AECB News

UK Won't Hit Its Target For Renewables.

Britain is failing to green its economy, according to previously unpublished reports from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). The internal forecasts show that by 2020 the UK will be sourcing only 5% of its energy from renewables, far short of the 15% target we signed up to with the European Commission.

The data, obtained through a Freedom of Information request, will be highly embarrassing for Gordon Brown. The prime minister signed up to the legally-binding target and, if Britain fails to meet it, the government will be liable for substantial fines from Brussels. Today Britain is one of the worst performers in Europe in terms of renewable energy, sourcing only 2% of its needs from non-fossil-fuel sources such as wind and landfill gas. The prime minister has called for a "green revolution" and in the budget last month Alistair Darling put the sector at the centre of his plans to revitalise the economy.

The chancellor introduced subsidies for biomass and wind generation but fears persist in industry that many projects are uneconomic. The DECC's own forecast, based on present policies and subsidies, seems to support that view. The largest portion of renewables is expected to come from wind followed by hydro power, biomass and sewage processing.

The Tories advocate greater use of micro-generation and building a bio-gas network, but it is unclear how the party would deal with planning restrictions that make it hard to get such projects off the ground. It opposes a Labour-created commission that would take away the power of local councils to assess large infrastructure projects but has not yet announced any alternative.

Source The Sunday Times, May 31, 2009

In addition the Guardian reported that Britain is Europe's 'most glaring failure', according Greenpeace, with only 1.3% of needs sourced from clean energy in 2005. The paper reported that the UK sits third from bottom in the European league table of renewable energy with only Luxembourg and Malta sourcing less of its energy from clean energy sources. The table revealed that the UK received 1% of its energy from renewables in 1995 and just 1.3% a decade later. The UK currently source about 1.8% of our energy from renewable sources.

Read full story at www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jun/15/uk-trails-eu-in-renewables

4th Annual Green Awards Open For Entries

Whether you're an individual or an organisation - now is the time to stand up and be counted for all your hard work and win a Green Award. This is your chance to shine and send out a signal of business or personal excellence to investors, your board, your colleagues and customers.

This year, four new categories have been introduced to acknowledge the ever-increasing breadth and depth of sustainability communications.

Visit www.greenawards.co.uk for entry forms.

New York Carbon Counter Puts A Number On Greenhouse Gasses

A billboard in New York City lit up Thursday with 13 digits in blazing red. The daunting number: 3,642,649,157,146 (at time of writing) metric tons of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere, and climbing.

Deutsche Bank Asset Management (DeAM) launched the digital display at 33rd Street and 7th Avenue, near busy landmarks including Penn Station and Madison Square Garden, to remind people of the growing problem of climate change.

The financial giant, with significant investments in assets related to climate change, has launched "Know the Number" as part of a broader education campaign. The number, 3.64 trillion metric tons, is based on Massachusetts Institute of Technology measures, including long-lived greenhouse gasses covered by the Kyoto Protocol. It is growing at a rate of roughly 2 billion metric tons each month. The real-time display shows "a running projection of the current quantities based on the latest measurements available. The projection is recalibrated every month as new data are received."

The carbon counter can also be viewed online at www.know-the-number.com/

Source www.rechargenews.com

Water Efficiency And Safety: Changes In The Pipeline - Part G Amendments

Changes to the Building Regulations Approved Document G (sanitation, hot water safety and water efficiency) are in the pipeline. From October this year all new-build homes will have protective devices (such as a thermostatic mixing valve) fitted to baths to limit hot water temperature, and will need to meet a new minimum standard of 125 litres of water per person per day to improve water efficiency. These changes were announced by the housing minister in May.

The new requirements also stipulate where greywater and harvested rainwater can be safely used. The government has published a Water Efficiency Calculator for New Dwellings that can be used to estimate water usage for the purposes of both Part G of the Building Regulations and for the Code for Sustainable Homes.

