Gecco's Blog

Talk to your local builder long enough and the pressures of meeting the ever changing standards of building regulations will inevitably come up. And not in a nice way. Is there any rhyme or reason behind the seemingly endless changes in regulations for new builds? Well yes, there is.

The construction industry has been given a timeline punctuated with various levels of sustainable building practices, which should culminate in 2016 with carbon neutral buildings – otherwise known as Level 6 Building Code. Carbon neutral buildings should create as much energy as it takes to build them, or to create the materials that are used to build them. They should be airtight and superbly insulated to create the most thermally efficient building possible.
Good architects and builders are already achieving Level 5, but there is a large hill to climb in the next five years if we are to achieve the ultimate low energy model of the German Passivhaus system.

Many in the industry are more concerned with the leaky old houses that we all live in – well 26m of us anyway. The Great British Refurb Campaign is working hard with the government and industry leaders to create a plan that will help the rest of us to improve the energy performance of our properties. Adding insulation and solar panels or renewable energy to a property costs money that many of us don’t have. The governments plan is called ‘The Green Deal’ which should provide applicants with a loan of up to £6,500 to improve their property. The 25 year loan will be carried by the property and will be passed on to the new owners should the current owners move on. Those who decide to invest in new technology and create their own energy can potentially save vast amounts on their energy bills (up to 80%) and earn at the same time, by selling any excess back to the national grid under the new Feed In Tariff.

The energy performance of a property is already recorded in the EPC report carried out by estate agents for every property that is marketed. This report will be increasingly important over the next few years. We could soon be reaching the point where the thermal efficiency of a property might actually make it more desirable and add a premium to the final asking price. A strong argument for even the harshest climate change sceptics!

Just two weeks ago the beautiful Eastern Coast of Australia suffered some of the worst floods on record. Today thousands of residents of Queensland are holed up in safe rooms battened down against the oncoming force of Hurricane Yasi. The hurricane is predicted to reach wind speeds of up to 300k/h and cover an area of over 500km in diameter! We can only look on to see the incredible damage that this storm will cause. Lord only knows how the residents are feeling at this time.

The question being raised by environmentalists around the globe is have the effects of climate change already hit Australia? Seven years of the drought, sand storms in Sydney and now floods followed by a terrorizing hurricane certainly add up to a changeable and extremely challenging climate!

Australia is in a precarious situation, living in such an extreme climate normally. It has a developed economy and the substantial carbon footprint that comes with it. Australia is also one of the world’s largest coal exporters. A recent Lowy Poll in Australia showed that the percentage of the population unwilling to pay for measures to tackle climate change had increased from 21% to 33% between 2008 and 2010. It appears that over time the possibility of reducing their nations’ carbon footprint is becoming less likely. Can this be a good policy in light of the increasingly turbulent weather patterns we are already beginning to see around the world?

Today in the Guardian, Damian Carrington poses the all-important question : After Hurricane Yasi has hit and the clear up has begun will Australia now begin to take action to cut its greenhouse gas emissions? We certainly hope so!

We also send our best wishes to the residents of Queensland and wish them to know they are in our thoughts at this terrifying time.

Hugh Fearnley Whittenstall, one of UK’s best-loved chefs and champion of free range chicken is taking on the EU Fishing Policy in his Big Fish Fight. His first TV show last night (Channel 4) explained the idiocy of EU fishing quotas that supposedly limit the amount of certain endangered species of fish being brought in by fishing. The problem behind this policy is that once the fishermen have reached their quota, of say, cod they are forbidden to bring anymore of that species to port. The fish are being caught in the mixed fisheries areas of the sea and so the fishermen are actually forced to throw the perfectly good fish – now dead – back into the water! This process is called discard and the TV documentary show a truly saddened Hugh as he became aware of just how much fish is thrown back every day.

Follow Hugh’s campaign to try to change this ridiculous system to one where the fishermen are still limited in the quantities they can bring in but simply fish on fewer days and can bring to market everything they catch!

Ethical spending is up by a staggering 58% according to reports from the Co-operative bank over the last decade. A decade ago the ethical market measured just £13.5bn but has expanded to £36bn by December 2010! (Co-operative Banks annual ethical consumerism report Dec. 2010)

Although the ethical sector remains a small piece of the total consumption pie, some areas such as Fairtrade are changing the way in which we shop. The Fairtrade label has become a common sight in all supermarkets and covers a diverse range of products from the expected coffee to chocolate products and cotton. In 1999 the Fairtrade label accounted for £22m in sales but has grown to an amazing £635m and is expected to break £1bn this year.

Ethical spending on our homes has also increased from £1.4bn in 1999 to £7bn by December 2010. This covers everything from rechargeable batteries to energy efficient boilers and reflects the growth in consumer’s willingness to look at the environmental impact of their purchase.

Chief Executive of the Co-Operative Financial Services is reserved in his conclusion however, stating “there is still a long way to go if we are all going to adopt the low-carbon lifestyle needed to avoid cataclysmic climate change”

Perhaps £36bn is a drop in the ocean, but we agree that it is a good place to start and will keep pushing forward to drive home the ethical message. After all, the report suggests that over the past year, half of the adults in the UK have made a purchase based “primarily on ethical grounds”. We think that is something to celebrate!

There are many questions being raised about the proposed ‘Green Deal’. What does it actually entail? We know a little from pieces of information that have been published – namely that a homeowner will be able to take out a 25year loan on his property in order to improve the energy efficiency of the property. This money can be spent on insulation, renewable energy supplies, biomass boilers, underground source heat pumps, solar panels and so on and so on. The loan will stay with the property if the owner were to sell the house and move on – so far so good, but who will hold the loans? Do we trust the banks to hold them? Do we want the local authorities to collect them as they do our council tax?

Another very important issue linked to this is the skills of the tradesmen we will employ to install the equipment – have they been trained adequately? Are there enough skilled installers to meet demand?

A live debate on October 21st will hopefully answer most of our questions – Kevin Mcleod of the Great British Refurb Campaign, will be talking live with Chris Huhne the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate change at 11am – Follow the link to register and send in your questions. Then put it in your diaryand listen in!