The Retrofit 2012 academic conference took place in Salford last week.

Organised by Salford University, the conference brought together a wide range of researchers from a range of disciplines.  Its purpose was  to consider and debate how we can tackle the dramatic reduction in demand from the existing building stock required to meet the 2050 target of a reduction in CO2 emissions by 80% (over 1990 levels).

Phlorum’s Jackie Strube was there presenting a paper on solid wall insulation and its significance in achieving retrofit targets and was delighted to meet so many people with a shared interest.

Highlights of the conference were the presentation by Brenda Boardman of Oxford Brookes on her new report,  ‘Achieving Zero’, available to download here. 

There was also a useful reminder that updated domestic energy statistics are available from DECC in a new format, together with a range or interactive tools: Available to download here.

Salford University are carrying out extensive research into retrofit methods and last year launched Joule Terrace (here), a house constructed to Victorian standards in a climate controlled environmental chamber which is being used for a range of research projects.

Public exhibition on ecological issues

Yesterday, Phlorum staff attended a public exhibition for the master-planning proposals for St Bede’s, a large private school in East Sussex.
The school owns a major land resource in its rural location, many of which has important ecological and visual amenity value.
Phlorum has already undertaken a number of ecological assessments for the school, helping them gain planing approval for a number of new and updated educational facilities.
The aim of the exhibition was to consult with the local community in order to identify constraints and opportunities for St Bede’s future development and enhancement of its land resource. A report detailing the constraints and opportunities analysis for the school can be viewed here.
Feedback from the event was extremely positive, with most people appreciating the effort the school has put into engaging with its neighbours. On ecological issues, the effective management of invasive species such as Japanese knotweed was a recurring theme in the questions from attendees. Most minds being put at rest by the school’s inclusion of Japanese knotweed in its estate management plan.

Brighton and Hove Council have made it a requirement that all planning applications for new-build residential projects in the city include embodied carbon data.  This is provided by developers when they complete the Council’s online Sustainability checklist.

A simplified version of Phlorum’s embodied carbon tool has been incorporated into the checklist to produce a broad calculation of the embodied carbon in proposed developments. The purpose at this stage is to monitor embodied carbon levels and raise awareness of its importance, and the Council are looking to expand upon this in the future.

So far it is mainly academic bodies that are interested in embodied carbon. But, as the burden of environmental stewardship begins to rest more heavily upon the shoulders of Local Authorities, this could well change very quickly, according to Francesca Iliffe, Sustainability Officer at Brighton & Hove Council, in a recent interview with Building Magazine.

A Phlorum team has recently had to resort to rowing to get access to Japanese knotweed areas on a site. Fortunately it was a calm day and no one fell in, but as my rowing skills were a bit rusty, I’ll leave it to Glen in the future. It made a nice change from lugging a knapsack around on our backs.

I don’t think the Olympic rowing team will be contacting us any time soon!

Richard

Japanese knotweed CHP plant

Scientists are reporting today that Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica) could hold the answer to the Peak Oil crisis and provide a sustainable, clean source of energy to generate massive amounts of electricity in huge knotweed biomass power stations.

Extracts from Japanese knotweed rhizomes have been used in traditional Chinese medicine for centuries. Compounds such as resveratrol, which are derived directly from knotweed rhizomes, have been proven to cure many ailments, from baldness to heart disease and cancer.

Incredibly, scientists have found that the powerful antioxidant and health giving compounds in knotweed rhizomes, such as resveratrol, are also responsible for the plant’s ability to generate massive amounts of energy. And it is from the capturing and release of this energy in combined heat and power (CHP) plants that has generated excitement amongst the scientific community and governments keen to increase their targets for the delivery of sustainable, biomass electricity.

Tests in Norfolk have shown that by pyrolysing knotweed rhizomes in low temperature ovens, the gas and hydrocarbon fuels generated are only slightly lower in yield than some brown coals. Due to the impressive rate of growth of knotweed  it is hoped that huge swathes of the Norfolk and Suffolk flatlands can be converted into knotweed fields that can be cropped and turned into fuel for a number of massive power plants along the eastern seaboard.

