a twitter account, then I’ll know I can stop banging on about this stuff.

In the meantime, revisit the message of Cluetrain, brainchild of Chris Locke, Doc Searls, David Weinberger and Rick Levine via Michael Specht:

mel starrs Diversions Cluetrain Manifesto, Facebook, Marketing, Micro-blogging, social media, social network, twitter, Web 2.0

Image via Wikipedia

Clearing out some MBA stuff and keep coming across snippets regarding models, heuristics and concepts which I want to keep for future reference. Here are some:

• theories are stable explanations for recurring phenomena
• theorising is “sense making”
• “there is nothing so practical as good theory”
• 3 stages to theorising:
  • concepts (define)
  • conceptual framework (description of connections)
  • theory

And some stuff on cognitive styles:

• Intuition – “knowing, without knowing why”
• “Truly outstanding managers are those who can couple hunch, judgement and synthesis with logic and analysis” (Henry Mintzberg)

Don’t have the money or rigid blocks of time to do an MBA? Check out this reading list “The Personal MBA Recommended Reading List” which has been knocking around for a couple of years. You’ll still need ‘time’ but with disciplined self learning you could theoretically get through the list in 1 year (77 books in total). More probable that it will take 2-5 years though…

And books I would recommend which aren’t necessarily on the list above but which touch on theories, statistics, decision making and all that stuff:

Reckoning with Risk: Learning to Live with Uncertainty Gerd Gigerenzer

Judgment in Managerial Decision Making Max Bazerman

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything Levitt and Dubner

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference Malcolm Gladwell

Supercrunchers: How Anything Can Be Predicted Ian Ayres

and a couple I have on my reading list for my holidays next week:

Wikinomics Dan Tapscott

The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable Nassim Nicholas Taleb

mel starrs Geekery books, Malcolm Gladwell, Management, Marketing, MBA

These are my links for May 24th through May 25th:

• USGBC opens LEED 2009 up to public comment- 5/20/2008 9:16:00 AM – Building Design & Construction – The LEED Green Building Rating System was developed by USGBC to drive market transformation in the building industry by defining a consensus metric for leadership in green building that forms a basis for continuous improvement
• Seth’s Blog: The coming backlash over green marketing – Seth Godin on greenwash and the power of a numerical figure in promotion of 'green'.
• Data Centers Are Becoming Big Polluters, Study Finds – Bits – Technology – New York Times Blog – The world’s data centers are projected to surpass the airline industry as a greenhouse gas polluter by 2020 – save the planet – turn off your PC (the thought of which invokes mild panic in me)
• The Online Talent War – Harvard Business Online’s John Sviokla – Good article from HBR on the growing importance of LinkedIn and Facebook et al in garnering personal connections and therefore improving talent hunting from a companies point of view.
• Experts Choice – An interesting little MBA project from UC Irvine provides a view of books and reviews based on the point of view of particular experts. (via Scott Berkun – one of the 'experts')

mel starrs News books, CSR, LEED, Marketing, networking, pollution, recommendations, recruitment, socialnetworking, USGBC

Can you answer the following questions for your company’s website?

• How well marketed, and popular the website is
• How well designed and built the website is
• How accessible the website is, particularly to those with disabilities
• How satisfying the website is likely to be

Silktide have a nifty little tool called sitescore which will give score on all the above, plus a summary score. I was intrigued* enough to run some of ENR’s Top 150 global engineering design firms through the tool.

I sorted the data by taking the general building turnover only and ranking from highest. The top ten for global design companies then looks like this (with profitability listed too):

1. SNC Lavalin ($720m)
2. Atkins ($719m) 2.8%
3. AECOM ($543m)
4. URS ($528m)
5. HOK ($368m)
6. Gensler ($362m)
7. WSP ($360m) 5.7%
8. Jacobs ($348m) 3.5%
9. Arup ($339m) 4.4%
10. Fugro ($272m) 2.8%

Most of these companies only have buildings as a relatively small proportion of total turnover. All except WSP (53%) HOK (93%) and Gensler (89%) are somewhere between 14 and 39%. The top 10 firms account for 40% of the total turnover in buildings of the top 110 (40 in the top 150 do not have buildings as a category).

I was interested to find out if there was any correlation at this level between total turnover, profitability and website ’success’. Profitabilities, where possible, were tracked down using ICC Plum, and include the non-buildings business too.

Click to see on seperate screen

The winner on sitescore was Atkins, who come second for turnover but shares one of the lower profitabilities.

I also looked to see how many of these sites have embraced ‘new media’. Have any of them got a corporate blog? Can you subscribe either via email or RSS to their news pages?

