Category Archives: sustainability

the Code …from denial to despair?

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The cost of achieving carbon neutral or zero homes to the Code keeps raising its head, as Phil over at Sustainability Blog points out.

I didnt catch the UCT speakers name on the US Greenbuild365 live webcast testerday, I was listening rather than watching, but a sound bite delivered with typical American style caught my ear…“The building sector is over-estimating the cost and under-estimating the impact of climate change issues”

How true, when we think about the moaning around the cost of the new Code for Sustainable Housing, which will be seen as a smokescreen for reluctance in doing anything at all.

Jonathan Porrit writing in his blog and in BD… makes the point well… why put a price on the importance of carbon free homes?

Government policy is being applied to decarbonising both new and existing housing, with Building Regulations and the Code driving that transformation. An industry that has lived for far too long in a feather-bed world, where nobody gave a tinker’s cuss about energy and resource efficiency, is being incentivised to change, and is marketing to rapidly rising consumer expectations. So why would anybody suppose that the combined genius of architects, designers, engineers, builders, surveyors and planners isn’t going to be able to come up with the zero-carbon goods?

I live in weird world these days. Having spent most of my life described as a prophet of doom, I now find myself having to shake people out of a fatalistic “can’t be done” mind-set! We seem to have moved from denial to despair in one effortless leap. So let’s get our creative act together here. After all, we don’t have a choice about this. Either we rise to this challenge, or the mealy-mouthed, risk-averse mediocrity that dominates this particular industry will take us all down with it.

The costs arising from inefficiencies through waste, poor project management, incorrect procurement, lack of working together, poor design, legal fees to check contract documentation and all the well documented historical ills of our sector etc far far outweighs the cost of achieving the Code… surely?

Acheiving the code needs a different mindset, as Einstein said… we cannot solve todays issues with the same mind set that created them in the first place...

By rearranging the debate towards opportunity we can can move from despair to exciting.

Clinton @ Greenbuild365

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I caught the live broadcast (webcast) of Bill Clintons speech at Greenbuild365* yesterday, and a few things stuck in my mind.

One was Clintons reference to this being an opportunity, a challenge but an opportunity, and that the transition from a  carbon economy to a green economy will produce as many new jobs, skills and professions as the carbon industries loose.

he saw that the greenbuild sector was the place to be to really address climate change issues. “The sale has been made,” he said. “Otherwise Al Gore wouldn’t have got the Nobel Prize.  Now what we have to do is to prove that this is not a bottle of castor oil that we’re being asked to drink”.

Secondly,  Clintons call the need for an industry benchmark to keep score, and his pledge, I assume from his foundation, to create a tool for the AEC Industries – (Architecture, Engineering and Construction).

Watch this space…

In fact Clinton could be one to watch.  The worldchanging writer and founder Alex Steffen ran a story on Clinton’s speech  to US Mayors in Seattle recently and described it as …quite simply, the best speech on climate given by an American politician (other than Al Gore) I’ve ever heard — it’s the sort of speech I wish a sitting president would stand up and deliver before Congress and the nation

* As to Greenbuild, I understand7000 saw Clintons speech, 20,000 will attend over three days and most of the key speeches are webcast around the world. (An idea for the UK  Think 2008 maybe Phil?)  I just get a feeling something big is happening there, despite the rhetoric in American politics and leadership.

Terminator meets Flushed Away

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Noted on the USA Building Design + Construction Network website recently:

Governor Schwarzenegger recently signed into law Assembly Bill (AB) No. 715, supported by the Plumbing Manufacturers Institute (PMI), that encourages and provides for the gradual conversion to higher efficiency toilets and urinals in California.

Many existing toilets average 1.6 gallons per flush.  High efficiency toilets only use 1.28 gallons per flush, or less; while high efficiency urinals use one-half gallon per flush, or less.  Under the new law, plumbing manufacturers have committed to producing at least half of their toilet models sold in California to be high efficiency by 2010.  By 2014, all toilets and urinals sold in the state will be high efficiency models.  The new high efficiency toilet and urinals will use less water, helping alleviate demands on water agencies in California.

This illustrates the increasingly acute water problems in many areas of the world.

Carbon Offsetting not possible in the UK – is this correct?

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Noticed this on the SD Commissions website today –

… However, it is not currently possible to do carbon offsetting in the UK, as this would lead to the double-counting of any reduction in emissions (as all reductions are already claimed by Government in helping to meet our international obligations)…

Is this correct?  This needs to be read in the context of the SD Commission’s view on Carbon Offsetting and Neutrality, but having read the web page a few times I assume this means that the offset projects cannot be UK based?

So planting trees in Scotland or anywhere else in the UK, to absorb/sequester carbon dioxide, or any of the other main greenhouse gases is not available to construction projects looking to offset.  Well there go a few I know off…

Anyone care to clarify or offer an explanation of this?

is it greener on the other side of the pond?

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The USA “Green Buildings Research White Paper,” the fifth in a series of annual reports on green building by Building Design+Construction, provides exclusive data on how building owners, operators, facilities directors, and real estate executives view green buildings—and what they are doing to implement green building. The 60-page report covers corporate office buildings, hospitals, hotels, K-12 schools, college and university facilities, restaurants, and residential development.

Download here (3.2 MB PDF file) the full report.

Key findings of where respondents stand on key issues:

■ Respondents are still worried about possible higher initial costs for green buildings.
■ They’re generally sanguine about the energy savings from green buildings.
■ They believe that green buildings may deliver health benefits for occupants.
■ They appreciate the marketing and PR bonanza that green buildings often garner.
■ They see companies, institutions, and building owners more willing to invest in green buildings today than
they were just a few years ago.

Plenty of numbers and data in the report, along with signed statements from sponsors.

