The UK Hemp Expo

Well if you know anything about hemp, then you know of its incredible properties, and mutltitude of uses. This is one of the most sustainable crops available, and if laws were relaxed a little could do so much more to help with current environmental issues. Anyway, the biggest UK exhibition is almost upon us:

5th, 6th and 7th of May 2007, at the Telford International Centre.

The UK's biggest and best hemp and accessories exhibition.

Featuring the latest and greatest in new inventions, clothing, bags, food, books, alternative therapies, healing, music, famous names and famous faces, seminars, new seed strains, vaporisers and much, much more.

Exhibitors, inventors, wholesalers and retailers will be coming from all over the world to show the best in hemp and accessories. Everything you could ever need to will be under one roof, including top advice from some of this planets experts.

Tickets are only £5.00 each and can be pre-booked from the website (click on the banner below).

What's wrong with this picture.

If you have flash installed then take a look at this website, now I understand the sentiment, but using something that does possibly
3 miles to the gallon to promote it!

Does this seem strange to you, or is it just me? That is probably one of the most environmentally 'un-friendly' vehicles I know of, and in their own words to: 'raise awareness of environmental issues'! Can you say the word 'irony' Honda?

Nuclear Plans Ruled Unlawful

The UK Government recently announced their support for continued nuclear development as the way forward for 'greener' energy, including the building of more power stations. This was after 'consultation' (I use that word loosely!) with the appropriate bodies, and looking at relevent 'facts' and figures etc.

This descision was opposed by many groups, including Greenpeace who 
challenged the descision in court and got it overturned.

Sarah North, head of the Greenpeace nuclear campaign, said:

"The government's so-called consultation on nuclear power was obviously a sham,
and we're pleased that the judge has agreed with us."

"The government completely failed to consult adequately and even kept relevant documents to themselves. They've now been forced back to the drawing board to
conduct a proper and lengthy review."

Result! 

Read more here.

Green TV

green.tv is the first website to bring together films from a whole range of environmental organisations and independent filmmakers and make them available to anyone anywhere.

You'll need a broadband connection to take full advantage of the green.tv website, but if you do have, then it is well worth a visit.

It is currently still in beta, but the film quality is excellent and the information invaluable.

If you want to keep abreast of the environmental news worldwide, and prefer to 'watch' instead of read, then this site is really is the business.

UK company wins award

Press release

Solarcentury's integrated solar photovoltaic tile, C21e wins the coveted 'Best Sustainable Product Award' at Ireland's Construct Building Exhibition.

Last week solarcentury won Best Sustainable Product Award for their C21e solarelectric fully integrated roofing tile at Construct, Northern Ireland's major construction show. Following Secretary of State, Peter Hain's recent
announcementof £59 million for the promotion of renewable energy in Northern
Ireland, this product's accolade will provide the construction market with an
opportunity to embrace Northern Ireland's renewables revolution without
compromising the aesthetics of their development.

This latest award builds on a host of accolades for C21e including Best Exterior Product atInterbuild 2004 and Building Magazine's award for Innovation in their2005 sustainability awards.

C21e is the most efficient (21.5%), easy to install and cost effective solar tile on the market. The latest iteration of the C21e tile blends unnoticeably withconventional concrete tiles. solarcentury's advanced C21e design has been developed with aesthetics and efficiency as the primary concern. The cells are all black incolour with electronic contacts positioned behind a black tedlar backing. This completely eliminates solar reflection, maximising energy production within the given tile area, thereby requiring less than 10 square metres of C21e to generate a quarter of an average 3 bedroom homes electricity requirements. The application of these discrete solar photovoltaic tiles provides all the benefits of a 'bolt-on' solar systems, used in eco-home schemes such as BedZED, without affecting the 'rooflines' or appearance of the development.

Major housing developers including St James and Barratts are now testing
this new technology on their show houses as part of their drive to deliver more
sustainable homes.

Policies such as The Merton Rule (see http://www.themertonrule.org/) are encouraging a massive uptake in renewable technology as over 80 councils are in the process of implementing pro-renewable planning guidelines.

The thermal version of solarcentury's C21 tile (C21t) will make it's debut at Interbuild 2006 (April 23-27th 2006) providing a fully integrated 'Complete SolarRoofTM'. The combination of the two tiles (C21e & C21t) will deliver renewably generated heat and electricity to homeowners at a time when rising fuel prices are causing major panic in the energy industry.

The C21 product range 'future proofs' a home against such rises by fixing the prices that householders will pay for fuel over the 50 year lifetime of the product.

Homebuilding & Renovating Show

The Homebuilding and Renovating Show is being held at the National Exhibition Center (NEC), from the 2nd to the 5th March 2006, and includes The Green Village.

In the words of the shows organisers:

"Make your ultimate dream home a reality now. Whether you are building a home from scratch, extending or improving your existing home or taking on a conversion or renovation development - The National Homebuilding & Renovating Show is the perfect place to source the right products, services and advice you’ll need to get your project underway!"

