For those of you Building Sustainability channel readers out there we're running a reader survey to gather information on what information people want, issues we need to be addressing in more detail etc. There's a bit of a bribe in it - four £40 gift tokens on offer from Nigel's Eco Store on offer for a quartet of lucky winners.
My thanks to weekend visitor, TV producer, cocktail freak and interweb (that's what he calls it) expert Matt Paice, for pointing me to this new neat browser that goes by the name of flock. It's for all you social networking fans out there and is well plugged into the sites you'd expect, such as Facebook, Twitter et al - once you sign in it automatically brings up all your friend, photos etc. I'm writing this post
via said plugin.
Quite excited about this. We've just launched a new sustainability forum on the Building site. We've started with an open forum which is as it says on the label - myself and Michael have kicked things off with a debate on green legislation and one on the relative merits of the BRE, inspired by Mark's previous guest post on this blog. There's also an 'Any Green Questions' section which allows users to share information advice and tips. The high level debate stuff is all very well but I think these sites can often work best when they are practical as well. Have a crack at it yourselves - the more that get involved the merrier. And any feedback on how it works gratefully received.
From time to time I read Jeff Jarvis' thought on everything web 2.0 in the Media Guardian section. He revealed yesterday that he made nearly $14K last year from his Buzzmachine blog. Not bad. Jarvis' wider point was the benefits and opportunities that his blog has given him in the last few years - from print columns to speaking opportunities a book deal and a job. Some inspiration then for myself and all you other bloggers out there. There's money in them hills.
I've been meaning to write on the subject of podcasts for some time. Since the New Year I've now started to walk to and from work and become ever more attached to my weekly audio updates. However in spite of a few attempts I've not found and environmental one that has sufficiently grabbed my attention to eclipse my favourites. It's probably similar to the experience of choosing between carrot soup and chips, or Horizon and the Apprentice - when push comes to shove entertainment usually wins out.
After signing up for the phenomenon that is Twitter over a year ago, I left it dormant for 12 months but am now warming to it. It's essentially blogging for either lazy or busy people as well as those with short attention spans - I'd probably put myself in all three categories, if that makes any sense. Some have described it as the haiku of blogging. The fact you can fire over a text message while you witness something during a walk/event etc is definitely appealing. I'm unsure, however, whether it's a flash in the pan like Facebook, which I had a very short-live affair with last year.
Having pulled myself together after voicing my blogging blues I've decided on an early Spring clean. Well by clean that means to add some widgets to the site so it's probably more accurate to describe it as a Spring clutter. So I've chucked up a search engine (thanks for the tip Mel) and reinstated a list of sites I like as well as something for all you culture fans out there, lists of books and music I'm listening to.
Those quick-witted amongst you may have spotted that we've changed the date for the online event, called Sustainability Now, we were originally planning for next month. It's now going to take place on 1 and 2 July. A message will be going out to those of you who've already registered, so fear not. I could use the age-old excuse that it was all down to the technology, but that would be bending the truth somewhat. The event morphed from a virtual fair where users could wander around and visit company "booths" with information on their services and products to an editorially driven programme of events (seminars, Q&As, videos, audio etc).
Continue reading "Sustainability Soon - all ideas received" »
Turbines are back with a vengeance this week, especially in the Sunday Telegraph. Climate Tsar, Lord Turner suggests bulding more of them in the central reservations of motorways, brownfield sites or other places where there was already 'visual intrusion.' He thinks the country needs to do more rather than less to cut carbon emissions. His committee is due to report back to the PM before the end of the year to suggest whether or not a 60% cut will be needed by 2050.
I was wondering when one of these sites would spring up. Having become increasingly irritated with the slew of new price comparison sites for car insurance, supermarket goods, cat food etc it's with mixed feelings that I see there's now one for green products. It goes by the name of griinu compare and seems to be focused on the domestic consumer market. I discovered it via the usual web-circuitous route of picking up on an article comparing the performance of pv panels in the US.
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.
There's a site just launched called M&E Sustainability, which is a JV between the specialist contracting organisations the ECA and the HVCA (is this a prelude to a merger?). There's some helpful resources on it, including a glossay, and the site is funding a new energy centre being built by the London Southbank University, which plans to open in 2009.
Just received this in my message box. Seasonal message form services outfit Troup Bywaters & Anders and quite amusing.
Is it just a coincidence or is Google celebrating the launch of the Building Sustainability site by have a green logo on its UK page? That's the third and last plug for my new channel today.
I'm furiously preparing for the launch of the next, to use some fine jargon, 'iteration' of the Building Sustainability micro-site, in which this blog site has a significant home. I'm wondering whether you readers are as aware as I think you are of the fact that this site plugs into Building more directly. Are we comfortable bedfellows? I suppose we (as in my company) are trying to achieve the best of both worlds. Combining a big branded, established website with a more independent blog. It's a bit of an experiment but I hope that I can maintain a balancing act of voicing opinions/random thought with providing more traditional journalistic output on the Building site. I'll let you decide whether it works or not.
Blogging is pretty ephemeral so sometimes you write something one day and then disagree with it the next. Such especially is the case with sustainability issues, when we rely on information that can then turn out to prefixed by mis-. Here's a couple of examples:
Just watched a five minute video rather glibly called "Designing a carbon neutral building in five minutes". It's from US software house Green Building Studio who have developed a system whereby you input design information, press return, and hey presto you've got yourself a green building! Perhaps the US delivery brought out the cynic in me. I'm sure we'll see a lot of such tools coming out in the market in the future and they will have an important part to play in appraising and tweaking designs. Just don't promise the earth with a computer programme.
I have to mention the BBC Radio 4 spoof phone in show Down the Line, aired last night. The programme tackled the Global Warming debate, with hilarious results.
There appears to be a massive surge in TV content that is now appearing on the web in relation to all things green. I've written on TV specials and documentaries that have been appearing in the past few months, but there is now a slew of sites emerging focused on sustainability and the construction sector in particular. Hopefully these are offering a more positive image of the industry than pranksters on YouTube.
There's always the danger with discussions on sustainability that you end up discussing life, the universe and everything. It happened to me a few times this week. It can be slightly defeating as the detail and basics need to be right before you can start trying to change the world. But that shouldn't preclude a widening of discussions. Two disparate issues I considered with a couple of experts need much more thought - the law and IT.
I'd not heard of this digital station until today. It's called Passion for the Planet and has an environmental bent - apparently the studio is sound-proofed with hemp. From first impressions it it's a little new age for me and the music on my first listen isn't wildly original. But is claims to have 50,000 listeners so there is clearly appeal for this niche offering.
The Guardian has started an online community called Tread Lightly encouraging readers to pledge to reduce their carbon emissions, share tips, ask experts etc etc. So far 1,512 readers have pledged to cut 1.64 tonnes of CO2.
Just discovered this wiki site for sustainability called Appropedia. It's a US site, and clearly a work in progress - it claims it has 3,552 articles. A random trial by myself finds a pretty decent-looking definition of biomass but nothing as yet on carbon neutral or zero carbon (perhaps these are terms more used over here). One to watch and develop.
I've mentioned in previous posts a mysterious and mystical new site development I was working on. Well it's about as ready for general consumption as I it can be at this stage, and I'd be delighted if you have a good old ferret around it. The site is a new channel for Building based around sustainability, which you will be shocked to hear is being branded as Building Sustainability.
You will notice a little face lift on the header and a new name for the blog. It's part of the development I'm working on which will see this space being integrated more closely to the websites my company publishes - Building, Building Design, Property Week and Building Services Journal. Couple of points to make:
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