zerochampion

Re: REA; the Renewable Energy Annual Conference

When I am making notes at conferences, in an attempt to remember what might make good copy later, I put asterisks next to speaker points. At today's REA Energy Annual Conference  today, Rab Bennetts got three stars as did Bill Dunster (although he speaks so fluently of technical matters, that I am not quite sure what they referred to just now.) Even the Shadow Energy Secretary, crinkly-haired Greg Barker, did quite well with two - mostly for speaking longest about investment in carbon capture and storage which is a proven technology, just not on, ahem, a large scale. Tim Evans, of Renewable Zukunft (it means future) did very well, of which more later.

But our own, dear, drab, Bob Ledsome, who is deputy director climate change and sustainable development team at the DCLG, got no stars at all.

Renewables and the dotcom crash

A boss of mine recently made the comparison between the growth of sustainability in the past two years as a potential business stream and the dotcom boom at the turn of the century. The analogy supposes a huge leap from a sector of the economy into new technologies and markets via a big idea (the internet will fundamentally change the way we communicate/ climate change will transform how we generate and supply energy) before they fully work out whether there's actually any money in it.

The Geiger counter

Excellent coverage on the state of the solar market in today's FT. While the market is set to surge in size by threefold in the next four years this could lead to victims, as prices for panels could collapse. The key to success is the "holy grail" of "grid parity", solar analyst Dean Cooper says. Grid parity is producing solar energy at the same price as getting electricity via fossil fuels - currently solar is about double. Apparently Italy is set to be the first country that will achieve grid parity, but not surprisingly the Middle East is set to make ambitious strides to shake-up the market.

The bubble effect

One always has to be wary of overinflated expectations. This is clearly an issue for Government - the BBC reports this morning that a fund the UK launched last year to offer developing countries money for climate change adaptation will now partly consist of loans - but also for the private sector. Companies and investors can go crazy for the latest fad, pile everything in and then the market over inflates. We're all painfully aware of such a phenomenon. Two recently released report warn of such a bubble effect in renewable and green circles.

The optimists

Two trips in the last week that crystallised a newly determined optimism on my part. I've had enough of whingeing at Government incompetence and inaction and want to concentrate on what can and is working.
This cheeriness may be a little at odds with the prevalent national mood, which if you judge by the recent reports on economic woe is on a par with a Bergmann film. Perhaps we should be taking more inspiration from Sally Hawkins, the relentlessly cheery leading protagonist in Mike Leigh's newly released effort Happy Go-Lucky.
I digress. First destination was Leamington Spa for the almost open new Wolseley Sustainable Building Centre.

Bovine Belching

I was very excited to receive information via email on 'Alexander's Cattle Methane Capture Device,' a new patent application for a device that you might be already guessing attempts to achieve. The original message, passed on to me, reads as follows: "I have invented a device to capture methane directly from a cow's third stomach to be used for energy production.

Virtual event

Here's a new thing I'm working on - an virtual show called Sustainability Now. It will take place on 15 and 16 April and works a bit like an online conference. More information here. Interested in any thoughts on the content of the show, which will be programmed similarly to a live event, with seminars, audio, debates, surgeries etc. I'll be putting up the programme I'm working on later in the week. You can register for it for free here.

Weekend Review

Ken's Congestion Charge is mutating into an emissions charge with confusing results. Some people point out that, since the area covered is expanding, more residents will be able to travel for free. The Charge is getting increasingly complex and Livingstone doesn't seem to have worked out the difficulties of pursuing this new policy - such as the need to raise targets based on performance over time. The Sunday Times points out others say that increasing numbers of cars - 10% - are now able to sneak in beneath the new £25 fee. Janice Turner in the Times says all these new, free-to-enter runarounds are driven by potential voters.

The Green Gauge February 8th

A trawl through the web this week has revealed the Government's new plans for water usage, green gadgets and the new Housing Minister's first banana skin

Government will fluff zero-carbon homes, report warns

As found by Jo Will in the Society Guardian, a report in the Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, says that the Government should be making Code Level 6 mandatory for all new homes if it wants to deliver zero-carbon homes by 2016. With only housing associations required to reach Code Level 3 at present and no current obligations at all for commercial housebuilders, this is a problem. Another one is 'user error.' Where malfunctioning enregy systems, residents removing the technologies and installing 'low performance alternatives to suit their colour scheme' might be an issue.