The reason for posting this event is that there are two features that make this event worthy of note - as well as the usual plotfinder
stands, and other useful resources, the one is the range of seminars, which will surely interest anyone thinking or planning to build their
own eco-friendly home, some examples of which are below:

• A beginner’s guide to building your dream home


• Finding and assessing land and renovation opportunities


• Modern heating plumbing and ventilation/climate control


• How to design your dream home - the fundamentals of good house design


• A guide to ecological home design and sustainable construction

The other thing that stood out about this exhibition is an area within the main exhibition called The Green Village:

"Discover how you can create a sustainable and eco-friendly home. See over 30 companies representing eco-friendly and fair traded products and services such as: solar heating, alternative heating systems, wood burning stoves, timber log frame, natural paints, insulation, thatching, recycled materials, UFH, rainwater systems, waste systems, windows, skylights, books and many more. For anyone renovating or building a new home, the Green Village will provide you with all your ecological building solutions."

So, get yourself off to the Homebuilding and Renovating Show at the NEC, Birmingham (UK) and see if there is anything in the Green Village, that you can utilise in your own home to make a more sustainable and/or greener future for yourself - or go the whole hog and build something from scratch!

Tickets are £8.00 each and can be booked in advance from the NEC box office.

Building for a Future

Building for a Future (Winter 2005/6 Edition) is a quarterly magazine that provides information to help you create healthy and ecological homes and buildings, or as the magazine states on its cover, it's:

"the independent journal for 'green building' professionals and
enthusiasts".

I have always had a 'green' outlook and understanding, yet am relatively new to much of this applied specifically to homes and buildings, so this publication was quite an eye opener for me.

First Impressions

The review copy of the magazine arrived in a large brown envelope - but I am assured that the regular subscriptions are mailed wrapped in recycled content film. The publication itself had a heavy matt full colour cover, containing pages of equal quality on a lighter medium, and yes, it is printed on 100% recycled paper by Cambrian Printers - who themselves seem to have a very ethical approach to their trade which is reassuring.

Although the information within would be your reason for acquiring Building for a Future, it's presentation, manufacture and composition are always of interest to me, as this is where some organisations fall over with their use of new paper stocks or choice of packaging.

I can gladly say that Building for a Future came through as a shining light in this regard, with the 'green' attitude maintained throughout. This demonstrates to me a high degree of care and belief in their subject matter, right down to the attention paid to its overall production.

Contents

Obviously, the real interest is the contents, and this too does not disappoint. On first glance I was intrigued by the word 'interactive' on the cover, half expecting a CD ROM or similar to drop from its pages, but on closer inspection the term 'interactive' refers to the fact that every article has a corresponding thread on the Building for a Future forum. This is a fantastic idea, and one that I hadn't encountered before. It gives the readers the opportunity to give feedback to the authors of the various articles, or perhaps ask questions and for the authors to respond. This makes it truly interactive, and in a very useful way.

As stated above, I am reviewing the Winter 2005/6 edition here and the articles themselves cover quite a broad spectrum including:

• Timber build at the Eco Project
• Rooftop wind energy
• Continued existence of asbestos in our homes
• Converting tower blocks to sustainable energy
• Greener Plumbing
• Passivhaus system from Germany
  

There is much more besides, and each subject is given sufficient space to allow for a reasonably in depth analysis or review. I like this, as it means the topics aren't just skimmed over or given a fleeting glance, but have the room to give more information, images, facts, statistics, graphs and illustrations where they apply.

Accompanying the articles within Building For A Future are the website addresses of the various projects or organisations where they are available, giving you the opportunity to further explore or research any particular projects or topics that interest you.

A few of the articles in this edition were accompanied by various performance figures and accompanying graphs or statistics, which in a few cases were over my head. But it does go to show the depth of the magazine, and the scope which it covers. It is very suitable to for a professional in this field, but contained more than enough to interest and teach the casual observer or keen amateur alike. I'd say that I fall into the amateur enthusiast category, but I still thoroughly enjoyed reading it, coming away with a lot of useful and worthwhile information.

I did notice when reading through this issues forum postings, that the article Beware of the Blanket Approach quoted some insulation depths/thicknesses that were questioned by a reader. The author of the piece quickly replied with the fact that this was indeed an error and listed the correct values. This really shows the power and the value of the 'interactive' facet of this magazine. It gives the rare opportunity to question the author, to correct mistakes (which happen to us all on occasion), and to add of further information or links should the need arise - even after it has gone to press! This really adds value to the publication.

Another feature of the website, is being able to purchase back issues of the magazine from Autumn 2000 - as long as an issue still has copies remaining. If not, then no need to worry as you are able to download back issues of the magazine in PDF format (Adobe acrobat reader required). If you really want a taster of what this magazine has to offer, then download a back issue.

The magazine has its fair share of advertisements - as have all magazines, but not in such a way as to degrade or detract from its excellent content. All of the ads are related to the topic of the magazine, so many people will find them useful when the time comes to source materials, services, or contractors.

Conclusion

Overall, I must say it was a pleasure to read Building For A Future - it was clear and beautifully produced, had good editorial, nice imagery, not to mention informative with great web support.

Leading by Example?

