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isite weekly round up 3rd March

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What a week for sustainability related news.

I should try and get to do more weekly round ups – the last couple of weeks have been quiet on the blog posts so here are things that hit my radar last week. (The WordPress linking seems to be broken at the moment – so I will repost with the links later)

Top of the list was probably Eco-Build, which although covered by Building and others, including Phils blog, hasn’t clearly communicated its message (whatever it was) outside of those attending but led to confusion – more thinking and more targets. People I have talked to who attended all volunteered that event itself didn’t feel sustainable and got a lot of carbons to get people there.

Good news then that Building are promoting the (worlds?) first virtual on-line sustainability conference on the 15th and 16th April.

I thought one spark from Eco Build was in the message I picked up in a number of reports that the drive and demand for greener homes, buildings and lifestyles should come from communities, business and individuals, not rely on legislation to led us… (sustainablity2.0 on which more later)

Paul King from the UKGBC did get good coverage (Friday Interview in the Guardian) – a must read article to understand the UKGBC intentions

The most depressing news this week by far was that Isle of White council cannot afford low or zero carbon homes – presumably they can continue to afford the high cost of low price, the on going high cost of wasted energy and the 30% or so wastage in the construction process. What the IoW, along with others, cannot do is align capital budgets with operational and life cycle budgets – the out of date focus on 1, not the 5 or even the 200. Standing in the future, looking back we may see that we fumbling with easy options, a luxury we may not have again – as the Stern report indicates tomorrows cost of in-decision today.

The cost of going low or zero increasingly is perceived as a barrier. In the US as reported here many times it is seen as a commercial opportunity. I fear our green agendas may well be funded by US led green finance arrangements before too long.

Environment Property Codes were launched with a fanfare by IPD and others – but at first glance looked a bit of a damp squid. Hard to see anything new other than (another) standard format – but until the benchmarking gets underway, and the scale of take up known, it may be too early to comment on. What is worrying is the fee to use approach a lot these schemes are adopting – in the face of open source movement elsewhere.

I scanned a copy of the Green Marketing Manifesto in Borders during the week. I thought it was in itself another greenwash book, with advice such as ‘add ECO in front of anything to increase its desirability’ (Eco-Build, Eco Homes, Eco Villages perhaps) until I saw the ‘blurb’ and forward by leading respected thinkers. A closer look revealed this gem – it’s the greening of the business that is important – not the greening of product. Taking this into the built environment – organisations will only be able to deliver low or zero carbon construction, provide environmental fm etc if they themselves are green at heart. A new way of cutting through greenwash perhaps.

Oh and the plastic bag story. Anyone traveling through Europe will know this is not leading edge thinking to ban or reduce plastic bags – we are playing catch up. At its worst it is a blatant retail and government greenwash – focus on the easy carrier bags and smokescreen the bigger issues. Supermarkets need to focus on packaging, open cabinet fridges, the energy inefficient stores (with one or two exceptions) and the travel miles they generate. Salisbury’s advert today tells us they are making it easy for us to reduce, reuse and recycle, nice green wash words when what is needed is rethinking.

And then the interview with James Lovelock who happily tells us we are past the tipping point, to enjoy life while we can (for which he gives us 20 years). But insists this gives us plenty to do – except they will be the things we don’t want to do.

And then I had my eyes opened to Twitter … but more of that later.

route to reduce Scottish carbons

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Having posted on the Welsh drive to zero carbon yesterday, only fair to note the The Scottish Government last month launched its consultation on pushing for 80% reduction by 2050 … signaling Scotland’s serious intent to lead the global effort to combat climate change.
This is significant as it is based on the now recongised carbon level of 350ppm that scientists agree we must acheive, not the out-of-date 450ppm level upon which the English and other targets are based on.

Also significant is the high profile that the contribution of housing and built enviroment within the launch article,

a particular focus on housing-related products and services such as green mortgages and loans for domestic energy efficiency works. The energy efficiency of Scotland’s homes is improving, partly as a result of existing Government programmes, but more needs to be done to achieve the carbon emission reductions needed. Lenders have a potentially significant role to play through products such as green mortgages.

isite round up

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I was looking at the blog stats for isite last night – so here is a round up of isite activity over the last month or so.

Where are you all?

Recently I added a nice little gadget – ClustrMaps – showing the location of isite viewers – you can find it at the bottom of the right hand column – below the flickr images. Although the numbers here dont agree with the stats from wordpress (around 1000/week) it is fascinating to see the global interest. There is an isite viewing community maybe, spanning from north america, europe, middle east and far east and then australia and new zealand. Not bad for a blog that started as a local initiative.

It would be great to get comments from viewers across the globe on built environment issues we face today.

