Elemental

These are my links for August 18th through August 24th:

• Stanford engineers’ new solar energy conversion process could revamp solar power production - "A new process that simultaneously combines the light and heat of solar radiation to generate electricity could offer more than double the efficiency of existing solar cell technology, say the Stanford engineers who discovered it and proved that it works. The process, called "photon enhanced thermionic emission," or PETE, could reduce the costs of solar energy production enough for it to compete with oil as an energy source."
• Dilbert Creator Scott Adams Tries to Build an Eco-Friendly House - WSJ.com - Slightly concerned that Sott Adams couldn't leverage his fame to get some decent advice for his self build, but then this article wouldn't have been so entertaining: "The greenest home is the one you don't build. If you really want to save the Earth, move in with another family and share a house that's already built. Better yet, live in the forest and eat whatever the squirrels don't want. Don't brag to me about riding your bicycle to work; a lot of energy went into building that bicycle. Stop being a hypocrite like me."
• NewEnergyFocus.com - FiTs data shows “surprise uptake” by commercial sector - "The most up-to-date figures from Ofgem show that between the scheme going live and today (August 9), there have been 5040 installations, with 4969 of them residential, 57 commercial and 13 community installations. Of these, 13 were hydro, 142 wind and 4885 solar PV and the total installed capacity totals 21.9MW."
• INSIGHT: Save What’s Left: Architects as Stewards of Our Planet - "I am not arguing for mindless, indigenous architecture and the elimination of the architectural profession; I am arguing for a new adaptive architecture that clearly understands its regional setting. Our simple goals could be to reduce the consumption of energy in the building sector by 50% in the next 15 years, and then achieve energy neutrality in the built environment 10 years later. These achievements might be analogous to the Manhattan Project or to landing on the moon before the Soviets. The new focus on regionalism and energy conservation would be accompanied by a new attitude toward nature and the landscape, an attitude that seeks to conserve and reintroduce native species and native landscapes."
• Home | VELUX - via Rory Bergin's blog, a tool for modelling energy for domestic properties
• Op-Ed Contributor - Math Lessons for Locavores - NYTimes.com - excellent, though US-centric article on the absurdities of locavorism. Single issue arguments do annoy me.
• 500 Internal Server Error - 500 Internal Server Error
• bere:architects » Blog Archive » First Welsh Passivhaus prototype – Fenestration Calculations & Cost Data - Hats off to bere:architects for publishing such a wealth of cost data. Lots of useful graphs and data.
• London Housing Design Guide - London Development Agency - "The Mayor’s London Housing Design Guide sets a new benchmark for housing in the capital and will soon be a requirement for publicly-funded homes. By consolidating and simplifying a comprehensive set of standards, the guide aims to provide consistency and clarity about what is expected in London from the outset of a development. The standards are anticipated to be taken forward across all tenures through the Mayor’s forthcoming draft Housing Supplementary Planning Guide (SPG)."
• Boris the builder: The Mayor’s vision for London housing | Life & Style - "Since 1980 there have been no mandatory minimum space standards for housing in the UK, ever since the famous Parker Morris standards for Space in the Home, which were drawn up in 1961, were abolished by Margaret Thatcher's government in 1980. This has led, in recent years, to London having the smallest new houses and apartments of any major city in the Western world — and this at the end of an era of huge economic growth and rises in living standards. A new apartment in London now is estimated to have up to 30 per cent less space than its equivalent of 40 to 50 years ago. The new guide contains 90 standards that will apply from next year on all new housing built on London Development Agency-owned land, or any developments funded by public money. More excitingly, it is hoped that the guide will be part of the updated London Plan after 2012, and as such will be planning policy — meaning it will cover all new housing in the private sector, too."
• grid carbon will stay high for some time yet « carbon limited - "the official line is that the carbon intensity of the grid will remain roughly steady until 2015, when it will plummet towards near-zero carbon in 2040. (As an aside, is it a coincidence that the dropoff comes in 2015, given that it’s the latest possible date for the next general election?) It will be interesting to see how that drop off moves in coming years. The announcement strongly reinforces the message from DECC that decarbonisation of heat will not be achieved through electrification. In other words, heat pumps are not the answer to decarbonising heat at the national scale."