David Cameron the new Conservative Party leader has commissioned eco-architect Alex Michaelis to give his new property in Notting Hill, London, an environmental makeover.

The re-design will include photovoltaic panels, solar water heating, additional insulation, rainwater and grey water harvesting, as well as a wind turbine and more efficient glass to be fitted.

This isn't a promotion for any political party, nor an indicator of my own political leanings, just a few thoughts about those that are supposed to be leading us here in the UK.

That aside, I think this is a very positive and encouraging move by David Cameron (such as often riding his bicycle to the House of Commons) which can only be a good thing. Obviously, not all people can afford to have these devices retro-fitted to their properties, but with a prominent politician leading the way, then surely more people will follow which will slowly bring the price of such installations down to a more acceptable level. Click on the title for more information.

What I do find quite refreshing is that instead of our polititions sitting back and telling us what to do, while sitting back in their very large houses or gas guzzling cars (2 jags Prescott?) and doing nothing, is that David Cameron is actually just getting on with it .. I hope this isn't just some kind of PR stunt and that it is a real act of concience.

The Woodland Trust

Happy New Year!

I hope you're all enjoying a happy and enjoyable holiday season.

It'll soon be time to take down those christmas cards and decorations, but what will YOU do with your old cards?

The Woodland Trust is an organisation dedicated to saving our UK woodlands and ancient trees. They are again running a scheme to collect and recycle all our old Christmas cards. Last year, they collected 58 million old cards, which is equal to about 1150 tonnes of rubbish, and approximately 19000 trees saved.

This year they hope to collect 60 million cards before the campaign ends on January 31st 2006.

You can take your cards to any high street branch of W.H.Smith, or to larger branches of Tesco, which means it shouldn't be too hard to find a branch near to you whereever you live.

This isn't generally the type of thing I post on this site, but for such a worthwhile cause I thought I'd let you all know. So, help them achieve this years target, recycle those old cards and save our ancient woodlands.

Christmas Shopping Time

Christmas can be a tough when you have to decide what to buy for that 'someone special' in your life. So, I have compiled a short list of some green and eco-friendly UK sites that may well be of interest or provide inspiration. This list is by no means comprehensive, just a taster of what is available.

Green Warehouse - A good selection, including a good choice of personal hygeine products.

The Green Shop - A massive array of sustainable and eco-friendly products.

Nigels Eco-store - Eco or environmentally-friendly stuff .. that doesn't cost the earth!

Alana Ecology - Mostly products for animal conservation - how about a bird table!

Origohome - Soft furnishings and other environmentally friendly organic and natural materials.

Green Building Store - Selection of natural paints and other building materials.

Select Solar - All things solar, from 12v chargers to gifts and gadgets.

The Bin Company - Bio degradable bags, compostable carrier bags and other waste solutions.

Spirit of Nature - Organic Clothing and Cosmetics.

Time To Mow The Roof?

From a green perspective a grass roof has many benefits, including insulation, sound proofing, and roof durability. CAT Publications produce a DIY Tipsheet that gives;
'A detailed DIY guide, with materials list and pros and cons'. At only (GBP) £0.50 it is a bargain to boot!

So, if you've ever wondered how to tackle such a project on an existing building, or are planning a build from scratch, then this tip sheet should be able to answer most of your questions aswell as explain the methods involved.

CAT (Center for Alternative Technology) have many other tip or fact sheets aswell as educational booklets at very reasonable prices for sale on their site, so go and take a look, and see what they have to offer.

How about an alternative to grass for covering a roof? A UK based company does just that for garden buildings and sheds here.

I See The Light!

This time of year I start to notice the increasing number of properties being dressed for Christmas. Is it really necessary to illuminate the whole street for a month or more? Especially when we should all be more aware of our own energy consumption and the willful wastage of fossil fuels and increased CO2 emissions (greenhouse gases).

Consider using decorative LED lights which are very energy efficient compared to the traditional mini bulb type, as Lights4fun state:
LED lights ...

• Last up to ten times longer than a standard bulb - up to 100,000 hours!


• They are incredibly bright ( 3 x times brighter than standard bulbs) 3000 mcds.


• They use on average 80% less power than standard bulbs - and are therefore environmentally friendly.


• They are very durable and hardy - no filament or glass to break.


• The bulbs generate NO HEAT and thus are very safe! They are IDEAL for Christmas decorations around trees or other fabrics - where normal bulbs could cause a danger.


• Would pay for themselves in one year of constant use!
  

You should also be using energy efficient bulbs around your house wherever it is possible, as these produce less heat and also last many hours more than traditional bulbs.

Enjoy your Christmas by all means, but refrain from going over the top. I'm sure the real Christmas story didn't include a glowing sleigh with four 6 foot illuminated reindeer surrounded by several thousand coloured light bulbs!

I'm not a 'bah humbug' kind of person, I love Christmas and so does my partner and daughters it's a fantastic time. But I do wonder about the excessive use of some illuminated decorations you often see at this time of year. Perhaps it's a way for some people to get the attention that they crave, I don't know. But a little restraint can go a long way.

Merry Christmas and best wishes for the season to all.