Liz Reason asks, “Why do award-winning ‘green’ buildings so often have much higher energy bills than ordinary buildings?”
You can read her answer, which focusses on the dire gap between predicted and actual energy performance, here
One of the interesting things about working on IncredibleEdible Mytholm’s Growing Futures project is the way that people keep coming up with useful ideas.
The latest example is a suggestion that IncredibleEdible Mytholm look at what Tony Holditch and the Newlands Community Association have done at the Inspire Business Park in Bradford.
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Interesting post Bouncing off the rebound about why it doesn’t make sense to talk about energy efficiency, if we want to reduce energy use, and why we do need to talk about energy conservation.
The argument in a nutshell: increased energy efficiency doesn’t necessarily mean reduced energy use, for a variety of convincing reasons.
Hebden Bridge Self-Build group invites members and the public to an interactive workshop on Sustainable Building Materials and Structures, with Derek Deighton, a former lecturer on Sustainability and Construction at Blackburn University.
The workshop is on Thursday December 13th 6.30 for 7- 9, at the former Nutclough Tavern, Keighley Road, Hebden Bridge.
Please come with questions, say the Self-build group. This is what the “interactive” bit is.
Here’s an interesting blog about Amsterdam self build housing.
Here are some possibilities for the proposed Ecohotel that Incredible Edible Mytholm would like to build on the Mytholm Works site, if the group is able to raise the money to buy the site and gain planning permission:
(Just to clarify: the inspiration is the biodiversity green wall, edible green screen and rainwater harvesting – not the dreary 1990s-type building they’re adorning.)
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Ofgem, the organisation administering the renewable heat incentive (RHI) scheme, reports that since the scheme started late last year, energy from renewable heat installations has risen to more than 5MegaWatts by the end of March 2012. Ofgem has approved 16 biomass boilers, three ground-source heat pumps and one water-source heat pump.
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AxisDesign Architects in Birmingham have come up with an affordable passive house design which they think could make this energy saving home affordable to everyone because of its low cost.
How a passive house works - diagram from Wikipedia
I read some news that a Cambridge company has produced a very low-energy component for use in smart electricity meters and other digitally interactive devices – like fridges, washing machines, freezers, tumble driers, kitchen equipment and other consumer goods.
As all these things become digitally interconnected, they form part of the “internet of things” – a network of wireless frequencies which allows any smart (radio frequency identification tagged) object to be located, logged and monitored.
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This is an amazing looking retrofit to zero carbon standard of a Victorian terrace house in Birmingham
