For your perusal:
A journalist re-designs his neighbourhood: Grist
Is the Passivhaus standard too inflexible for America? Treehugger
Solar plane takes first successful flight: Inhabitat
A few interesting green buildings: Wildlife Conservation Society HQ, Harpoon House, Maine low enegy house, Dairy barn converted into eco home, Guelph City Hall
Frank Gehry not a fan of green architecture, says the cost of green building is "enormous": Infrastructurist
Applying Passivhaus to a "centuries old" building: Green Building Advisor
How to sell green products to builders: Green Building Advisor
Sustainable 'superbus' under development: Energy Saving Trust (more here)
Best of green design & architecture, 2010: Jetson Green
Sorry for the prolonged absence - after the madness of the last CI deadline I took a week off, but normal service will resume now.
The following letter appeared in the Guardian a couple of weeks ago. Does Ireland need a green bank too, or are the big banks' 'green funds' enough?
We agree that the chancellor should next week announce an investment bank to help build green business and infrastructure (Editorial, 17 March). Up to £750bn needs to be invested in low-carbon infrastructure, low-carbon energy and energy efficiency over the next two decades. This will only be achieved if a green infrastructure bank is set up in the public interest to help leverage and deploy private capital at the scale and speed required. This bank must have a clearcut mission to accelerate investment in the low-carbon economy. A general infrastructure bank without this primary mandate risks locking the UK into a high-carbon future. That would cause immense damage to our economic, energy and climate security.
Adrian Wilkes Environmental Industries Commission, Paul King Green Building Council, Gaynor Hartnell Renewable Energy Association, James Cameron Climate Change Capital, Peter Young The Aldersgate Group, Andy Atkins Friends of the Earth, John Sauven Greenpeace, Nick Mabey E3G, Stephen Hale Green Alliance, Andrew Simms New Economics Foundation, Sean Kidney Network for Sustainable Financial Markets, Jonathan Johns Climate Change Matters
Construct Ireland has picked up two awards at the 2010 Green Awards. Editor Jeff Colley won the green leader award and Construct Ireland picked up the green communications award for successful campaigning work on pay-as-you-save and a proposal to boost the impact of Building Energy Ratings, which in both cases culminated in policy commitments in the renewed programme for government, and planned launches later this year.
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.
The energy and climate change secretary, Ed Miliband, has announced details of a "green loans" scheme to help people pay for improvements to their homes to make them more energy efficient.
The scheme, which would see loans remain attached to the house where insulation, solar panels or other green technology was installed, aims to overcome the financial barriers and upfront costs people face when trying make their homes greener.
Over 100,000 Irish homes assessed under the BER scheme
Written by News Desk
Figures released from Sustainable Energy Ireland reveal that over 100,000 Irish homes have had Building Energy Ratings completed to date, the majority of which were completed since January 2009, the first year for full implementation of the BER scheme. Introduced in 2007 as a requirement of the EU Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings, the rate of BER publications has steadily increased in 2009, averaging 300 per day, Which Sustainable Energy Ireland indicates an increasing awareness of and compliance with the legislation.
Schools finances waterless urinals with pay-as-you-save
Written by News Desk
One of the mid-west region’s best known primary schools has moved to reduce its annual water and sewer charges by installing waterless urinal systems.
The Model School in Limerick City invested in the systems, installed by BR Waterless Solution, to offset the scale of metered water charges that were introduced for all schools and educational centres in January.
A bumper bunch of links today:
Video of Bill Gates talking about 'zero carbon' at the TED conference: TED
World's tallest building closed indefintely: Archinect
50 "must read" green engineering blogs: Top Online Engineering Degree
Passivhaus renovation of a Victorian terrace house: TreeHugger
Are the days of the cul de sac over? Treehugger
Looking at lights from space - a sign of progress or failure? Treehugger
Norway to build world's largest wind turbine: Inhabitat
The coming renaissance of electrical contractors: softwareadvice.com
Would you live in a shipping container? Inhabitat
Is the Living Building Challenge the toughest green building standard in the world? Jetson Green
UK boiler scrappage scheme a "success": Energy Savings Trust
Barack Obama's $5bn green home gets off to a slow start: Guardian
Loft insulation - Australia's burning issue: Guardian
...and lastly, officials in Tysons Corner, Virigina are thinking of letting developers build at higher densities if their buildings are greener - a concept known as 'planning gain', and something I wrote about in my first ever article for Construct Ireland. See Green Building Law Update for more.
BER assessors association to host AGM in Dublin
Written by Lenny Antonelli
The BER Assessors Association of Ireland will hold its AGM and a series of workshops tomorrow, Friday February 19, in the Red Cow Moran Hotel, Dublin.
The workshops are open to members and non-members of the association. Information stands will be hosted by FÁS, Flo Gas, Kingspan Insulation, Kingspan Solar, OWL, Ecological Building Systems, and Construct Ireland.
More...
A new wood fuel quality mark for Ireland
Written by Lenny AntonelliVarious agencies appear to have played a role in drawing up the scheme, including Coford, NSAI, SEI, the Irish Bioenergy Association and Waterford IT.
The press release says the "quality assurance scheme will certify organisations involved in the manufacture / supply of quality logs, chips, pellets and briquettes formed from clean wood. This QA scheme will provide customers with confidence that they are purchasing a quality wood fuel from a sustainable source relevant to their needs."
Unfortunately the press release doesn't appear to list the specific criteria wood fuels will have to meet to get the stamp, nor does the Irish Bioenergy Association website. However the Wood Fuel Quality Assurance scheme website will go live tomorrow, so more details should be available then.
For those of you who haven't already seen pictures of it floating about, I thought I'd post a pic of the design for Manchester United captain Gary Neville's new house, designed by Make Architects. According to Inhabitat, the house will feature locally-sourced materials, a ground source heat pump and PV panels, and is designed to be "zero carbon". The architects say it was inspired by the neolithic settlement of Skara Brae in Orkney, and not the Tellytubby House.
As usual, a few links:
Out of the ruins, a more sustainable Haiti: Treehugger
Why are so many Paul Rudolph buildings being torn down? Treehugger
Car bodies could store energy like batteries: Inhabitat
Top five green gadgets to look for in 2010: mylifescoop.com
Can solar panel mounts cause roof leaks?: GreenBuildingAdvisor.com
World's first personal carbon credit: Guardian
£60m eco-home funding announced in the UK: Energy Savings Trust
Irish Passive House Academy launches in Wicklow
Written by Jeff ColleyEstablished 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.