With the Lancs Best Practice Club looking to visit the eco show homes at Chorley soon the following links should give a balanced view on the background to these homes.
CarbonLimited – scathing comments on performance
Key findings from Chorley
I received alarming emails from Carbonequity and FoE today describing how a good many tipping points have been reached and that we are on the brink of a point of no return. On January 28th ClimateCodeRed will be published in Australia …
“Climate code red: the case for a sustainability emergency”. … will include responses from a wide range of climate activists and organisations as part of a conversation about how we can campaign for a very fast transition to a post-carbon, climate safe future.
(another nice carbon definer here – post-carbon )
Why is this relevant to a blog on built environment issues? Well…it can be argued that the failure global built environment sector (design, construction and buildings in use) to address and improve on energy performance, energy use, and energy loss is a highly significant contributor to the current situation. As building use energy inefficiently we put an increasing demand on energy production, largely a fossil fuel sourced energy that in itself adds to the problem.
A move from seeing sustainability as green to seeing it as red may start to focus our approach in a different way and just may force us to rethink – a colour paradigm switch !
Similar to Dave Hampton’s excellent think purple carbon – if carbon emissions were purple rather than invisible we would be living in a purple smog, with purple skies – and would have tackled sustainability a long time ago, in a much much more effective manner.
and if you are still reading … Continue reading
From the Guardian today
Warehouses aren’t normally associated with sustainability and environmentally friendliness; they are rather grey and anonymous looking. But a £50m scheme on a brownfield site at a former colliery in north Staffordshire is set to change this.
The project, called Blue Planet Chatterley Valley, is to be developed by Gazeley UK, which is owned by Asda Walmart, on 31 acres of former colliery land in Newcastle-under-Lyme. It will be a truly carbon positive development; the complex will have its own biofuel micro power station (using oilseed rape) and it will produce sufficient power and heat for the on-site buildings and a surplus which is enough energy for up to 650 local homes.
A new definition to savour here – ‘truly carbon positive‘ – brilliant
The North West Sustainability in Built Environment Education forum is holding a presentation and workshop on Low Carbon Buildings at UCLAN (University of Central Lancs – Preston) on Feb 1st. Download details from the Events page.
The Sustainability in Built Environment Education forum is a mixture of industry and academics looking at improving the provision of sustainability in all levels of he built environment curriculum.
The forum is open to all interested in this important aspect with much activity taking place within a social network online and with four ‘events’ each year. Although there is a North West (England) focus the work and issues are much much wider. If you would like more information, attend this event or participate in the forum online please contact me or the forum secretary.
CarbonLimited have posted a more informed and detailed view on whats wrong with the Code:
The requirement for all homes to be zero carbon by 2016 is going to fail unless we take action now. In particular, a set of interim requirements under the Code for Sustainable Homes must be imposed on private house builders. In addition, the Code must allow more flexibility in how zero carbon is achieved … continues
Links:
isite: whats wrong with code level 6
For what its worth, here are my top ten themes for the built environment sector in 2008. These are not predications as such but more of an extension of what I have seen emerge in 2007 and will most likely increase their presence on agendas in 2008…and beyond …
1 Carbon supply chain management – with carbon zero and carbon neutral being the buzz for 2008, will we see a re-evaluation of the value that supply chains add from a carbon reduction perspective? Each member of a supply chain will prove its worth to the overall chain through reduction or carbon emissions in the product or service it passes on to its customer. Essential in achieving the targets before us as we move along the route to a low carbon sector
2 Construction (and fm) Carbon footprint – of the construction or maintenance process – we have little understanding of the contribution the construction process itself makes to the life of a building – estimated from 11% to the equivalent of 3 years emissions for a typical home. Not knowing your carbon footprint may well be the equivalent of not knowing your health and safety stats at the end of 2008
3 ouses, ouses, ouses – a recognition of the importance of wilderness, national parks in light of housing expansion, and the importance these areas have – as a contribution to the environmental balance as well as our collective psyche.
4 End of greenwashing – well, at least a move from anecdotal blatant greenwashing to more evidenced based claims – we will still see many guilty of the greenwashing sins though to be caught by bloggers, watchdogs and bloggers alike.
5 Social networking – private facebook type networks such as xing for collaborative working across organisations, projects, supply chains and communities of practice. The use of Web 2.0 technologies to source knowledge and best practice, leading to a re-appraisal of IP perhaps
6 Open source – An increase in the sharing of technology, knowledge on an open source creative commons approach within our industry. Maybe value will come from using technologies and knowledge rather than just ‘owning ‘ it and restricting its real potential
7 From excellence to experience – the world of quality seems to have gotten stuck in excellence mode. Yet organisations are increasingly concerned with the experience – the experience of a journey the customer or end user makes through the facility or with an organisation. Often the level and nature of this experience is determined and shaped by the front of house (or organisation) people – facilities management people!
9 Virtual assets – as more and more organisations move activities and processes on line we see the reduction in need for built physical assets – eg large HQ’s – will the fm sector come to understand the concepts of virtual assets. Will we see FM organisations within Second Life? (we already have a thriving architecture and construction community there)
10 Community based fm – this one has been bubbling around for a while – but with the increase in social responsibility, social enterprises, community owned assets and the regeneration agenda we can see more community based facilities management approaches, some small such as management of village halls, some larger such as Transition Towns
More on these in future posts – your comments and additions are more than welcome
The news that Medway Council have given the green light to a coal fired power station at Kingsnorth in Kent seems at complete odds with the current informed thinking on energy, on coal and on the current ‘mood’ or zeitgeist towards sustainability. It also appears as a developing country decision – not one taken by a nation attempting to be a leader in sustainability and carbon targets. Building Guardian
The decision can be seen in many ways as a damning comment on the built industry in not moving fast enough to address the energy issue within buildings and facilities.