What are you viewing

Taking out the admin (Lancashire Best Practice Club, steering group, news, and Events), CKE, and hits to my fairsnape profile, the top hits still focus around carbon issues. I have said it before but this is certainly the defining zeitgeist of our sector today.

Top hits over last month are

Construction Carbon Calculator

Walking the walk – design resources

Carbon Footprint – definition – useful?

Route 2 Zero

New Liverpool school seeks ‘Very Good’ B

Construction carbon calculator – no more

JCT legally binding sustainability contr

Code level 6 too easy ? – go to level 7

sustainability turns red … code red?

Eco Build 2008 – not online … ?

I am of course happy to see the fairsnape Route To Zero iniative getting a high number of hits along with a good response for more information from viewers.

The post that has surprised me in its popularity is the ECO Build conference and Exhibition not being available online at all. A message there.

isite will be away for a week or so – please continue to comment and contribute with material for posting.

Eco … build, homes, villages and towns – pah… greenwash?

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James Meikle’s article in yesterdays guardian paints a picture of growing concerns and gaps in the thinking behind the current push towards ‘eco‘ villages and towns.

As a flagship for the huge number of homes to be built and eco towns to be created, Northstowe, if the Guardian report is correct has problems:

As the town takes shape, en route to at least a 20% – and hopefully higher – supply of renewable energy, combined heat and power plants could prove more efficient and cost effective than solar gadgets and micro generation on separate houses.

Sounds great, but the debate is our on micro generation – but only 20% renewable? !!!

More recently, Cooper decided that Northstowe must not be delayed by having to meet zero-carbon standards subsequently imposed for all new houses from 2016.

Ah ha – explains the 20% but if we can do it as an eco-challenge at Hanham Hall in Bristol – why not here?

James too makes the point on the level expected on the homes:

To start with, … private homes will only be at level 3 on the code for sustainable homes, producing 25% lower emissions than legally required so far, but no more revolutionary than homes already being built on some smaller developments. The requirement for affordable homes will be slightly higher at code level 4 – a 44% improvement on minimum standards, but again not as tough as might have been expected, given the experimentation already under way elsewhere.

In my opinion this is not flagship or even eco…

David Bard, a senior councillor on South Cambridgeshire council, which, with the county council, will consider the Northstowe plans in the next few months, says: ” I am not sure that anyone actually knows what is meant by an ‘ecotown’, let alone a ‘prototype ecotown’.

Time to rethink? Time to get back to basics?

Time to recall where Eco comes from – as it is a prefix used in most ‘sustainable ‘ iniatives at the present. Eco-this eco-that and eco-other is indeed the zetigeist of the moment. Eco is of course an abreviation of ecological – and as a prefix used to describe things realted to ecological issues. Except it isnt today, at least in its use for eco homes and villages etc.

Eco villages stem back to 1960’s community living, alternative technologies, living off grid with alternative lifestyles. Are todays eco villages just a clever greenwashing of of that ideal? (A greenwash that probably covers all 6 of the greenwash sins!)

Where is the community, social enterprise, regeneration, ecological diversity protection thinking in these developments?

It would be very interesting to see calculations for the ecological footprint of eco-developments such as Hanham Hall and Northstowe and how they would compare to other or non eco developments. There is much focus on carbon footprints, understandably as its tangible and easy to understand – but if we use the prefix eco – lets focus on the ecological footprint as well.

I have posted on the LEED ND (neighbourhood development) scheme here a few times – it would be fascinating to assess Hanham Hall or Northstowe against this standard. Just looking at the evidence required for submission for this standard would (hopefully) cause a rethink, or dropping of the prefix Eco ! for example:

  • Smart Location and Linkage, (smart location means ecological consideration!)
  • Neighborhood Pattern and Design,
  • Green Construction and Technology and
  • Innovative Design

Any BREEAM assessors, any LEED ND assessors out there looking for a challenge? Anyone out there willing to fund a project to ‘test’ the claims being made? These projects underway now will shape our future housing construction, living, and social well being.

Why do I hear the Pete Seger song when I think of eco-towns

Little boxes on the hill side, little boxes made of ticky-tacky.
Little boxes, little boxes, little boxes all the same.
There’s a green one and a pink one and a blue one and a yellow one,
… more

So time for a rethink and real innovation – as Henry Ford famously said “If I asked people what they really wanted they would have asked for faster horses” Will we still get little boxes ?

And quietly the transition-towns movement gains pace …. but thats another post !

LEED to take on the world?

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Whilst the BRE and Prince Foundation square up on Code Level 6, watch out for the creeping LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) the US version of BREEAM.

In an article in the latest Plenty journal, Robert Watson (often hailed as the father of LEED ), talks about his determination to turn LEED into a worldwide benchmark, with a focus on developing countries of China and India.

In the interview, when asked how home  owners can get involved in LEED, Robert replies – Look for the LEED label on your homes …   And just demand it as a consumer.