1. SNC-Lavalin email alerts for news
2. Atkins email alerts for financial news
3. AECOM NONE
4. URS email alerts for financial news
5. HOK NONE
6. Gensler NONE
7. WSP NONE
8. Jacobs NONE
9. Arup NONE
10. Fugro NONE

Pretty poor. No RSS and no-one has a blog yet (if anyone knows of a corporate blog for an engineering firm please drop me a line – I’ve found some architect’s, but not engineers)

Most of these sites are inward focusing. It is fairly easy to contact the company, but there is very little ‘real time’ communication with people visiting and interacting with the site. Given that the site is likely to be the first point of call for potential employees, and attracting employees is one of the most pressing issues facing engineering consultancies today, I would think addressing this is an easy win?

I would recommend both email subscription and RSS feeds on news sections as the bare minimum for anyone setting up a company website. Corporate blogs are catching on fast in other fields. For two really good examples check out Penguin Books and BT Broadband.

For anyone interested in exploiting ‘new media’ in order to keep an eye on competitors, I would recommend the tools I talked about here (this also works to keep an eye on clients, suppliers (including software), government and press). With any luck, the firms I have mentioned will be scanning the airwaves and might respond with RSS, email or even a comment on this blog…

*I already had a lot of this data for the dissertation. A spreadsheet with all the data used above is available here. I don’t mind sharing but please credit me as your source if you reproduce this anywhere. Plus standard disclaimer – this data is for my personal use and no responsibility taken for any decisions made on it’s basis, blah, blah, blah…

mel starrs Uncategorized Blogging, Broadband, Construction Industry, Marketing, nifty little tool, real time, statistics, USD

A very positive pro-green building article here from Eric Corey Freed, a San Franciscan architect.

For centuries, people understood how to use natural materials, thermal mass, insulation, and solar orientation to create comfortable shelter. One generation of “cheap” energy use has lost that ability. Tomorrow the sun will rise in the east and set in the west, yet our buildings are the same on all sides. Our traditional way of building is illogical.

He touches on something which I have been thinking about recently – the marketing of ‘green’:

In the near future, the phrase “green building” will be redundant. It will be the same as saying, “structurally sound building.” It will just sound silly. A green building? Of course, it’s a green building. All buildings are green! All buildings will be green, or we will have exhausted our supplies of energy, materials, and water. This is inevitable.

In the near future the term ’sustainability consultant’ may be redundant too – all consultants will be sustainable, and I’ll go back to simply being a designer and consultant to the built environment. I’m looking forward to that day. I’m always reminded of the final scene in series one, episode 6 of Spaced (I haven’t memorised that, I had to go look it up) of theN’orn Irish biker, Tyres O’Flaherty, who looks around the club and proudly pronounces that his work is done…

Apologies to the 20 or so readers using RSS – I’m still struggling to find a way of embedding  youtube clips into the feed.  You’ll have to click through if you want to watch it…

mel starrs Uncategorized Energy, energy use, Eric Corey Freed, Green Building, Marketing, Sustainability, Tyres O\'Flaherty

First we have what I class a ‘proper’ blog from Phil Clark over at Zero Champion (open comments, RSS, frequent posts, opinion, links).

Then, the subscription firewall for many articles seemed to come down with much more content available for free.

And now Building are embracing Second Life.  Second Life is one of those things I have filed away as ‘must have a look at when I have finished the MBA – must not get distracted by until then’ category.

What’s going on?

I have an explanation for the subscription firewall coming down at least.  It’s all to do with RSS and competitors.  Previously, Building’s RSS feeds contained the headlines and one or two lines of leader.  Then you had to click through to the article, which would then let you know you needed to be a subscriber to go any further.  Major frustration.  I for one stopped clicking through in many cases.  I didn’t need to subscribe, as I knew I could find a copy of the magazine if I really had to.  Sometimes I resolved to go hunt out the office copy of the magazine, but more likely than not it was buried under a mass of other magazines, pristine with it’s wrapper on.  I did however have the bare bones of the story, which if I was really interested I could plug into Google (other search engines are available) and look for another source of the story. Plus there were already competitors out there publishing their content in full for free.  Not exactly good news for Building – they could have gained a reader, but instead were losing them.

So if you can’t beat them – join them.  The model is already established for newspapers – expect to see adverts breaking into your reading on the free content in the future – most likely for conferences and publications.

There are no losers in this new model really.  It doesn’t cost Building magazine any more overhead to have 100,000 readers online as it does to have 10,000.  It is unlikely that this will harm paper sales (the vast majority of which are corporate subscriptions rather than personal) and indeed it is more likely to improve sales by enticing new readers.  Advertising revenue online is one route, but another is the jobs section.  With an increased online readership, companies can advertise to far more people, making the adverts much more lucrative.