76 % of the energy from this new power plant will be consumed by buildings. By reducing building energy use of new and renovated buildings by a minimum of 50%, we negate the need for new coal plants. (source)
How can the government and local authorities push forward with zero carbon homes to Code 6, zero carbon schools, zero carbon non-domestic buildings, insist on reductions through Merton Rule approaches, and demand organisations reduce their carbon emissions … when in one action we turn the carbon emissions clock back 30 years ( This will be the first plant to be built in 30 years)
And many of these targets come in to place before the new plant comes on stream.
Perhaps the Kent council and others should read the work from the excellent and influential Architecture 2030, who, in the USA are directly and indirectly influencing cities and states to cancel or shelve coal fire plants in favour of a green build approach .
Emissions from the new plant will blow the UK’s targets and commitments for carbon reductions out of the water. The notion of cleaned coal is an oxymoron, with environmentalists and scientists diasgreeing over the viability of any capture / claeaning / sequestration technology. It will take years and seems a high gamble to rely on a technology in the future.
In a time when we need positive actions and messages to prevent green fatigue – this will send a dangerous message – that it is ok to invest in traditional planet threatening energy sources whilst playing lip service to renewables and alternatives investment.
A very ominous start to 2008.
A good note to end the year on and a new perspective on the cost of carbon to start 2008 with was reported in the Guardian last Friday. (also picked up by fellow blogger Phil at Some Seasonal Cheer ). Effectively ministers will now have to include a cost for carbon emission on all projects, starting at £25.50 a carbon tonne for 2007, rising every year to reach £59.60 a tonne by 2050. (This seems lower than other figures suggested!)
It will be interesting to see how this plays out through construction and fm – what would the additional cost of PFI’s, and BSF, building schools for the future projects etc now be. Would these costs be predicted over the life of a building. Can they be offset by carbon reducing measures built in?
And the Code – suddenly the cost of zero carbon homes may well be less than business as usual carbon construction.
Will the costs be applied to construction process emissions as well – and if so will this be tracked back up stream to the cement industry for example.
Not sure who actually will pay for these costs – the developers?, the supply side? the clients? More questions than answers at the moment, more detail is still to announced, but as this is a Treasury initiative it will surely be forced into being rapidly and with teeth. A whole new carbon based currency is being created.
Lets hope there is not a cop out by allowing offsets to offset these costs, and that the costs are real contributions to tackling sustainability
Whatever the detail, we will start 2008 with a new, more meaningful perspective of sustainable construction, and more debates and discussion.
Brilliant.
The report in yesterdays Observer (Green Fatigue leads to fear over climate change backlash) highlights a growing concern over green issues and sustainability:
A backlash is now a real threat, said Phil Downing, head of environmental research for Ipsos Mori. ‘There’s cynicism because on the one hand we’re being told [the problem] is very serious and on the other hand we’re building runways, mining Alaskan oil; there’s a lot going on that appears to be heading in the opposite direction.’
Barbara Young, chief executive of the Environment Agency, agreed. The ‘vast majority’ of British businesses ‘are still not into sustainability and climate change’, she warned.
I notice the same in the built environment. There remains a lot of scepticism at all levels in our industry, the following being typical of those heard recently:
“why should we bother with sustainability at site level when the architect and client specify roofing from Germany, and when our head office appoints subcontractors from the Midlands or where-ever to install it…
“we have no control over our suppliers and subcontractors….
“we have to go through so many hurdles on environmental issues to win work, then the client only pays very minor lip service to sustainability – its a waste of time …
“why should we bother going green – we will only get criticised for not doing enough if we put our heads over the parapet …
“this governments not serious – they talk of codes for sustainability and zero construction – and yet plan to build more coal fired power stations and airport expansions …
“Its a joke to be expected to travel to London for a sustainability conference …
“its just more paper work -we cannot make any difference…
All leaders and those of influence in our industry need to address these concerns head on. By leaders and influencer’s I include the government, clients and customers, directors and owners, bloggers, event organisers, specifiers, designers et al.
2007 was the year of awakening on sustainability issues – we need to build on that momentum with clear, accountable actions and visibility on decisions, not let it be undermined by green fatigue and scepticism. Players in our industry need all the encouragement and reason to change the built environments lifestyle.
As they say … walk the talk
Postnote: see also Phils post over at 2008 – is a backlash on the way
My post on Code level 6 has drawn a mixed reaction. Fellow blogger Mark over at House 2.0 makes an excellent response. In my opinion this is what blogs are for – to inform, debate and cut through the rhectoric and greenwash we see today.
My point on Code 6 remains the same – we have some 8 years to innovate, develop solutions and collaborate to acheive Level 6, so to claim we can acheive it today is just greenwash. And if these claims were correct then the bar has been set too low.
Acheiving zero carbon, along with all the other requirements is one hell of a challenge lets not underestimate it.
Build into the challenge the need for a zero carbon footprint in design and construction without offsetting – then the first truck to arrive on site, the first brick to be manufactured, the first operative to drive to site … you get the picture. (I did see some claim that the construction process emissions account for some 11% of the buildings total carbon footprint – I will confirm and post that link asap)
Lets not claim zero anything, recognise the reductions and the progress being made, but also the challenge that lies ahead.
Fairsnape 