Thu 3 Jul 2008
Roman holiday
I would like to say it is an honour and privilege to fill the void left by my cousin Secret Squirrel this month, bringing my e-column at showhouse.co.uk to the printed page, but it is not. Squirrel is on holiday, chalking up 20,000 air miles and leaving his carbon paw print all over the planet. He represents all that is profligate about our throwaway society in a life decided to profit and pleasure. Shame on him.Clare's carbon comfort
Poor old Barratt. Like all the big boys they are having a wretched time of it, but who would have thought Britain's highest profile volume builder, while seeing business suffer, would be basking in green glory as an eco-champion? Their zero carbon home at the BRE Innovation Park at Watford hits level 6 on the Code for Sustainable Homes with its aircrete panels, high thermal mass and photovoltaic cells. Barratt boss Mark Clare may have taken over the reins from David Pretty just as golden cup became poisoned chalice, but he can take solace in being chairman of the UK Green Building Council's task group on zero carbon.
The search to define me goes on, with housebuilders warning that up of 80 per cent of new developments will not be able to meet the eco-objectives solely through on or near-site renewable energy. Meanwhile Karl Whiteman at Berkeley says transport links remains the key with around 90 per cent of their sites within 500 metres of a public transport node.
Panda to statistics
According to the WWF, homes are responsible for almost 30 per cent of the UK's carbon emissions and 22 per cent of our total ecological footprint. Where the World Wrestling Federation gets its stats from I do not know. I hope, unlike the wrestling, they are not made up.
Green knickers
My superhero outfit is naturally made of eco-fabric. Indeed my old pal Superman, after a green makeover, now wears 'eco lingerie.' You - well the females among you as well as a few industry males who shall remain nameless - can, for example, now buy 'seductive chocolate hemp and silk ribbon tie side knickers'. £29 from Enamore since you ask. Hemp naturally does not need pesticides to help it grow. Alternatively you can plump for black bamboo knickers, which to touch - steady - feel like cashmere. Bamboo, unlike cotton, only needs natural rainwater, as opposed to cotton which requires gallons of the stuff. Of course, the true eco-warrior goes commando.Solar panellist
He might have been plugging his solar hot water system, but Keith Brennan, head of sustainability at VELUX, talks a lot of sense. Solar water heating is apparently the most cost efficient and easiest to install of all the eco-technologies, beating off the challenges from photovoltaic and wind turbines, among others. "Housebuilders are risk averse and the last thing they need in the current housing climate is to be selling homes with uncertain, untried and untested products," said Brennan. This is exactly why builders feel so put upon - guinea pigs writing out large speculative cheques made out to the environmental trough and yet not even allowed to buy their basic raw material, land, without lengthy and costly permissions. It is now officially time to feel sorry for them.
Knight of the tiles
Congratulations to What House? Awards sponsor Johnson Tiles, which featured in The Sunday Times Green List, recognising the 50 Best Green Companies in the UK, measuring environmental performance. Berkeley Homes was also in the top 50, along with construction giant Carillion and Skanska UK. Johnson Tiles allegedly had a long lunch recently, hosted by my disreputable cousin Squirrel, where tapas and Rioja were consumed on an epic scale in a Spanish restaurant. Fortunately Johnson Tiles sales director Ian Crowther and Andrew Adam, the marketing services manager, insisted the bottles were recycled, thus ensuring the leading ceramic tile manufacturer's reputation for environmental rectitude was not compromised.
Secret Squirrel is on holiday and returns next month. Zero Carbon writes for showhouse.co.uk. Got a green issue? Or simply browned off? Email Zero Carbon.
Posted by Show House
in Andrew Adam, Barratt Homes, Berkeley Homes, Carillion, Ian Crowther, Johnson Tiles, Karl Whiteman, Keith Brennan, Skanska UK, The Zero Carbon Column, UK Green Building Council, Velux on Thu 3 Jul 2008