Paul Wilkinson over at BIW, brought his blog, Extranet Evolution, to my attention with an interesting piece on IT and sustainability, the “Draft Strategy for Sustainable Construction“, and the forth coming event in the Midlands, EMCBE Expo 2007 Construction Conference
Attending a number of fringe events hosted by Climate Clinic at the conservative conference in Blackpool (because of the location not any political alliance) looking for hints as to the future treatment of the built environment left me slightly worried. Cutting through the rhetoric, I found very little conviction that politicians or advisors have a handle on dealing with our sector. There appears to be a blinkered approach with no joined up thinking.
Key themes I took away include
More political focus will be placed on the built environment sector as a tool to reduce overall carbon emissions. However this would seem to lead to more confusion as Merton Rules, Building Regulations, grants and subsides, etc get tampered with.
Mircopower, decentralised power suppliers and feed in tariffs are very popular. Interesting question though is how large scale green power schemes – such as wind and Severn barrier become environmental problems associated with centralised power
The Quality of Life group group paper Blueprint for a Green Economy from authors Goldsmith and Gummer is the mantra of the conservatives, with praise upon praise being heaped on to Zac Goldsmith every time the document was mentioned. Yet, this is a market driven approach, very close to Tory values that may well have contributed to where we are today, (for example ‘Construction companies must take the lead in ensuring new buildings are as green as possible,) and has a few striking omissions, such as biodiversity. Still worth reading …just in case. The highlights relating to buildings include:
Two non political comments I took away, which sums up the problems we face:
From Michael McCarthy, Environmental Editor of the Independent…“be clear: this is the ultimate political issue”
and from Sunand Prasad, President of the RIBA, who queried in the Quality of Life question time session whether this issue was too big to be political and requires some form of non, or a – political body to drive, to collect green taxes and make the ‘polluter pay’.
Listening and reading between the lines, and indeed one of the questions at the Quality of Life question time,was the difference between he Goldsmith-Gummer approach and those who feel the environment agenda has gone to far, notably the Redwood degulation camp. The question to the panel was for how long can both remain within a conservative party.
Leaving the event the most striking moment however was the fantastic sunset, in contrast to the high energy usage Blackpool Illuminations, just a reminder that the earth and nature is far superior and will out survive our messing it up, and how important nature and biodiversity etc are in the balance of our approaches. (Ok, a Gaia moment but hey…)
Tony Juniper sums up the conservative environmental approach from a Friends of the Earth view here – A Paler Shade of Green
One of the key themes emerging at the Conservative conference fringe events attended yesterday and today was the future and the importance of the Merton Rule. Cutting through the rhetoric found at any political party event, there were interesting and important comments from the Micropower Council. citing the current political football being played as possible serious consequences for the industry
The Merton Rule, also known as PPS 22, requiring a proportion of any development to source energy from alternative means, is driving the devlopment, capacity and skills of the mircopower companies, that in time will become essential in meeting targets such as the 2016 zero carbon homes.
Take this in conjunction with the recent Mind the Skills Gap skills report , and we could be heading for a problem of skills and knowledge to achieve targets and milestones.
Searching for the carbon negative led me to this neat little 5 mins video from Green Building Studio It sets about designing a building to be carbon neutral using their online web service. It is worth following through to the end of the video to see how orientation and material choice affects the carbon performance and costs of the building in use.
Pleased to note the greenhouse project in Beeston Leeds as reported in Building today. (Work starts on UK’s first carbon negative project) Having had an office on the fringe of Beeston for about 10 years, it was an area that fascinated me, a built environment from another era, with most of the housing of 19th century stock, including what must be some of the last remaining small back-to-back terraces
The greenhouse project is billed as being carbon negative – rather than just carbon neutral. It is hoped this includes the construction processes as well as the use of the new homes, and NOT achieved through carbon offsetting but through real improvements in process, management and technology. I searched for a definition of carbon negative – but unable to find anything useful that was not linked to carbon off-putting, but for an excellent overview see this Worldchanging link
It is fascinating to see how far we have come from back to back housing
The rows of houses were literally built ‘back to back’ one room deep. The typical back to back house has three rooms, one above the other. The housing became renowned for squalor, disease and poverty due to its cramped design and poor sanitation.
“Our house is a three storey terrace with a common yard, a privy and wash house which we share with fifteen other families.”
(BBC)
There is an impressive series of fringe events being organised by Climate Clinic along side the conference next week in Blackpool. Of note is the Ask an Architect event on Monday and Tuesday, hosted by the RIBA, billed as
Get advice from some of Britain’s best green architects on creating new, environmentally friendly buildings or improving the energy performance of existing buildings. Understand the science of climate change and get advice from the science experts – Met Office Sustainable Energy Advice – learn about easy steps you can take to be more energy efficient – Energy Saving Trust
I am hoping to get to some of these events and will feedback through here.
Updated -comments here: conservatives, blackpool and the built environment
Details at Climate Clinic
…. to run a 100-watt light bulb 24 hours a day for a year?
Came across the useful – and frightening – link on How Stuff Works. Take a look – the answer is a lot and a lot of carbon emissions as a by product.
Timely as news from the government to phase out traditional light bulbs. But why wait till 2012 – they are already yesterdays news in Australia and elsewhere.
Greenpeace director John Sauven, reported in the Guardian, said: “For every year of delay in getting rid of these bulbs, 5m tonnes of CO2 are emitted into the atmosphere unnecessarily.”
There has been an inetresting series of articles and reports recently on technology versus hearts and minds approach to climate change, carbon management and the approach we seem to be taking to becoming green, and greening the built environment.
