Helping communities to save energy (report)

 Smart Communities: Working together to save energy?

Smart Communities was a three and a half year 'behaviour change' community energy project. In broad terms, the Smart Communities findings support the contemporary policy focus on demand-side action, community energy and energy consumption feedback. At the same time, the project highlights the long term and challenging nature of these strategies, and the implications of this for the funding of demand-side community energy. The findings emphasis a lack of 'energy know-how' among householders as a key constraint on change, and identifies ways in which more widespread know-how might be developed. The project also emphasises the benefits of action on energy within a primary school, and the ways in which this prompts engagement with energy in the home. 

Introduction to urban wildlife gardening (online)

Creating a Healthy Apartment or Townhouse

Even if you live in an apartment, townhouse, or condominium development without much space for landscaping, the right mix of ingredients on a balcony, patio, terrace, or rooftop can be an oasis that provides food and rest for wildlife in an urban concrete desert. Coordinated efforts by neighbors can transform an entire multi-unit building or complex into a thriving urban habitat that is part of a larger living landscape. This leaflet shows you how.

Net zero energy building (book)

The New Net Zero Leading-Edge Design and Construction of Homes and Buildings for a Renewable Energy Future

The New Net Zero Leading-Edge Design and Construction of Homes and Buildings for a Renewable Energy Future - See more at: http://www.chelseagreen.com/bookstore/item/the_new_net_zero:hardcover#sthash.XU2d0nim.dpuf

The new threshold for green building is not just low energy, it’s net-zero energy. In The New Net Zero, sustainable architect Bill Maclay charts the path for designers and builders interested in exploring green design’s new frontier.
Designers and builders will find a wealth of state-of-the-art information on such considerations as:

• air, water, and vapor barriers;
• embodied energy;
• residential and commercial net- zero standards;
• monitoring and commissioning;
• insulation options;
• costs;
• and more.
  

The comprehensive overview is accompanied by several case studies, which include institutional buildings, commercial projects, and residences. Both new-building and renovation projects are covered in detail.

The New Net Zero Leading-Edge Design and Construction of Homes and Buildings for a Renewable Energy Future - See more at: http://www.chelseagreen.com/bookstore/item/the_new_net_zero:hardcover#sthash.XU2d0nim.dpuf

A critique of eco-cities (#journal)

Eco-urbanism and the Eco-city, or, Denying the Right to the City?

This paper critically analyses the construction of eco-cities as technological fixes to concerns over climate change, Peak Oil, and other scenarios in the transition towards “green capitalism”. It argues for a critical engagement with new-build eco-city projects, first by highlighting the inequalities which mean that eco-cities will not benefit those who will be most impacted by climate change. Second, the paper investigates the foundation of eco-city projects on notions of crisis and scarcity. Third, there is a need to critically interrogate the mechanisms through which new eco-cities are built, including the land market, reclamation, dispossession and “green grabbing”. Lastly, a sustained focus is needed on workers geographies in and around these “emerald cities”, especially the temporary settlements housing the millions of workers who move from one new project to another.

The latest news on climate change (website)

Responding to Climate Change

A great site that carries all the latest news on climate change politics, policy and science from around the world. Dozens of articles, with a good mixture of factual reporting and opinion stating, plus headlines and research reports.

Green tenants in the private rented sector (#journal)

Green tenants: practicing a sustainability ethics for the rental housing sector

The shift towards social, government and corporate ethics which value environmental sustainability has clearly embraced householders. However, the private rental sector has yet to participate in this shift to an ethics of sustainability. Yet even on such otherwise arid ground, a sustainability ethic is being practiced by green tenants. These activities offer both glimpses of a greening rental housing sector, and a clearer picture of the areas where work remains to be done. It is suggested that these activities are a form of care for the world, similar to Maria Puig de la Bellacasa's practice-based ethics exemplified in the permaculture movement. The stories of the tenants interviewed  also point the way to other changes needed to enable a practice-based sustainability ethic to flourish across the rental housing sector.