Enough energy should be generated in just a few years to power the enormous demand for electricity in London. It is also hoped that the huge amount of heat generated from the knotweed could be used to crack seawater into hydrogen and oxygen molecules that could then be used to power fuel cell hubs and vehicles in urban areas.

Last year the Telegraph reported that house sellers had been forced to spend thousands of pounds eradicating Japanese knotweed from their land after finding their homes had become virtually unsellable because potential buyers were being turned down for mortgages.

At Phlorum we are increasingly being contacted by home buyers affected by Japanese knotweed who are reporting that mortgage lenders are insisting that they will only approve an application if the Japanese knotweed on the property is removed by a professional.

Having had discussions recently with HSBC and a few of our contacts in the mortgage sector, it seems that many lenders are still resolutely refusing to lend on any property that has been identified as being affected by Japanese knotweed.

Those lenders who are more likely to lend on properties affected by Japanese knotweed will generally only do so after considering a valuer’s comments, but usually, if knotweed is mentioned, they will not want to lend.

One area lenders will definitely not lend where knotweed is present is for Buy-to-let Mortgages.

Natwest and HSBC seem to be the most amenable lenders where Japanese knotweed is concerned. If a surveying valuer’s comments suggest that the knotweed could effectively be treated, then they will seek to deduct the cost of this from the value of the property. However, they will still want some form of guarantee or warranty once the knotweed has been cleared.

Further information on identifying and treating Japanese knotweed can be found here.

We would be interested to hear if you have any experience of mortgage lenders refusing to lend on properties affected by Japanese knotweed. Email or call us on 01273 704449.

Research published to mark the start of the Climate Awards this week suggests that 1 out of every 5 Britons are not interested in climate change, as they believe others ‘are not doing their bit.’

This prompted Lord Anthony Giddens, a climate change campaigner, to speak out and suggest that we need to influence each other to change behaviour, and lead by example.

While the benefits of influencing by doing cannot be denied, I would suggest that the figures do not make such uncomfortable reading. The fact is that although proof of our changing climate has been well-documented, and extreme weather conditions observed, there are still outspoken deniers who suggest that the science is littered with fraud, and incidents of floods, hurricanes and tornadoes have always been with us.

Changing behaviour is always difficult, especially when so many have been enjoying the relative comfort of our cheap fuel and consumer society, where driving, heating, lighting, holidays abroad and exotic foods have been the norm rather than a luxury. To have 4 out of 5 people willing to take action to reduce these luxuries to combat something which is, it can be argued, easy to ignore if need be, seems to me a remarkable achievement and should be promoted as a blow to the deniers.

Climate change campaigners should be cheered by the news. People are sitting up and taking notice. Lord Giddens is right to promote the ‘influence of influence’, but it seems like the ball is rolling and quite soon it will be the voice of the public that will drown out the deniers – we will all be a campaigner.

Anthony

On 30th November, Phlorum attended Manchester: A Certain Future Conference, where delegates joined together to help develop the city’s action plan on climate change.

Overcoming the snow, members of our team took this opportunity to hear more about Manchesters’ progressive planning policies; as well as visiting clients who wished to learn more about our innovative, Life-Cycle Carbon Footprinting Tool.

The conference was interesting. It was organised by the Stakeholder Steering Group, and was attended by a plethora of organisations, including members of the council, representatives from the football teams, construction companies, SMEs, multi-nationals, landlords and interested citizens. Hosted at the Museum of Science and Industry, the conference aimed to mix past accomplishments with potential future ones. The workshops encouraged everyone to get involved and share their views, whilst strategically placed information boards reminded us all of actions Manchester had already put in place.

The day ended with an inspiring speech from Mr Pekka Sauri, the Deputy Mayor of Helsinki who outlined the actions they had taken to reduce carbon emissions and enhance the environment in their city. Using a combined heat and power (CHP) district heating system, the city was able to reduce its carbon emissions by 40%. The system also works to provide cooling in the summer.