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These are my links for March 19th through March 25th:

• Climate science: Spin, science and climate change | The Economist - "…the ambiguities of science sit uncomfortably with the demands of politics. Politicians, and the voters who elect them, are more comfortable with certainty. So “six months to save the planet” is more likely to garner support than “there is a high probability—though not by any means a certainty—that serious climate change could damage the biosphere, depending on levels of economic growth, population growth and innovation.” Politics, like journalism, tends to simplify and exaggerate. Hence the advertisements that the British government has been running, using nursery rhymes…<br />
  Such an approach may, in the short term, have encouraged some voters to support measures to combat climate change. But implying that Britain’s children face some sort of Saharan future is wrong, and dangerous. This week Britain’s ASA slapped the government for its infantile advertisements. <br />
  Where there is plainly an urgent need for change is the way in which governments use science to make their case."
• Neighbors Oppose Green Label for the Software Mogul Mitch Kapor’s Big House - NYTimes.com - When the house won planning approval earlier this year, many neighbors were surprised — not so much by the size of the house, or by its sleek design, but by the fact that, under Berkeley regulations, the house will qualify as “green.” In Berkeley, building proposals are evaluated on a “green point” scale, earning credit for such eco-conscious features as low-flow shower heads and insulation. A house with more than 60 points is labeled green, regardless of its size.
• News : NDS - Business Minister, Ian Lucas, said “London will be a world-leading centre for energy efficient buildings, specialising in retrofitting activity. The variety of buildings across London means that there will be a wide range of highly exportable skills. This position of global leadership will help create wealth for London and the UK economy by providing market opportunities for businesses and inward investors, and jobs for Londoners. “The opportunity to develop and demonstrate solutions for the refurbishment of homes and commercial buildings will help the construction sector to innovate in order to retain, as well as expand, its current market position.” Initially, the programme will include a range of projects aligning nearly £90million funding already committed by the RDAs involved: the London Development Agency (LDA) will lead the LCEA programme, working in collaboration with the South East of England Development Agency (SEEDA) and the East of England Development Agency (EEDA).
• Sustainability is a RESULT (not a reason) | Simcoe Consulting - 2. Results (like sustainability) can be measured, reasons cannot. I can measure the results of a recycling program, I cannot measure the reasons I had a veggie burger for lunch. Reasons, on the other hand, mainly appeal to your psyche and the the outside influences on you. People will say you the reason you should make your lighting energy-efficient is sustainability. Wrong. The reason you should do it is that it will save you money.
• Emerging Findings | Policies | BIS - Worth reading - easily digestible. "On 17 March the Low Carbon Construction Innovation and Growth Team, chaired by Chief Construction Adviser, Paul Morrell, published its Emerging Findings (PDF, 1.7 Mb)."
• The overpopulation myth « Prospect Magazine - "Let’s look at carbon dioxide emissions: the biggest current concern because of climate change. The world’s richest half billion people—that’s about 7 per cent of the global population—are responsible for half of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions. Meanwhile, the poorest 50 per cent of the population are responsible for just 7 per cent of emissions. Virtually all of the extra 2bn or so people expected on this planet in the coming 30 or 40 years will be in this poor half of the world. Stopping that, even if it were possible, would have only a minimal effect on global emissions, or other global threats."
• Challenges for energy and buildings research: objectives, methods and funding mechanisms - Building Research & Information - "This commentary reflects on a series of strategic questions facing the energy and buildings research community and research funding bodies in the UK. These include the problems of research capacity and funding, the need to find a new balance between competition and cooperation between research groups, and a need for a renewed focus on the empirical performance of buildings. The authors argue that conventional distinctions between research, development and the deployment of technologies are inappropriate for the built environment. A wider range of approaches to research is needed to enable researchers to engage more effectively with stakeholders throughout the research, development, and deployment process, to reduce the distinction between research and knowledge transfer, and to reduce the length of learning cycles. "
• Report suggests behavioural changes cancel out green refits - Behavioural economics finally hits UK building research: "The framing of the problem of energy demand and CO2 emissions is crucial to its eventual success. The way in which technical interventions in buildings, such as higher insulation standards, improved boiler efficiencies or integrated renewable energy technologies, can directly affect carbon emissions is in principle relatively well understood. Yet it is an unavoidable fact that, despite many technical improvements to the UK building stock, CO2 levels continue to rise. There are many reasons for this. As well as consumers turning up the heat, some increases in emissions can be ascribed to economic growth, which leads to more or larger dwellings, which tend, over time, to contain more electrical items, and items that are also more energy intensive. There are a number of entangled and interacting economic, technical, social and behavioural factors at play."
• Building4Change : Morrell says industry faces biggest change since Victorian times - "The review of the low carbon construction innovation and growth team (IGT) aims to identify how construction can best deliver the future carbon reduction commitments for 2020 and beyond. It will publish its final report later in the year, including recommendations to government to help inform policy development.<br />
  Issues affecting non-domestic buildings are:<br />
  the specific challenges of addressing the existing stock, and particularly the problem of frequently separate ownership and occupation<br />
  the need to stimulate market demand for products and works (new build and retrofit) designed for carbon reduction<br />
  a linked need for innovative means of financing the transition to low carbon<br />
  adoption of project level decision-making on the basis of appraisals founded on a whole life approach."
• All Party Urban Development Group|Home - The All Party Urban Development Group’s new report "Next Steps: A Regeneration Agenda for the Next Government" has been released. It sets out four important measures which a new government needs to implement if it is to safeguard regeneration over the next 10 years.<br />
  Based on research, the report recommends that:<br />
  1. Public sector investment should be focused on the areas that need it most.<br />
  2. Business rates should be localised and tax increment financing (TIF) should be introduced.<br />
  3. Planning reform should be limited after the first year of the next government and planning performance agreements (PPAs) should be used more.<br />
  4. There should be a focus on increasing the housing supply and adjusting stamp duty to encourage greater investment in the private rented sector.
• Socialreporter | Green Valleys show the way to Mass Localism - NESTA's guide to Mass Localism:<br />
  # Establish and promote a clear, measurable outcome<br />
  # Presume a community capacity to innovate<br />
  # In the early stages, challenge and advice is more valuable than cash<br />
  # Identify existing barriers to participation and then remove them<br />
  # Don’t reward activity, reward outcomes