Cant quite see the consumer demanding such labels here – yet – but come 2016?

what these blogs are for …

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An excellent, must read post from Mark Brinkley  – Is the prince igniting a civil war?  – guest blogging on Phils Zero Champion blog  – sets the scene for a roundhead v cavaliers schism on zero carbon homes, code level 6 and all that …..

LEED for Neighborhood Development

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LEED (the US version of BREEAM) is piloting a LEED ND – a neighbourhood development assessment system. The FAQ refers to it as a rating system that integrates the principles, of smart growth, new urbanism, and green building into the first national standard for neighborhood design

Details are available from the LEED website – but looking at the assessment checklist it looks very familiar to our sustainable communities and community based facilities management approaches.

I have just been reading the very informative paper The Law of Green Building from US Law Attorney Stoel Rives LLP, which has a useful chapter on LEED ND. – LAW OF BUILDING GREEN – Community and Neighborhood Development

Do we have a BREEAM equivalent? (not to my knowledge – but if any more experience BREEAM people out there know better then please post below)

JCT legally binding sustainability contracts?

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To reinforce that we cannot address sustainability, carbon reduction and waste management from a hearts and minds, save the planet for future generations, common sense point of view and approach, JCT have started a consultation process as to which sustainability items should be made contractual within JCT forms of contract, as in legally binding commitments.

Details are on the JCT site

One of the consultation questions allows you to choose from a list of themes you would like seen as a contractual issue (see below), which gives a pretty good indication of what JCT is thinking.

Would the sustainability contract be with client and contractor, or all, as per the JCT Constructing Excellence Collaborative Contract (one would hope!).  Or following a growing school of thought that that the earth should have ‘legal status’, hence with the earth itself?

Which would you like to see as a contractual clause:

Carbon emissions associated with construction process
Carbon emissions associated with the end use of the ‘project’
Commercial vehicle movements
Consumption of energy during construction process
Consumption of energy associated with the end use of the ‘project’
Consumption of water during construction process
Consumption of water associated with the end use of the ‘project’
Economic sustainability in construction supply chain
Maintenance or optimisation of biodiversity
Origin of construction materials
Waste management in construction process
Waste management associated with the end use of the ‘project’

Eco Build 2008 – not online … ?

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I have recently registered to visit Eco Build in London at the end of the month. Billed as Europe’s biggest event dedicated to sustainable design, construction and the built environment.

It is disappointing to note that there appears to be no webcast or webinars or any web broadcasting of the presentations or events.  20,000 people are expected – all making fossil fuel based journeys to attend.  Lets have some web based sharing to spread the messages from Eco Build wider and reduce travel miles.  Events such as this should be sustainable themselves.

A call to the Eco Build organisers to comment …

Walking the walk – design resources

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The American Institute of Architects (AIA) recently launched  “Walk the Walk,” , a multi-faceted campaign to educate, promote and encourage sustainable design among consumers, business owners and architects. 

(It is a pity they don’t include builders, fm and end users in that list.  Sustainability is a collaboartive approach, across all project and facilities stakeholders.)

Walk the walk is rich in resource, including:

A sustainability resource center for practitioners. The Walk the Walk Toolkit 2030   highlighting green building issues and provides samples of effective ordinance language for communities, as well as examples of what others are already doing to pursue green building programs.  A 50to50  how-to resource intended to assist architects and the construction industry in moving toward the AIA’s public goal of a minimum 50 percent reduction of fossil fuel consumption in buildings by 2010 and carbon neutrality by 2030.

I found the Sustainability 2030 Green Meeting Guidelines , a resource to help reduce the environmental impact of meetings and events and the  Measures of Sustainability (PDF) overview of interest.

Most of the resources seems to be available to all, for which the AIA is to be commended.

A visit to the RIBA site brings up an equal wealth of resource at Climate Change including the useful Guide to Low Carbon Standards and Assessment Methods, an overview of recommended low carbon performance standards and associated assessment methods for new and existing buildings.

Of particualr note however is the RIBA’s adoption of Contraction and Convergence,  within its Climate Change Policy

(Contraction and Convergence is the science-based, global climate-policy framework, proposed to the United Nations since 1990 by the Global Commons Institute, itinvolves a globally balanced approach to the stabilisation of greenhouse gas concentrations at safe levels, consistent with the aspirations of different communities to development and quality of life.) 

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The RIBA has adopted Contraction and Convergence as the overarching policy to guide its targets for the reduction of GHG emissions associated with the use of energy in buildings.

So plenty of resources out there, all good stuff, but really does need that walk the walk, the changing of mindset, the rethinking and the collaboratives approach.  The AIA’s Walk the Walk is a step in the right direction – we need a similar ‘outreach’ programme here. How many architects here would be aware of C and C for example and how that can be applied to everyday design.
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