I enjoyed a brief visit to London last week, especially finding out how the British are going to achieve the government’s new objective of having all new residential buildings “zero carbon” by the year 2016. (It is set out in Building a greener future: towards zero carbon development).
That’s an ambitious target. I wanted to know how they will make it? What will make the UK building industry get going? And could the industry develop the supply chain quickly enough?
I began by knocking on the door of The Home Builders Federation (HBF). Its members build about 80% of Britain’s houses. Could they deliver?
Continue reading "Building a greener future in the UK" »
Austrian Airlines played real Vienna music by classical masters like Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. It put me in the right mood for Vienna – a wonderful city quite different to the rest of Europe, with its great palaces and charming cafés. You can feel that this was the cultural center of the world in the 19th Century. But Austria is also leading the way in the 21st century on low-energy houses, which is why I was there.
I was in Vienna to deliver a key-note speech at a conference on “Energy Efficiency in Buildings” organized by the Austrian Business Council for Sustainable Development with two other business organizations (www.oegut. at and www.respact.at). I presented the EEB vision of a world where buildings consume zero net energy, and highlighted the barriers we think need to be overcome (especially financial and behavioral aspects) I’m pleased to say it got a good response.
Continue reading "Action with PassivHaus in Austria " »
A week after the IPCC launch in Paris, I am beginning to believe it wasn’t just
a dream, even if it was quite remarkable. Scientists from 130 countries really
did conclude - after six years of study – that they can say with 90 percent
certainty that man-made emissions are causing climate change.
The consensus report was
cautious, of course. Some of the experts believe the situation could be much
more dramatic.
I hope we can now stop debating
what climate change is or is not, and concentrate on what we need to do about it.
Urgently! However cautious the IPCC report is, there is no doubt that the
message is: Act now!
Continue reading "Buy now, while stocks last" »
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