admin News behaviour, building, climate, consumption, Economist, environment, footprint, funding, future, growth, IGT, labelling, LCEA, LEED, localism, Morrell, overpopulation, planning, politics, population, regeneration, research, science, statistics, Sustainability, UK

These are my links for July 14th through July 15th:

• 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, Economics, engineers, Finance, footprinting, grants, insulation, interview, kirklees, Marketing, passivhaus, renewables, research, review, triple-glazed, urbanism, windows

What I’ve been reading about:

• Home - The British Cartoon Archive - University of Kent - Fantastic social history resource. Past cartoons from most of the major British newspapers.
• Empire building - What if you built a global design business without a global headquarters? The radical new business model of the 139-year-old Adelaide building design practice Woods Bagot could provide the template on how to go global. - A former architect and academic who joined the firm seven years ago, Donaldson says that his role is not unlike the process of designing a building – every day as managing director he is designing a company. Four years ago, Woods Bagot changed its structure from a firm with 14 board members with shareholdings, to 49 principals with shareholdings.
  The change to this model, which is seen more often in law firms, is clearly working. Business is booming, with turnover tripling in the past year and exports now accounting for more than 50% of revenue.
• Cash the king for struggling property firms - Property Week - Cash generating policies include cutting dividends and asset sales, and some companies have had to renegotiate bank facilities to see them through the worst of the cycle.

mel starrs News AEC, archive, business_models, cartoons, history, humour, illustration, library, politics, recession, research, satire, UK

These are my links for May 20th through May 23rd:

• 800-CEO-READ Blog: Thoughts on Seth Godin’s “How To Read a Business Book” - reading (business) books is an act of mediation. It is a mental refuge for you to explore your thoughts and feelings about work, but also life as a whole.
• Building physicists wanted - PI insurance for low carbon consultants is higher because insurance companies see providing advice on sustainability as high risk.
• Water regs to cut waste and scalding - Building - The main change is aimed at cutting water use to 125 litres per person per day in new dwellings, just below the limit set in the Code for Sustainable Homes for a level one and two home.
• That bubble, reputation - Building - Failure to comply with the law will always be unethical and damage reputations. But conduct may not be contrary to the law yet still damage your reputation.
• Go with your gut – intuition is more than just a hunch, says Leeds research | Press releases | Media | University of Leeds - Research from my alma mater reinforcing Malcolm Gladwell's Blink.
• To Fight Global Warming We Must Tax All Recreational Exercise - Freakonomics - Opinion - New York Times Blog - I'm sure Steve Levitt wrote this as a joke, but it misses the mark on so many levels. And his assumptions for calcs are miles off. Good comments from readers which are worth a look.
• Think debate: Are engineers the new architects? - Building Design - Had the pleasure of seeing this 'live' at Think08. Good points from both sides and if the questions is changed to which would you rather be, then both make a compelling case for engineering…
• eco town round up - Martin has gathered together an impressive list of articles on eco-towns from around the interweb.

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