Boris Johnson - green warrior?

Not sure what to make of the current race to become London mayor. Ken is being portrayed as rather less than scrupulous, whilst Boris is a buffoon. The latter is interviewed in this month's Regenerate magazine, which is dubbed the sustainability issue. He comes out green, although it doesn't quite feel like it's from the heart.

A weekend of wind

It's absolutely all about wind farms this week. Figures in The Sunday Times were instructive. 165 farms already operating 1,944 turbines, another 34 under construction, 118 have planning consent and 220 are under consideration. Time for a pat on the back and a cheer? Of course not.

The Weekly Green Gauge

Just say POE

If there's anything we can learn from the "Princess Diana is Still Dead" court case (I presume it's a court case although it could quite easily be a strange dream someone had after eating too many Cheezy Wotsits) it is surely that hopes and reality - both ours and Diana's - are often sharply at variance. "Being a princess isn't all it's cracked up to be," she once said with some understatement.

Life's not always a breeze

The planners have put the boot in again on a rural wind turbine; this time at the village of Hockerton site of the UK’s first earth sheltered, self-sufficient ecological housing development. Residents of Hockerton in Nottinghamshire have had their hopes for England’s first community-owned wind turbine severely dampened by the local planning authority’s concerns about views from a neighbouring village.

Not so slim pickings

Two years ago there was a gap some eight feet wide between two period villas in west London. Now, thanks to some imaginative design work, and a lot of sheer will power, that gap has been filled by the capital’s latest environmental conscious home.

Architect Pitman Tozer has created a property that squeezes neatly between the two existing houses before expanding outwards into the rear garden of one of the premises. The new home includes a raft of environmental measures including a ground source heat pump, rainwater harvesting, a highly insulated building envelope, natural ventilated bathrooms and passive solar design to maximise winter solar gain and minimise summer cooling.

Zac Goldsmith on nuclear

Powerfully argued article in today's Evening Standard (which very annoyingly I'm unable to find on their site) by Zac Goldsmith on the upcoming decision to go-ahead with a new generation of nuclear power station. The campaigner-cum Tory party candidate for Richmond Park picks apart the argument for pressing ahead with nuclear. "If nuclear power genuinely offered a solution, we would have to embrace it. But it doesn't, and nor does it address the looming energy crisis we face in this country," he writes.

Wicks and "momentum"

Plenty of coverage over the weekend on energy, from the upcoming government announcement on nuclear expansion this week to soaring gas/fuel/electricity prices. The Westminster Hour on Radio Four ran a report on the struggles facing the renewables sector currently last night, from getting planning permission for large scale wind farms in the first place to connecting such facilities into the grid.

Uninspired New Year message

One unofficial resolution I set yesterday was to stop being so negative about the Government's record on sustainability. So that lasted a day then. The announcement yesterday that they had handed out a measly £25m in grants for renewable energy grants under the the Low Carbon Buildings Programme was hardly something for them to crow about given the vast distance the UK needs to travel to really establish an viable renewable sector.

And the next Code is

So we end 2007 with yet another report and yet another major piece of future legislation for the industry to grapple with. This one's for non-domestic buildings and the report has been worked on for government by the UK Green Building Council. Although the code is some way off the UKGBC is talking 2020 as the date when zero carbon buildings can be achieved. It would be easy to dismiss as another document with heady ambitions leading to botched delivery but I see the report somewhat differently.

Planning co-ordination

I think I'm largely repeating points that have been made before this week. Anyhow. An interesting chat with a client at lunch today. He was positive about how both project teams and end users are becoming more and more enthusiastic and demanding about going green. There was a but, of course, and it's the profession that usually gets it - planners.

Solar responses

Good to see a steady stream of feedback from readers on the Building site. Two recent examples stand out. Solar Century took issue with an article I penned on research on micro-renewables performance, detailing some own figure they had put together on performance. And two readers, both sounding like they are Amercian, questioned the logic of the solar city planned by Arup in Arizona, one arguing that it is in the wrong area of Amercia and the other arguing that it would be better to divert the effort into retrofitting buildings in existing Arizona cities.