Another winner is blogging of course.  It’s harder to accredit a source when it’s hidden behind a firewall.  So look forward to plenty more links in the future from me to Building.

mel starrs Uncategorized Blogging, firewall, Google, increased online readership, Marketing, News, Phil Clark, search engines

Gristmill have a great post up on how to answer critics who attempt to label those who attempt a greener lifestyle as hypocrites:

The merits of carbon offsets are hotly debated, so erring on the side of caution would mean abjuring all carbon-emitting activities. That rules out all non-self-propelled travel; it means going off-grid and growing all one’s own food and neither participating in nor purchasing the results of any industrial process. Etc. It’s possible to reduce one’s environmental footprint substantially, even to get it close to zero, but it requires extraordinary effort and self-discipline, and a life far, far out of the mainstream in any developed country.

Any attempt to live carbon free is in the widest sense of the word, not sustainable.  Sustainable development definitions commonly refer to the “interdependent and mutually reinforcing pillars” of sustainable development as economic development, social development, and environmental protection.

By attempting to do a “Tom and Barbara” and withdrawing from society, you ignore the economic and social development pillars.  So whilst carbon free on an individual basis is no doubt an exemplary state, if your sphere of influence does not extend beyond the boundaries of your own home, it cannot said to be contributing to a more sustainable planet.

On the other hand, this is not carte blanche for tearing round the world on private jets attending meetings (“It’s OK – we discussed renewable energy when we got there”) (not that many in the construction industry have private jets, but hey, I’m trying to make a point).  The diagram above shows a sustainable state in the centre.  This is a balancing act – a somewhat precarious one, and no doubt there will be slip-ups along the way. 

Sustainable development is a very complex issue, which includes factors far beyond the normal realm of a corporation (but which are increasingly becoming issues).  We are all now familiar with CSR (corporate social responsibility) but as we delve deeper into this, we will find ourselves becoming involved in politics, economics, social equality – issues which we may not be comfortable with proclaiming a public opinion on, especially as to do so may contradict or compromise longstanding relationships within the industry.

Focussing on carbon produces concrete facts and figures and draws attention away from more intangible or tricky fields of reporting.  The cynic in me fears for many it will be a welcome distraction, and an ideal vehicle in which to to bury bad news.

I believe the challenge which lies ahead for the industry is not how little carbon you have used this year (although that does seem to be flavour of the month at the minute) – but how you align your company activities so they all meet in the centre of the diagram.  In this more critical, political and transparent atmosphere, empty promises and canny marketing ploys will increasingly fail to meet the grade.  The sticky bit comes when deciding how to report this ‘balance’.  In order to report, your position must be stated – on matters which currently are often not made public outside the confines of the company and may very well never have been written down (such as social, economic and political beliefs and models).  There is a further danger that by stating these, rather than merely infering them, companies may alienate staff as well as clients.  Interesting times ahead.

mel starrs Uncategorized food, Management, Marketing, renewable energy, Sustainability, Tom

Watchdog have been uncovering rogue solar water heating traders over the past couple of weeks.  The question is – is this bad publicity or can the industry exploit this opportunity and put a positive spin on the situation by raising public awareness of the technology?  Watchdog couched the story as ‘Solar water heating is becoming the new double glazing’. My advice?  Emphasise the fact that solar hot water won’t cost you £10,000 and will save you money.

Watchdog have also been looking into complaints against Warmfront.  Two energy efficiency stories in one week!  The report on Warmfront isn’t up on the website yet – the main complaint was the use of approved contractors who quoted much more than local unapproved contractors, with loans needing to be topped up by the applicants.  It wasn’t clear from the story if the quotes were exactly like for like – obviously this needs to be clarified.

admin News Marketing, renewables, solar water heating, Warmfront, Watchdog

::via Gristmill:

The new Oxford American dictionary word of the year has been announced as ‘carbon neutral’:

Being carbon neutral involves calculating your total climate-damaging carbon emissions, reducing them where possible, and then balancing your remaining emissions, often by purchasing a carbon offset: paying to plant new trees or investing in “green” technologies such as solar and wind power.

The rise of carbon neutral reflects the growing importance of the green movement in the United States. In a CBS News/New York Times Poll in May 2006, 66% of respondents agreed that global warming is a problem that’s causing a serious impact now. 2006 also saw the launch of a new (and naturally, carbon neutral) magazine about eco-living, Plenty; the actor Leonardo DiCaprio is planning a environmentally-themed reality TV series about an eco-village; and colleges from Maine to Wisconsin are pledging to be carbon neutral within five years. It’s more than a trend, it’s a movement.

Erin McKean, editor in chief of the New Oxford American Dictionary 2e, said “The increasing use of the word carbon neutral reflects not just the greening of our culture, but the greening of our language. When you see first graders trying to make their classrooms carbon neutral, you know the word has become mainstream.”

Excellent endorsement. edit: Actually, thinking about this a little further I’m surprised it wasn’t ‘carbon footprinting’ which seems to pop up on a daily basis.  Maybe the UK has a slightly different slant to the US – any comments?

admin News, Uncategorized carbon footprinting, carbon neutral, Erin McKean, Leonardo DiCaprio, Marketing, New Oxford American Dictionary