I need to keep asking myself why is it so much easier to access reports like this in the States than here in the UK?

Enviroment Books – Silent Spring v Walden

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George Monbiot in his recent Guardian article talks of  what he believes ” is the most important environmental book ever written. It is not Silent Spring, Small is Beautiful or even Walden. It contains no graphs, no tables, no facts, figures, warnings, predictions or even arguments”

I will let you follow the link to find out what the book is, but it did make me think of what the most influential environment peices of literature are, from Silent Spring to Walden to that passage in A Sand County Almanac from Leopold.  And importantly on this ‘built environment’ blog, what have been the most influential for our sector.

Do the lyrics to Big Yellow Taxi count?

It would be good to start a discussion here, but as blogs are not too hot on generating discussions, so, for those of you on Facebook I will start a discussion group there,  (“poke me” as they say for an invite), with maybe even the top 5 posted here?

Contraction and Convergence – UK Gov response

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I recently participated in an online petition to 10 Downing St on the governments response to C and C.  The response here is well worth a read, covering C and C and personal; carbon trading, the climate bill and other carbon iniatives.

Cant help thinking there is some political greenwashing here.

Incidentally the petition was organised through Facebook and blogs – demonstrating the emerging recognition and influence these new social networks have.

Construction carbon calculator – no more excuses…

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As mentioned before the topic with the highest hits and searches here on isite is a carbon calculator for the construction process.

I have been reviewing the calculator from the Environment Agency which come close, very close, to removing any excuses for not knowing the construction process carbon footprint, in setting a stake in the ground as a measure for improvement and in benchmarking across sites, companies and clients to drive real improvement.

In my opinion the positive points are:

  • written by a major client of the built environment for the built environment
  • not linked to carbon offset programmes (a big tick !)
  • based on spreadsheet (Excel) with visibility of data used in calculation.
  • appears easy to use with guidance, references and further reading
  • ‘open source’ in that the EA encourage its use by others
  • provides a great basis for carbon footprint benchmarking (watch this space!)
  • ability to add activities and materials to the base set up
  • deals with personal transport in a sensible and straightforward manner

The only (very) minor concern is the detail required to complete fully ( but then who said carbon diets were easy! and it would be good to see this tool as part of all site processes) and the materials element could be double counted – in the construction process footprint and the building footprint.

The EA will use the calculator on all of their projects from November

Read the Edie news link here

Greenwashed again

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A recent survey by Chatsworth Communications of the FTSE 100 green ‘claims’ reveals that top organisations are going green to protect brand and image rather than any concern for the environment.  Over 1200 ‘opinion formers’ from across the UK were asked views on the FTSE 100 green claims as part of the Green Winners and Green Washers Survey

Of course this wouldn’t be the case for organisations within the built environment sector … would it?

From the surveys press release

The results reveal increasing cynicism as to whether UK business is leading on environmental  issues out of a genuine desire to protect the environment or if this is just greenwash aimed at creating an eco-friendly corporate image.

• The main motivation for UK companies to adopt green policies is to protect their reputation (27%) followed by consumer pressure (20%) and good business sense (18%)
• Only 1% believe genuine concern for the environment is the key driver for UK companies to adopt green policies
• Marks & Spencer (45%) and HSBC voted the top green winners – the companies making
the most genuine green effort
• BP, Tesco and British Airways considered to be most guilty of ‘greenwash’ by respondents
• BP, Tesco and Marks & Spencer have the highest profile and most effective green publicity campaigns in terms of coverage
• Majority of respondents (75%) believe it is better for big business to own up where they are not green and show willing to make any changes

Nick Murray-Leslie, Director, Chatsworth Communications comments: “The views of the people polled influence millions of consumers across the UK, who will ultimately vote with the purchasing decisions they make.

(original lead from Edie)

Built Environment and GEO 4, the last wake up call?

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In 1987 (sustainable development) was about meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (Brundtland) but now in 2007 – the bill we hand our children may prove impossible to pay (Steiner UNEP)

The GEO4 report, Global Environment Outlook: Environment for Development launched yesterday by the UNEP (United Nations Environmental Programe ) should be read and considered in the context of the contribution that the global built environment has made to our current environmental crisis. (Just under 50% of global carbon emissions, 50% of all UK waste etc, etc- the figures, although varied, have been well documented in many places)

The GEO4 report received much news coverage and hopefully will be the last wake up call we need, and seen as another key milestone in our awareness of what we are doing, along side the Brundtland commision, the Stern Report, Inconvenient Truth etc

From GEO4

“all too often [the response] has been slow and at a pace and scale that fails to respond to or recognise the magnitude of the challenges facing the people and the environment of the planet,” said the environment programme’s executive director Achim Steiner.

“The systematic destruction of the Earth’s natural and nature-based resources has reached a point where the economic viability of economies is being challenged – and where the bill we hand to our children may prove impossible to pay,”

The report said irreversible damage to the world’s climate will be likely unless greenhouse gas emissions drop to below 50% of their 1990 levels before 2050. To reach this level, the richer countries must cut emissions by 60% to 80% by 2050 and developing countries must also make significant reductions, it says.

(see Contraction and Convergence)

The 550-page report took five years to prepare. It was researched and drafted by almost 400 scientists, whose findings were peer-reviewed by 1,000 others.

One of the report’s authors, Joseph Alcamo said that race is on to determine if leaders move fast enough to save the planet. “The question for me, for us perhaps, is whether we’re going to make it to a more slowly changing world or whether we’re going to hit a brick wall in the Earth’s system first,” he said.

“Personally, I think this could be one of the most important races that humanity will ever run.”

Guardian – Environmental failures ‘put humanity at risk’

UNEP GEO4 Site

The Independent – Not an environment scare story