Jeff Colley is the editor of Passive House Plus. He won the Green Leader award at the 2010 Green Awards for his advocacy work on the inclusion of energy ratings in property advertising, and a proposal to finance energy upgrades via utility bills.
He established Construct Ireland (for a sustainable future), Ireland's pioneering sustainable building magazine, in 2003. The magazine evolved into Passive House Plus in late 2012, the world's first English language magazine focused on passive house, as well as other aspects of sustainable building.
He is also a founder of Éasca, (the Environmental and Sustainable Construction Association) , an organisation set up to develop and promote a membership of approved companies offering genuinely sustainable solutions.
He writes a regular column for the Sunday Times, and has authored, co-authored and contributed to articles on sustainable building for numerous newspapers including the Irish Times, The Sunday Business Post, the Irish Examiner & the Sunday Tribune.
Where are the BERs?
International Selections
Newly inaugurated RIAI president Paul Keogh selects four diverse UK projects that integrate sustainability without compromising on design
SEAI announce growth in renewables and fall in energy prices
The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) has announced that Ireland's renewable energy production is growing, and claimed that Ireland is "one of the world’s leading countries in the use of wind energy for electricity generation".
Over Eur1 million per week insulation grants paid by SEAI
Over Eur1 million per week in energy retrofit grants are currently being paid out by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), a government official has said.
Examining Britain's pay-as-you-save scheme
Just a quick update today, as the deadline for our next issue is approaching rapidly. Anyone interested in reading more about the pay-as-you-save programme launched in Britain yesterday should take a look at the official press release. The plans seem quite ambitious - ambitious enough to make you wonder if the amount of work that's being planned can be done properly in such a short space of time. Are the skills and expertise available and ready?
These figures caught my eye particularly:
The strategy will be implemented in a three stage plan:
- To insulate 6 million homes by the end of 2011
- To have insulated all practical lofts and cavity walls by 2015
- To have offered up to 7 million eco upgrades by 2020; all homes to have smart meters.
According to the Guardian yesterday:
Under legislation proposed today, homeowners would be able to take out loans for thousands of pounds to install loft or wall insulation or solar panels. These loans would be fixed against the home, so that if the borrower moved out, they would not have to continue to pay.
The new owner would inherit the annual charge to pay for the green measures, but would also continue to benefit from the resulting lower energy bills. The government said that the finance – expected to come from retailers such as B&Q and banks including the Co-op – would initially be available on a small scale from 2012, although this would improve.
Irish Passive House Academy launches in Wicklow
Established by leading Irish passive house advocate Tomás O'Leary of Mosart, the Wicklow-based Irish Passive House Academy is accredited by the creators of the passive house standard - Darmstadt's Passivhaus Institut - to provide training and the pertinent internationally-accredited qualification of certified European passive house designer.
Short-listed companies for 2010 Green awards announced
The finalists have been announced for the 2010 Green Awards, with a shortlist consisting of a diverse range of companies and organisations from across Irish society.
Green building & energy links, Jan 21
The January issue has finally gone to the printers, albeit a bit later then we'd have liked. Still, it should be hitting desks and newstands early next week. In the mean time, here's the usual links round-up.
Skip the daily commute with an OfficePOD: Jetson Green
1850s US house gets green upgrade: Jetson Green
Jerry Yudelson's top ten green building trends for 2010: Jetson Green
Natural bark shingles for external cladding? Jetson Green
Innovative financing for energy upgrades: Green Building Advisor
Recycled weapons used for construction in London: Inhabitat
Are shipping containers an answer to the accommodation crisis in Haiti (including an interesting discussion on providing housing in post-disaster situations): Treehugger
Testing Google's Powermeter software
Just a quick post this morning as our January print deadline consumes me. I've mentioned Google's Powermeter home energy monitoring software on the blog before. Now Adam Vaughan gives it a test for the Guardian. He writes:
It's not been an entirely pleasant experience. While I had it setup in 10 minutes – using a small hub and sensor from British company AlertMe to plug into my web connection – seeing my electricity use on an iGoogle page alongside my email, news, RSS and other widgets was sometimes a scary reminder of our profligacy.Interestingly, he also suggests:
Our house typically rests at around 150 watts running a computer, fridge and a couple of lights, but it's not uncommon for that to jump up to more like 3kW (3,000 watts) with the washing machine and dishwasher running simultaneously. In December as a whole, the Powermeter graph reminded my daily, we used a shockingly high 370 kWh – but fortunately December's also probably our highest month for energy use, because it's one of the darkest and the one where we're most frequently at home.
Ultimately, the really interesting stuff for this technology will come when all this data gets shared socially – and results in the sharing of advice and the application of peer pressure to make people change their habits.