Sponge debate

Rather arse about tit day yesterday. To a business exhibition, The Thames Gateway Forum, to see a politician (Gordon Brown, with no sign of Yates from the Yard in tow) in the afternoon and then to the House of Lords in the evening to take part in a debate with a bunch of business professionals on off-site renewables. The debate was held by the Sponge group in the splendidly ornate Moses Room and was to discuss the motion "This house believes offsite renewables have an essential role in delivering the Government's zero carbon building targets". Motion was, unsurprisingly, overwhelmingly passed.

Renewables and the credit crunch

I've just gone through some notes from an event I attended last week on energy, offered a perspective of the state of the renewables sector from a source I hadn't heard from before - a banker. Mark Muldowney, head of the energy and utilities group at Fortis Bank, gave a fascinating insight into the view of the financier on how attractive a sector it is for him to fund. His conclusion? Good and bad. Positive in the fact that renewables is now seen as "mainstream" according to Muldowney, negative in the potential affect from the credit crunch.

China to put us to shade?

There are clearly many troubling things about the growth of China which I won't go into. One thing it's probably difficult to question (probably just because of said troubling things) is that if the country sets a target it usually hits or exceeds it. Compare and contrast with the UK. Proof of such delivery comes in a report released last week by the Worldwatch Institute, which has plenty of publications of interest on its site, on the renewables sector in China.

Wind reality check

This morning's news that the Houses of Parliament is looking to install turbines next to its building and a recent blog post by Mel on the technology kicked me into writing a post which I've been putting off for a couple of week. This is also off the back of articles in Building Design and Building on two experiments to assess the performance of wind turbines, one in a city centre site and one in a more rural setting.

Some optimism

After getting thoroughly grumpy about Government fudge and inaction this week it was nice to get out of the office and visit the BRE Innovation Park, which are housing new prototypes of efficient houses. Here I was greeted with some refreshing optimism. Yes, admittedly it was from the people who are behind the new schemes but I was pleasantly surprised at how livable they were. I popped in to the Sigma house, developed by Stewart Milne, and the Lighthouse, put together by Kingspan.

New CHP figures. Any use?

The Government has put out some new figures and projections on future use and take up of CHP (there's two report on a CHP section of the Defra site). I've scanned through two documents released and it appears that CHP fired by renewable sources has "potential" but is not expected to make up a significant share of the market in the UK by 2010. The same is true of micro-CHP, adds one of the reports.  I'm not quite sure where this leaves the technology. Is Government squarely behind it as a key renewable for the future? maddeningly there doesn't appear to be too many clear conclusions from either report I scanned through.

Wind for and against

A balanced consideration of wind turbines, from a domestic perspective, by Observer ethical columnist Lucy Siegle. Although she ends by offering some hope and optimism for those considering installing them, proof that household units have a viable future is some way off. Environmental author Donnachadh McCarthy, who was definitely yet to be convinced about his device when I visited his house last month. It's a shame that such a striking visual statement of trying to reduce carbon emissions as yet lacks substance.

Housing challenge

The new Sustainable Architecture book is a step forward. Rather than a glossy run through of pretty pictures and pretty words there's some real meat in the 45 case studies of sustainable projects the book looks at - I've written in more detail on it on the Building website. One case study was particularly instructive on the housing side, Bill Dunster's BowZED projects in Tower Hamlets.

Medium costs begin to make sense

While many of us are rightfully getting wound up about the zero-carbon definition for housing, there's some interesting figures in this month's Construction Manager that indicate that trying to get there right now is some way off. But they also offer some encouragement for taking some significant steps.

Off-grid knowledge, or lack of

Interesting written answer in the House of Lords last week.The splendidly named Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer asked DEFRA minister Lord Rooker how many UK households are off-grid for electricity or water. His answer was that the department had no such figures for houses off the electricity grid but did have some for water - "it is estimated that there are around 50,000 private water supplies serving about 0.6% of the population in England and Wales". I wonder if this figure has changed much in recent year, or just how accurate it is. And why figures for water but not electricity?

Carbon chaos and confusion

This week has been very confusing. Will there be an election next month or not? Who's going to play inside centre for England's rugby side on Saturday? Will the Government ever be able to offer an easy to understand, or to deliver, definition of zero carbon for housing? From the evidence of recent documents issued the answer to the third is not without a lot of effort and frustration. This leaves those in the unenviable position of trying to achieve the standard in future schemes but not having a clue as to how to achieve it.

