zerochampion

My energy switch fun

This blog has now moved. Please visit Zerochampion.com and update your bookmarks

I finally got round to addressing my energy providers yesterday - perhaps all the headlines on energy bills infected my subconscious. I'm currently on what is claimed to be a 'green' dual energy (electricity and gas) service but scratch beneath the surface and the facts don't fully bear out the claims. So there's the inevitable few hours of searching around comparison sites and the utility providers' own sites, to discover that... there really ain't much out there.

Is offsetting bollocks?

This blog has now moved. Please visit Zerochampion.com and update your bookmarks

I've attempted today to get the Building Sustainability forum going today through the crude means of coarse language. This has been somewhat undermined by our rather prurient forum programme which has cruelly censoring my mild profanity - hence it reads 'Is offsetting ********?'

This blog has now moved. Please visit Zerochampion.com and update your bookmarks

The point is obviously a basic one and has been a debating question for some time. It interests me now as there seems much less public discussion on offsetting. Is this because it was a fad or has it become mainstream? I wonder whether offsetting has a temporary shelf life before proper legislation for business and individuals is introduced.

Think RIP

This blog has now moved. Please visit Zerochampion.com and update your bookmarks

I wanted to pass on some rather disappointing news. Unfortunately the Think event is no more. I put a considerable amount of effort into making the content element of the show as good as I could from January to May of this year so it was something of a blow when the decision to ditch it was made last month. I suppose the cliche about learning from failures is one to trot out such a moment. I won't go into a long post mortem/explanation but will list a few reasons and lessons for and from its demise:

What are you reading this summer?

This blog has now moved. Please visit Zerochampion.com and update your bookmarks

I have rather tardily decided to run some summer based coverage on the Building Sustainability channel. I realise by starting this it will inevitably lead to overcast conditions (such as I now see out of my window) so my apologies in advance. Anyhow, as part of the content I was keen for reader to put forward their summer reading and listening this summer. So by all means put forward the tome or album you will be burying yourself in on the beach please. Either comment here or send them to [email protected].

Government demolished on empty rates

This blog has now moved. Please visit Zerochampion.com and update your bookmarks

I've been keeping a watching brief on the coverage over on Property Week on Empty Rates. In April the Government removed empty property rate relief, which means that property owners who are sitting on empty premises for three to six months (depending on the type of building) will be forced to pay business rates. The intentions behind the law change were most likely noble - to force buildings to be occupied - but the good old law of unintended consequences has kicked in. We might as well rename Sod's Law as Gordon's law because the legislation change has coincided with a sharp downturn in the property market. Hence instead of encouraging regeneration the tax is sparking demolition.

Unsustainable amounts of information from Westminster

This blog has now moved. Please visit Zerochampion.com and update your bookmarks

"Here, you better have a look at this," said Phil, in what he later describes as a 'lather of excitement.' He's pointing at an email from TheGovernmentSays.com, a private company that helpfully searches, packages and mails out press releases from all government departments. Phil's set up a search using the term 'sustainability.' "There's an incredible amount of stuff just come out of government about sustainability," he continues. He sends over two emails, entitled 'Yesterday on TheGovernmentSays and I peer at them on my screen. He's right. It's an impressive array of communication. It's all happening.

Paper cuts

This blog has now moved. Please visit Zerochampion.com and update your bookmarks

So here I am sitting in my air conditioned office in the bright sunshine with our internal lights flashing at me thinking about my obscene paper usage. Perhaps the latter adjective is is a little harsh but I'm staring at six or seven visible pile of A4 printed sheets, magazines, books, brochures etc on my desk. Not forgetting the mess of wood-based products strewn on the floor which has yet to make it to the recycle bin.

Lessons from Southwold for Gordon

This blog has now moved. Please visit Zerochampion.com and update your bookmarks

I write with some authority on Gordon Brown's Suffolk holiday retreat, Southwold. My parents part owned a house there during the 80s and 90s and its coastal charms inspire some wistful memories. The current Prime Minister received a heap of flak for such a choice of resort, which is indicative of just how big a hole he is in at present, politically speaking. Presumably prior to when everything went completely pear-shaped for his administration Brown's decision to rest and recuperate in East Anglia would have been seen as the sustainable and prudent choice of a leader fully supportive of homegrown tourism. But while he's there I wonder whether Gordon will ponder a few lessons that Southwold has to offer while he pops in for a pint in the Lord Nelson or during a brisk walk to neighbouring to Walberswick. Here's a few tips for his trip:

Germa(i)ne eco-housing

This blog has now moved. Please visit Zerochampion.com and update your bookmarks

In her rather shrill fashion Germaine Greer puts her finger on the dilemma facing architects when it comes to the design of eco-houses in today's Guardian. Can they be brave enough to break from the shackles of new house vernacular, which she labels as "universally horrible". We Brits are "timid animals" and are "neophobic - irrationally terrified of the new" according to Greer. Architects should be braver when it comes to designing low carbon dwellings, so that the new houses "are proud to be different".

BBC2 steps up

This blog has now moved. Please visit Zerochampion.com and update your bookmarks

I sat down in front of the first part of BBC2's new two-part eco/oil drama Burn Up with some trepidation. Were we going to be served up with a rather simplistic cliche ridden run through the great global warming debate? Would there be some buttock clenching moments where characters would need to talk us through the arguments or talk down to us? Well in fact it turned out to be rather good. In fact it was probably one of the best UK political dramas I've seen on since State of Play.