Manchester aims to become Britain’s greenest city, a charge which all attendees seemed to believe possible. Enthusiasm is obviously not in short supply – now the city needs to turn this into collaborative, forward thinking, and importantly, direct action. Phlorum actively support this and suggest attacking the carbon intensive sources first, combining the improvement and increase of public transport with a refurbishment program for the most inefficient building stock. The action starts… now!

WRAP - Halving Waste to Landfill

Leading environmental consultancy Phlorum Ltd has signed up to the WRAP’s (Waste & Resources Action Programme) Halving Waste to Landfill Commitment Construction Commitments: Halving Waste to Landfill. With significant parties involved in this commitment (including the Environment Agency); Phlorum is pleased to be amongst one of the first environmental consultancies to sign-up.

Halving Waste to Landfill has been widely embraced by the construction sector. Since its inception in October 2008, companies that have been closely involved with the programme have witnessed significant improvements in the re-use, recycling and reduction of construction, demolition and excavation waste arisings.

Signing up to the commitment builds upon Phlorum’s long-term services for sustainable building development practices. Involvement with WRAP’s commitment enhances Phlorum’s recent development (in collaboration with the University of Brighton) of a whole-life carbon foot-printing design tool. The tool estimates and makes recommendations to minimise embodied carbon. The tool can model the carbon emissions associated with a home over its whole lifetime; in construction, operation, and decommission.

John Holland, Key Account Manager Construction at WRAP commented:

“WRAP is delighted Phlorum have signed up to Halving Waste to Landfill. There are real cost savings to be made on a range of development projects by reducing the quantity of wastes being generated.

Paul Beckett, Director of Phlorum said:

“We already work for a lot of the companies that have signed-up to Halving Waste to Landfill and it makes enormous sense for Phlorum to align itself closely with the sustainable aims of our clients. Increasingly, these clients are looking for us to project manage part of the development process. As part of this responsibility we need to keep their waste disposal costs to a minimum. I think it’s great that the industry has really pulled together around this commitment to drive sustainability and save money in the process”.

Embodied carbon in case-study dwelling

Phlorum has been busy assessing a range of building developments using our whole-life carbon footprinting design tool (PhloCO₂). The tool has been developed in association with the University of Brighton, and one aspect of its output is the calculation of embodied carbon within a project, making recommendations for quantifying and acting on potential savings.

An embodied carbon assessment was carried out on a 4-bed house to be built in Brighton, designed by Landivar Architects. The dwelling is to achieve Code for Sustainable Homes Level 4, ensuring it will emit 44% less CO₂ in operation than if built to 2006 Building Regulations. The tool revealed that embodied carbon within the dwelling’s initial design equalled 98 tonnes. By incorporating the tool’s suggestions of alternative, environmentally friendly materials (increased use of timber, and waste additives in concrete, for example), this could be reduced to 51 tonnes.

If all materials were locally sourced (i.e. within 20 miles), CO₂ emissions embodied within transportation of materials would be nearly 2.5 tonnes. If materials were sourced within the region (i.e. average distance of 50 miles), this figure would be 6.5 tonnes, and if materials were sourced nationally (i.e. average distance of 200 miles), embodied emissions would be 36 tonnes.

If the property’s space heating and hot water demand was satisfied using natural gas, carbon emissions would total 6 tonnes a year, or 618 tonnes over a 100 year lifespan. If the demand was satisfied using biomass, and solar thermal and PV panels were installed on the roof, annual emissions would be 1.8 tonnes/year, or 177 tonnes over a 100 year lifespan (based on SAP 2005 emissions factors).

The model is the first developed to be used at the design stage, and will aid designers in understanding the environmental implications of their material specification. Uniquely, the model quantifies the carbon savings in enhanced specification, and can help in designing a whole-life, or ‘true’ zero-carbon home.