zero-carbon suburb in London ?

[drbubb]

Mr Livingstone has plans to build a zero-carbon suburb in London , in conjunction with Arup, a British engineering firm that is helping to design Dongtan. The project, in an old industrial area in east London , would be much smaller than Dongtan. But Mr Livingstone has said his plan would show that it is “affordable and achievable to make all major new developments low-carbon.”

 

 

...more: http://www.greenenergyinvestors.com/index.php?showtopic=809

 

# # # # #

 

Is it Bedzed??

========

 

Bedzed is the brainchild of Bill Dunster, an architect interested in sustainable solutions to social housing issues. Dunster first tried out many of his ideas, particularly natural ventilation, at Hope House, his family home and architectural practice. He also thought about how to reduce the environmental impacts of much of our modern day-to-day living. From this the practice started to expand the concept. Hope House became the theoretical HopeTown, with the same principles informing the upgrade from single building to whole community context. These have now been applied to the South London site. Core elements which are built into the south-facing Beddington site include light and shade zones, a combination of innovative renewables, including superinsulation, wind-cowl ventilation, and passive solar gain from thermally massive walls and floors.

 

Dunster calls part of what is being promoted ‘Solar Urbanism’, where people "have the right to sunlight" and buildings that allow energy autonomy rather than depend on centralized energy sources. There are north-facing light-wells in all the living spaces which bring welcome daylight, whilst the workspaces have also been positioned within the north-sided shade-zones, since these are also the least cultivable parts of the buildings. Taken together, these elegant design solutions use one-tenth the normally-required energy consumption, all within a remarkable 25% of the usual density-area for the equivalent level of amenities, quite enough for the 240 residents and 200 people working in the village. This is striking when it is considered that urban areas cover nearly 11% of the uk’s geographic landmass. It is even more striking when it is recognized that London, with 12% of the country’s population, presently requires an equivalent amount of the whole of the uk landmass for its various needs. It is a fully-fledged systemic environmental design, where, rather than the usual ad hoc bolt-on conventions, the whole design is integrated to minimize environmental impact and optimize energy reductions through an all-embracing approach.

 

THE CORE OF Dunster’s interests have long been focussed on practical ways in which the impact of urban living on its environmental surroundings can be lessened, radically reducing the ecological footprint on the surrounding region

 

...more : http://www.resurgence.org/resurgence/issue...wenstein213.htm

 

= = = = =

LINKS:

Plans for a zero-carbon city : http://www.opendemocracy.net/forums/thread...29&tstart=0

[drbubb]

Mayor will fail carbon test

 

The Mayor of London will not even come close to hitting his key 2010 target for zero carbon development in the capital. Ken Livingstone has admitted that the London Development Agency (LDA) is a long way off delivering even a single zero carbon development, following pressure from the green party. It is almost two years since the mayor promised to back a series of flagship schemes across the city, as part of the Energy Strategy for London.

 

@: http://www.nbsgreenconstruction.com/Archive/RoundUp121.asp

 

===

 

lots of relevant news on that site, btw:

 

http://www.nbsgreenconstruction.com/

 

this, for example:

 

Eco Conference 2006

A three-way conference and exhibition has been launched to drive forward environmental issues concerning good architectural design and building methods - all focused on sustainability. Ecobuild, Futurebuild and Regenex will share the spotlight at Earls Court in 2006.

 

Ecobuild 2006 is a conference and exhibition dedicated to sustainable design and construction products and services.

 

Futurebuild 2006 is a conference and exhibition dedicated to the commercial, construction and design aspects of Modern Methods of Construction when applied to housing, healthcare, education and commercial applications.

 

Regenex 2006 is a new conference and exhibition dedicated to promoting and developing the business of urban regeneration and its critical role in the creation of Sustainable Communities.

 

Tuesday 21st - Thursday 23rd February 2006. Earls Court 2, London.

Contact: International Business Events Limited - 020 8822 6918, or for more information and to book places online visit the conference websites:

 

Ecobuild 2006 - http://www.ecobuild.co.uk

 

Futurebuild 2006 - http://www.futurebuild.co.uk

 

Regenex 2006 - http://www.regenex.co.uk.

 

... let's hope they run them again in 2007

[Cletus VanDamme]

Is it Bedzed??

========

Taken together, these elegant design solutions use one-tenth the normally-required energy consumption, all within a remarkable 25% of the usual density-area for the equivalent level of amenities, quite enough for the 240 residents and 200 people working in the village.

 

THE CORE OF Dunster’s interests have long been focussed on practical ways in which the impact of urban living on its environmental surroundings can be lessened, radically reducing the ecological footprint on the surrounding region

= = = = =

 

Hey Bubb, you dismissed BedZed a while back!

 

http://www.greenenergyinvestors.com/index....dpost&p=525

 

My only problem with BedZed is that it's somewhere in the Croydon outback. What we need is BedZed somewhere in central London!

[drbubb]

bedzed?

 

the truth is...

i do not know enough about it, to dismiss it or promote it

 

the first look didnt excite me asa much as the large vision of dongtan.

maybe if i knew more...

[Billy Shears]

I'm a bit suspicious of some of these "environmental" developments. Sometimes, as in Leicester calling itself Europe's first "environmental" city, they seem to do just a few fairly inconsequential things and then pat themselves on the back while ignoring larger problems. I dare anyone to see how orange the sky in Leicester is at night and tell me with a straight face that this isn't a flagrant waste of energy. Is the new London suburb likely to be better, or is it just a few gimmicks?

 

Billy Shears

[chas and dave]

I remember reading Dr Bubbs neg comment on BedZed and was a little surprised as I have been following BioRegional and BedZed's activites for a few years in London.

I've also worked with the London Development Agency on regen programmes, and been on a regen committee for Lower Lea Valley, which is recognised as a deprived European area and so gets additional European resources for regen. My time was completely wasted in this work, as the individuals I met lack knowledge, commitment and the quality of their work was not assessed. The chairman guiding £100,000s of pounds grant was never elected by the committee, but a friend of Urban Futures, who (dis)organised matters. This fact was ignored by the London Assembly.

 

The LDA, Ken Livimgstone, Local government, Uk Government, Environment Agency do not insist on basic best practice when regenerating and/or during new builds. My point is that in the real world, sustainable development seems still to be limited to the work of NGOs and individuals, of which Bioregional and BedZed have been to the fore (see also growing crops on roofs - eco-roofs). Considering the heat and flood problems in London (along with increasing global environmental problems), why are Ken and friends planing to build on more floodplains, and why do vaste areas get regenerated with unsustainable installations - they are still going up everywhere.

 

Eco-roofing, passive heating and cooling, grey water recycling etc - these are not required.

During the summer, air-conditioning unit sales exploded , and I listened to radio items about terribly designed new hospitals and old peoples' homes, where patient health is put at risk by temperatues in excess of 35'C.

 

There is also the issue of our old housing stock, with its embedded energy, where solutions need to be found quickly for passive cooling and energy conservation. Unfortunatley the likes of the LDA have poor records for bringing about sustainable development.

 

All these bodies know how to publish a good leaflet though.

 

Enough.

[drbubb]

I'm moving this thread to the Utopias section, where it might get noticed