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Government plans sustainable cathedrals

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Enviornment minster Ian Pearson yesterday urged action to improve the environmental performance of Cathedrals and churches. In a speech yesterday at the Cathedrals and Climate Change Conference at Lambeth Palace he said: "While a wind-turbine on St Paul's might raise a few eyebrows, I'd love to see solar panels on church halls, biomass boilers in church schools, and maybe in future we should be thinking about how, by using microgeneneration, cathedrals can help produce energy as well as use it".

Norman's amazing zero carbon walled city

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Never say one of the world's biggest names in architecture, Norman Foster, lacks ambition. His firm today announced plans to create a 6 million square feet walled city in Abu Dhabi. It will be, to use the oft-used expressions, zero carbon and zero waste. The Masdar Initiative is being driven by the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company and will include a new university, the HQ for the company, special economic zones and an innovation centre.

Here is the Think action plan - any thoughts?

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As promised last week's Think event came up with a ten-point action plan. Some obvious points, some new ones. You can go to the Think site itself and agree/disagree with the proposals. Fell free to share any thoughts on them on this site. Here goes:

Picture special - first code for sustainable home

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The first houses promised to comply with the upcoming Code for Sustainable Homes will be unveiled at next month's OFFSITE2007. The code was launched by the Communities and Local Government department in April, based on the BRE's EcoHomes standard.

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Stewart Milne Group has drawn up plans for a house to show that sustainability is commercially viable in  mass produced housing. The house will conform to Level 5 of the new code. It uses renewable technologies, superior insulation and a fast build process. There are open plan interiors with terraces at upper levels to maximise outdoor space.

Bill's biomass fears

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My thanks to feloow blogger Mark Brinkley for doing my job for me. He offers an excellent summary of the Zed masterclass session that I chaired with architect Bill Dunster on Wednesday at Think. Mark touched on one aspect of Dunster's wide ranging session which intrigued me - namely the contention from the BedZed creator that there is a National Biomass Quota that allows for an individual to use 250kg of dry biomass a year without overusing natural resources.

Getting the Right House in the Right Place

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"The Right Housing in the Right Place" was one of the final sessions of Think 2007 but, as the chair Tim Williams pointed out, in many ways it should have been one of the first. The location of housing is, of couse, central to sustainability in the built environment (and especially the city environment). This look at "number of houses per hectare" gave insights not only into density planning but from how people can happily live in high-density urban spaces.

The Four "R's" at Think 2007: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Rethink

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One of the final sessions at Think 2007 sensibly looked at next steps. What are the practical, concrete measures that can be taken in an office to reduce wastage and limit emissions? The session was in many ways a brainstorm, going through everything from the design of light bulbs to using hemp as a form of insulation. Dan Epstein, Environmental Policy Manager at English Partnerships gave the "macro" look at the issue. His major concern was the amount of waste that our society is now creating — as he put it, "we are a throw-away society throwing away money."

Mayer Hillman: our actions on the climate are "too little, too late"

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Dr Mayer Hillman, Senior Fellow Emeritus of the Policy Studies Institute today condemned the actions of many environmental campaigners as "too little, too late." "We are", he said, "tinkering at the margins of what we should be doing." Furthermore, he disparaged a number of speakers at Think 2007 - including Prince Charles, Lord Coe and Al Gore - as myopic in their view of exactly how bad climate change is.

How to make a More Sustainable House

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A number of speakers gathered at the Think 2007 Conference yesterday morning to look at concrete steps to make buildings more sustainable. Each an expert in their field they looked, in turn, at the role of glass, energy boilers, solar panels and the idea of an "intelligent building". The key theme of the debate was innovation.

Social sustainability masterclass

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What is sustainablity? is it just about reducing carbon emissions and investing in solar panels or other renewable technologies? A group of planning and property experts this afternoon looked at social sustainability. Chaired by Angus McIntosh, it was a series of case studies that looked at how a city "lives" and nourishes and fulfils its inhabitants.