Searching for dual-fuel domestic heaters

I met an architect last night who's on the look-out for a domestic heating system that can be powered by woodchips and by gas, a-hedging-your-bets system depending on the availability or price of either energy sources. Apparently there's loads of them available from Germany the US but none in the UK. Any advice out there or new suppliers that my new friend should know?

Plenty of hot air

There's much debate on the relative efficacy of wind power at the minute. I met a skeptic last weekend, eco-author Donnachdah McCarthy, who described his domestic turbine as a "an experiment that has not worked". He seems to be confirming many of the concerns of Building readers who are far from convinced.

Open House does its bit

Open House is a good opportunity to get out and see some real examples of completed projects and to meet the people actually walking the walk. I managed to see three in south London, part of an eco-trail over the weekend organised by sustainable networking group Sponge. I took in two houses and a mixed use scheme(part office, part flats) and they showed that so-called "eco-buildings" can sit comfortably in the context of their surrounding neighbourhoods.

Government to miss renewables target

Building Services Journal has dug out a new report by Cambridge Econometrics that the Government will miss its targets for renewable energy for 2010 and 2015. The consultancy released the report last week, which also found the UK government will miss its target to cut CO2 emissions by 20% from 1990 levels by 2010. Paul Ekins of the Policy Studies Institute, and co-editor of the report said: “These forecasts provide a reality check on the rhetoric on climate change that is now standard government fare”.

Local vs national - the debate goes on

Today's report issued by the New Local Government Network (NLGN) on reforming the planning regime to encourage more domestic micro-generation is the latest addition to the national vs local debate on renewables. Should the government install top down targets or laws for cutting carbon in new developments or let local authorities take control of the process?  There's clear overlap with the Merton Rule debate but I'm far from convinced that the NLGN reports offers much light on the matter. It works on the premise that all things micro-renewable are rosy, without proving the efficacy of the technologies in the first place. As Bill Watts from Max Fordhams argues in last week's Building (subscriber only) the case for on-site renewable is a pretty flimsy one. "As long as we think that on-site renewables can deal with our energy problems, we will continue to tinker with the issue to little end, and waste large amounts of money in the process," he concludes.

Merton confusion

Confused? A report in the Evening Standard now claims the Government is to keep the Merton Rule. This follows reports earlier in the week that it was to be ditched after lobbying from the House Builders Federation and a petition was launched to save it. A Whitehall source tells the Standard: "The rule is not ours to abolish. We want a wider use of renewable energy, for housing as well as commercial buildings."

Save Merton Rule petition launched

Just over a day after the Guardian reported that the Merton Rule is set to be ditched a petition has been put up on the Number 10 website calling for it to be saved. "In the absence of a constructive interest in renewables from central government, the Merton rule has become central to tentative steps towards a low carbon future," says the petition. There are 15 signatures already backing him.

Meanwhile the British Property Federation has come out against the rule, claiming it is "a far less efficient way of cutting carbon than by investing in the actual energy efficiency of buildings". Chief executive Lize Peace says: "Redirecting the financial investment required to deliver these (on-site renewable) targets for onsite renewables to the buildings themselves and the services in them, such as boilers, would increase their energy efficiency." She's calling for more larger scale renewable installations. "This will ultimately save significantly more CO2 than the blinkered approach encouraged by the Merton Rule."

Intensely complicated, intensely important

I've been putting off writing this post for some days, given how ear-bleedingly complicating the issue is. It's carbon intensity and I attended a debate on the issue, orgainised by the UK Green Building Council and Building Services Journal, last Tuesday morning. As far as I understand it the nub of the problem is this - is the current way of measuring the carbon make-up of grid electricity correct?

Merton rule ditched

Guardian hack Ashley Seager is making a bit of a name for himself. A week after revealing that government officials are looking to sidestep our obligation to produce 20% of energy from renewable sources by 2020 he now reports that housebuilders have won their aim to ditch the so-called Merton rule, whereby local authorities can set their own renewable targets for local developments. "The Merton rule... seems as if it's going to be airbrushed out of history like a dissident from an old Soviet photograph," says Merton council principle environment officer Adrian Hewitt.

