The seminar kicked off by Mark Johnson (LDA on the Ten Easy Measures promoted by London Development Agency's Home Energy Efficiency Programme) who was talking through some difficulties of finding money to start a scheme which aimed to transferring housing to be fit for the 21st century, 3 phase were introduced by him Phase 1 Integration, Phase 2 Developing new model, Phase 3 Lobbying and financing. And then John Doggart start with this question How to save most carbon? and also 60% carbon saving policy for existing housing by 2050.But there are some problems have to rectify before any decision he said.

The four problems:
• Desire
• Knowledge
• Delivery Capacity
• Incentives

Improving Desire:
Old Home Super home Campaign
• Network of exemplar houses C60 or better
• Accessible for the public to learn and be inspired from a trusted source
• Touch and feel experience
• Aim for 1000 Superhomes in 5 years, one per Tesco

Improving Desire: Old Home Superhome Currently 27 houses throughout country, recruiting more
• 30,000 people visited in first year; 9 Video Fly-throughs
• 93% very pleased
• 25% want help with their projects
• Average £200 spend and 0.1 tonnes CO2 saved per visitor

And then he presented some of their projects which they managed to Transformed to use 60% less carbon.

next Mathew Frith presented his passion for wild life and talking about parks and other urban green spaces and his concern to supporting biodiversity in towns and cities (big scale).

and last Russell Smith came on who is Managing Director of Parity projects and explained about his conversion project in Carshalton, South London. which he managed to reduce CO2 by 72% per square meter.
As my understanding Carshalton Grove hasn't got any south facing roofs, therefore it makes it really difficult to gain solar radiation and energy so I can say when this house saliently reduced energy consumption any house could manage to do so. Also he mentioned about their open house day which it takes place on Sat 31st Oct and 12th December 2009.

we may need to contact them in order to get there as a group.(any one interested please leave a comment)

After the seminar we all visited an exhibition sponsored by campaign called Lower Carbon Drive at Home these are some photos which I took.
Related links:
http://www.sustainable-energyacademy.org.uk/
www.s-ea.org.uk
http://www.wildlondon.org.uk/

Mehrdad E Borna

The first talk in a series was quite good enough  to made us think a little bit about the way we live I should point out the most important message throughout the whole lecture and it was;

Eco-Effectiveness Vs Eco-Efficiency

what is Eco-Effectiveness and Eco-Efficiency ?

chemical scientist, Dr. Michael Braungart talked about these two in a very interesting and ordinary examples like, it's not efficient if you buy flowers for your girl friend to make her happy but it is definitely effective to escalate the relationship.

Dr. Braungart added Imagine you had to design the Industrial revolution in retrospect(20 Century). Your design parameters would probably look like this (though the people who created the revolution probably never intended it!)

–        Put billions of pounds of toxic material into the air, water and soil every year

–        Produce some materials so dangerous they will require constant vigilance by future generations

–        Results in gigantic amounts of waste

–        Creates prosperity by cutting down natural resources and then burying or burning them

–        Erodes the diversity of species and cultural practices

If you had to tweak your design for the Industrial revolution to accommodate eco-efficiency, your design parameters would probably look like this…(Today)

– Release fewer pounds of toxic wastes into the air, soil and water every year

– Measure prosperity by less activity

– Meet the stipulations of thousands of complex regulations to keep people and natural systems from being poisoned too quickly

– Produce fewer materials that are so dangerous that they will require future generations to maintain constant vigilance while living in terror

– Result in smaller amounts of useless wastes

If you were to instead, design a system that is ECOEFFECTIVE what would your design parameters look like ? …(ASAP)

– Buildings that like trees produce energy

– Factories that produce effluents that are drinking water

– Products that, when their useful life is over, do not become useless waste, but can be tossed on the ground to decompose and become food

– A world of abundance, not of limits, pollution and waste

Ant Lessons

Interesting Ant Facts:

• Handle their own and other wastes safely

• Grow and harvest own food, while nurturing their environment

• Construct houses and storage facilities that can be truly recycled.

• Create disinfectants that are healthy and bio degradable

• Maintain soil health for the entire planet.