As mentioned here before, it was Einstein who said “we cannot solve todays problems with the same patterns of thought that created them in the past” and that we need to rethink. Technology and its use has contributed to the environmental problems of today, can we now rely on technology to take us out of it? There is a very strong case for more focus on hearts, minds and spirit, or what is becoming known as the eco-mind.
Mark Lynas (whose book High Tide should be on every shelf) writes in a recent Guardian article Can shopping change the planet?
Some in the business community argue that the whole green consumerism thing is just a passing fad, a sort of climatic version of the dotcom bubble. … According to Phil Downing, head of environmental research at Ipsos Mori, the majority of the population are “fairweather environmentalists” who remain very reluctant to take lifestyle change seriously.
George Monbiot on his blog writes
“Green consumerism is becoming a pox on the planet”, Green consumerism will not save the biosphere … drowning in eco-junk … heading for eco-cide
Are we seeing the same green commercialism, or greenwash in our built environment sector. Increasingly every product and organisation is keen to inform of green credentials.
Most material suppliers carry their Environmental Commitment on their web sites – prominently – which usually has the aim of reducing pollution or carbon emissions (eg Travis Perkins) yet how serious can they be in attempting to save carbon when these companies still sell patio heaters ? (Just one patio heater will negate the climate value of half a dozen micro wind turbines)
There is a growing need and call to verify green, carbon and environmental claims.
We seem to be heading down a technological solution route, coupled with carbon off-setting, and yet, seeing carbon emissions continue to increase.
Interviewed in the current issue of the informative Plenty journal, Function Over Form. Travis Price, a seasoned architect, architectural and environmental pioneer, takes aim at the green building movement he’s been part of for over thirty years, arguing that it’s veered off course: more technical than spiritual; more about regulation than nature. The answer, he says, is to move away from a mandated “checklist” approach and toward an inherently eco-minded design aesthetic. (take a look at the Travis Price website)
Price uses expressions like building in the spirit of place, the context of the earth, a lexicon we dont hear too much in built environment … and yet may be just the rethinking we need.
And, last week we had the Arup report for the Academy of Sustainable Communities, Mind the Gap which assessed the gaps in the supply and demand of skills required to deliver the sustainable communities programme. These are a combination of technical skills, linked to regeneration and the built environment, and generic skills, linked to, for example, finance and project management, leadership and communication and in summary
The key finding is that England faces a significant shortage of qualified professionals with the necessary skills to deliver sustainable communities between now and 2012…. A national drive to address labour shortages and skills gaps is needed .. and … Organisational culture must evolve.
Are we, in the built environment, stuck in an accommodationist view – ie we can accommodate climate and ecological change, by embracing a fair weather environmental approach, by using technology and through a little legislation – but crucially without changing lifestyles, or as the Arup report suggests educational and training issues.
A dangerous view and route to take:
The effects of climate change will be felt sooner than scientists realised and the world must learn to live with the effects, experts said yesterday. Martin Parry, a climate scientist with the Met Office, said destructive changes in temperature, rainfall and agriculture were now forecast to occur several decades earlier than thought.
It has long been recognised within the blogosphere at least that the biggest contribution the built environment can make to national and global carbon reductions is through existing building stock, not only through the drive for zero carbon homes by 2016 for example.
And in case we need reminding why existing buildings are key, Cyril Sweett estimate that by 2050, 60% of UK buildings will still predate 2006 Building Regs, with corresponding high fuel consumption and carbon emissions. Barring a massive technological improvement in electricity generation at source, our only option is to address existing stock. (Elemental)
Today is the start of the CIBSE 100 days of carbon clean up.
It is good to see programmes like this that address the existing building stock. Signing up to this programme will give you the guidance and tools to reduce energy and carbons within your buildings, including TM22 – the CIBSE guide to measuring carbon savings. For example are you aware of the following carbon emission factors?
Bit of a difference there between electricity and biomass!
Check out the CIBSE programme and make a saving and contribution today.
Making refurbishment a green opportunity
In addition CIBSE are hosting the Great Refurbishment Event
or refurbishment of commercial buildings both on client or consultancy side, then the Great Refurbishment Event held at The Royal Society, London on the 24 October 2007 is a must attend event for you. Experts throughout the building services world will share with you their strategies and techniques to take you from the planning stage through to integrating your refurbishment into improving your energy performance.
I (or my Avatar) took a look around the Second Life exhibition that illustrates what architects and designers are doing within second life.
Fascinating stuff.
The exhibition, called Portal The Space Between Real and the Other Real, opened within second life yesterday and runs until Nov 4th. Organised by Odyssey and introduced as:
In the past, architects and designers have used the virtual world as a workspace in which to experiment and develop prototypes for real world projects. In recent years we’ve seen the growth of networked 3D environments in which users socialise, play games, establish businesses and even fall in love. With millions of registered users of these environments worldwide, the Virtual World is no longer simply the sweatshop for the Real World; it’s fast becoming the Other Real World.
This exhibition is a portal to the virtual architectures of Second Life, a 3D online community where people can fly, and the laws of physics generally don’t apply. While a virtual building doesn’t provide much in the way of shelter, it still functions as a stage for interaction and an effective way to signify identity. As a consequence, there are plenty of fantasy palaces and Barbie mansions in Second Life, but there are also other sites where architects have been able to rethink the possibilities of human interaction with the built environment.”
This is a good opportunity for exploring design and the built environment within second life.
If you can handle SLurls (Second Life urls) the location is here
If you would like a guided tour to this event, and other areas in second life, contact my avatar Brand Woodin, who would be happy to meet you, within Second Life, and help with getting around and other aspects of this ‘other real world’
Fairsnape 