How green is the Olympics?

Not very reckons the Green Party. It has published a report on the environmental credentials of London's hosting of the Games, reports this week's Time Out. Strangely I can see no mention of this on the Green Party website. I can understand the criticisms in the report - lack of renewables, loss of biodiversity - but have some sympathy for those running the uber project - balancing those demanding the highest possible quality and sustainable standards against those baying commentators ready to stick the knife in when there are slips made on the programme or budget.

Reaction to Guardian renewables article

A response of sorts from the Prime Minister's spokesman to the piece in yesterday's Guardian claiming officials were advising ministers to find ways of wriggling out of meeting the 20% of energy from renewables target for 2020. They are committed to developing renewable technology, apparently.

Joined up thinking? Forget it

I included the advert from DEFRA in the last post to underline the age-old Whitehall condition which appears to hold particularly true for its current approach to climate change. So, we have the left hand, the environment department, urging citizens to consider their personal carbon footprints. Meanwhile, over in the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, the right hand tries to find any means possible to avoid us trying to achieve the EU target for 20% renewable energy by 2020. Civil servants, according to this morning's Guardian, reckon the best we can do is get to a paltry 9% and that would cost us £4bn. Oh and they're looking for more "flexible interpretations" of the target, by inlcuding nuclear power, or investment in solar farms in Africa. Makes you proud to be British.

Germany leagues ahead of us on renewables

Strong stuff in Monday's Guardian, where economics correspondent Ashley Seager takes the Government to task for its encouragement (or lack of it) of renewable technologies. He offers a stark contract between us and Germany, where renewables now makes up 13% of all energy compared to our 4.6%. Seagar reckons we are tinkering at the edges with our botched low carbon buildings programme and the renewables obligation (RO)system, which requires energy producers to use a growing propertion of renewable sources. "Britain's climate change strategy, such as it is, is crumbling," he concludes.

Renewables reverse

Just picked up story in the Independent on Sunday which gives a depressing statistic on the take-up of micro-generation renewable systems. Suppliers of solar panels and wind turbines are reporting a 90% drop in demand for their products after the Government cut grants for the products in May. "This whole system is not working," says Rajiv Bhatia, head of renewable energy supplier Alternergy. "Tony Blair said the UK was leading the world when it comes to emissions and greenhouse gases but I don't see that from where I'm standing."

The King's Cross tour

I attended a couple of events at Architecture Week, one of which was a tour around the land north of King's Cross train station which is due for a massive facelift over the next decade under the control of developer Argent. Our guide? None other than Argent head honcho Roger Madelin, who turns out to be very far from the public stereotype of a property magnate - dry, softly spoken, witty and approachable. He had managed to charm the 15-odd walkers before the two-hour trot around the 67-acre site, called King's Cross Central, had finished.

Salford City Council leads the way in renewable extensions

Since 1999, Salford City Council have been exploring the development and use of prefabricated relocatable extensions for elderly and/or disabled members of their community. In all, 47 units have been made and used, with overwhelmingly positive feedback from their recipients. Now other city councils, as well as the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE), are looking into their work.

The Big Build brings visitors to Offsite 2007

One of the main attractions to Offsite 2007 at BRE was The Big Build. This was made up of ten new "concept-buildings" by a number of different architects and contractors, all of which strived to achieve the highest levels in the new Code for Sustainable Homes. Most were private homes; one was a mini-school, another was a semi-detached housing development in which one "half" was fully furnished while the other half had transparent panelling, so allowing visitors to see through the walls and floors.

Muda, Mura, Muri - and how they apply to sustainabillity

Ever heard of muda, mura and muri? You have now. These three terms may seem completely unfamiliar, but - in the way that the English language often does - within a few years they might become part of normal speech.

BRE pioneers sustainability at its three day Offsite conference

The BRE (Building Research Establishment) and EEDA (East of England Development Agency) co-hosted a compelling three-day conference at the BRE's base in Garston, north of Watford. The conference looked at how modular and pre-fabricated buildings can work in three separate sectors: homes, schools and healthcare facilities. The aim, in each case, was to go beyond the traditional onsite methods of building towards looking at the benefits of offsite construction.