 

In fact In Cradle to Cradle, McDonough and Braungart argued that the conflict between industry and the environment is not an indictment of commerce but an outgrowth of purely opportunistic design. The design of products and manufacturing systems growing out of the Industrial Revolution reflected the spirit of the day-and yielded a host of unintended yet tragic consequences.

Mehrdad E Borna

Thursday 8 October 5 - 7pm

The refurbishment of existing homes to reduce their carbon footprint is a market estimated to be worth £20Bn. Homeowners and their building advisers need to know what measures can be taken in existing homes to make the most of budget, CO2 reducing measures and the opportunities offered by other refurbishment activities. It is also important to know what funding opportunities exist and are in the pipeline.

This seminar sets the scene with four presentations:

Mark Johnson - LDA on the Ten Easy Measures promoted by London Development Agency´s Home Energy Efficiency Programme.

John Doggart - Sustainable Energy Academy on the market opportunities for designers and manufacturers and the Old Homes Super Homes programme.

Mathew Frith, Deputy CEO, London Wildlife Trust on using the outdoor spaces.

Russell Smith - Managing Director of Parityprojects on an exemplar conversion project in Carshalton, South London.

The seminar is followed by a Private View of the Lower Carbon Drive at Home Exhibition presented by the London Development Agency and the Building Centre.

Book Online

Mehrdad E Borna

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The Institute's Royal status was granted in 1947, it is said in recognition of the fact that its public lectures carried on through the wartime blitz.  The lectures are still underway, almost every Friday evening during term.  This year’s series is on the Environment. 

NB:  Changing Venues:  We are bouncing around a little this year, with most of our lectures held in the Archaeology Lecture Theatre and a few in the J Z Young Lecture Theatre.  The locations are indicated on the list below, and here are some maps.

Map:  Institute of Archaeology Lecture Theatre, 31-34 Gordon Square, London, WC1
Map:  J Z Young Lecture Theatre, Anatomy Building, Gower Street, London WC1

Time:  All lectures start at 5.45 pm.  The talks usually last for an hour and are followed by about 45 minutes of questions and, hopefully, answers.

All lectures are free and open to the public.  No tickets are available, and no reservations are taken, so you are advised to arrive early to be sure of a seat.

The London Lecture Series 2009 - 2010
The Environment
Dates, Locations, Speakers, and Talks:

October 16th – Holmes Rolston III: The Future of Environmental Ethics, Archaeology Lecture Theatre
October 23rd – Robin Attfield: Beyond Anthropocentrism, Archaeology Lecture Theatre
October 30th – Warwick Fox: Towards a General Ethics – Human Relationships, Nature and the Built Environment, Archaeology Lecture Theatre
November 6th – Brian Garvey: Darwinism and Environmentalism, Archaeology Lecture Theatre
November 13th – Emily Brady: Ugliness and Nature, J Z Young Lecture Theatre
November 20th – Baird Callicott: The Temporal and Spatial Scales of Climate Change and the Limits of Ethics, Archaeology Lecture Theatre
November 27th – Chukwumerije Okereke: Global Justice and Global Environment Justice, Archaeology Lecture Theatre
December 4th – Allen Carlson: The Aesthetic Appreciation of Nature and Environmentalism, Archaeology Lecture Theatre
January 22nd – James Garvey: Why Go Green When It Doesn’t Matter What You Do?, Archaeology Lecture Theatre
January 29th – David Wiggins:  Philosophy and the Environment, J Z Young Lecture Theatre
February 5th – Cameron Hepburn, Carbon Trading:  Unethical, Unjust and Ineffective?, Archaeology Lecture Theatre
February 12th – Dieter Helm: Sustainable Consumption, Climate Change and Future Generations: the Implications for Environmental Policy, Archaeology Lecture Theatre
February 19th – Eric Swyngedouw: Climate Change as Post-Political and Post-Democratic Populism, J Z Young Lecture Theatre
February 26th - John Adams:  Managing the Environment in a Hypermobile World, Archaeology Lecture Theatre

Mehrdad E Borna