Water Efficiency Calculator is at www.communities.gov.uk/publications/planningandbuilding/watercalculator

Part G amendment is at www.thenbs.com/topics/Regulations/articles/partG_amendments.asp

Appear On Grand Designs

The Grand Designs team is looking for projects for the next series of Kevin McCloud's self build spectacular.
If your project is exciting and unique as well as having green credentials - we would like to hear from you. Projects must fit the following criteria:

They must be new residential builds or significant residential conversions

They have unique or interesting elements - something we haven't filmed before - in terms of design, materials, construction techniques, location and/or the people involved

You are planning to live in the property yourself

You agree to be involved with the project and are available to be filmed on a regular basis



If you have or know of a project that might be suitable, please contact 01494 733 538 or e-mail granddesigns@talkbackthames.tv

Grand Designs Great British Refurb Campaign

Existing Homes Alliance members have come together with Grand Designs TV presenter Kevin McCloud to launch the Grand Designs Great British Refurb campaign, an exciting new campaign which aims to make it easier and more affordable for people to make their homes more energy efficient.

The energy we use in our homes accounts for a massive 27% of the UK's carbon emissions, making a huge contribution to climate change. We all want to reduce our energy use, and we can all take important steps - like lagging the loft or replacing our light bulbs - but many of us can't afford the upfront costs of more expensive eco-improvements, such as insulating our walls or installing solar heating.

Our vision is a world where UK homes have lower energy bills, are more comfortable and have less impact on the environment.
Please support the campaign by adding your name to the petition to Gordon Brown, which urges the government to do more to help people finance eco-refurbishments in their homes. Kevin McCloud will deliver the campaign to Number 10 in the summer. Please sign the petition at: www.greatbritishrefurb.co.uk and forward to colleagues and contacts.

The Grand Designs Great British Refurb campaign is a partnership between Existing Homes Alliance members WWF, the Energy Saving Trust and the UK Green Building Council, and Grand Designs Magazine.

VOLUME FIVE: CARBONLITE STEPS TWO & THREE DESIGN GUIDANCE:  Passivhaus / Gold Standard Now available for download! 

Just to let people know about this imminent funding competition from the Technology Strategy Board:

Design and Decision-making Tools for Low Impact Buildings
www.innovateuk.org/_assets/pdf/tsb_ddtoolforlowimpactbuildcompflyer.pdf

The details aren't all out until the middle of June but the flyer gives a summary and important dates.
The words in the scope inevitably need some clarification but the Helpline hasn't been able to help yet!

Is there any way we could (use this Forum to...?) flag up potential submissions from different parts of the network to:
a) make the most of potentially similar application areas/ potential for collaboration
b) minimise potentially unfruitful competition with each other ?

I will be specifically be querying whether the scope includes one of my areas of specialism i.e. decision-making processes/ tools (using facilitation techniques) for working collaboratively with design teams and wider stakeholder groups to improve outcomes in capital projects.
Anyone else out there in AECB-land delivering processes - or anything -  like this? Get in touch.

Joolz

Good article in Building Magazine by Dyfrig Hughes

http://www.building.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=627&storycode=3140858&c=3

Certainly looks as if some of the hard AECB and CLP campaigning has crept in. Particularly the SAP/PHPP comparison. Also the Stamford Brook party wall thermal bypass lesson from Leeds Met'.

What would be nice would be to allow the use of PHPP as an alternative so we don't have to do two sets of calculation.

Frustrating to see that hot water use is assumed to be reduced for higher levels of the Code when in fact this is far from guaranteed.

Building launches Passivhaus diary
15 May, 2009

Over the following months Bill Butcher will be writing a regular diary on the construction of the Denby Dale Passivhaus in West Yorkshire:

http://www.building.co.uk/sustain_story.asp?sectioncode=284&storycode=3140674&c=3

(Spotted via http://twitter.com/Zerochamp )