Some time since yesterday afternoon, a magical stone balancer has been in action in Salem.
Balancing stones and other spring like things
Reply
Author Archives: jenny
Hebden Bridge new sustainable houses
Gallery
This gallery contains 6 photos.
The new Pennine 2000 sustainable houses in Foster Lane, Hebden Bridge (being built to Code for Sustainable Homes levels 5 & 4, which means they’ll be quite low carbon to run and will also be ecologically friendly in terms of … Continue reading
Aviation lobbyists aiming for third runway at Heathrow – again
Despite the fact that London is the best-connected city in the world, aviation industry lobbyists have been putting about the story that unless the government decides to change its mind and allow a third runway at Heathrow, the UK will be left behind in the global economic scramble.
Finance is king
This is a clip of Nick Dearden, director of the Jubilee Debt Campaign, speaking about the financialisation of everything at the conference on An economy for the 99% in Manchester the other weekend.
For instance, although he doesn’t mention the “green economy”, plans to cost “ecosystem services” is a move that brings everything that keeps the planet alive within the realm of finance and financial services.
Continue reading
Defra plans to weaken regulation of gangmasters
In what looks like bad news for agency workers on farms, Defra is looking at ways to reduce the powers of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority, which exists to prevent the worst abuses of casual farm workers and construction workers.
This is part of the ConDems’ recently-announced plans to weaken a variety of environmental and other protective laws.
Continue reading
Going places
Motor Vehicle Sundown is an audio piece by Andy Field for two people stuck in a car in a traffic jam, that describes the dream drive through rolling fields and beautiful country….
Zero carbon retrofit of Victorian terrace house
This is an amazing looking retrofit to zero carbon standard of a Victorian terrace house in Birmingham
A budget for fossil fuel industries
The Touchstone blog reports that George Osborne has issued a budget for gas and oil.
The budget gives over £3bn tax breaks for gas and oil exploration off the Shetland islands, and includes a strategy to secure investment in new gas-fuelled power stations.
This ties in with plans that the Energy Secretary, Ed Davey, let slip last Saturday afternoon, says the Touchstone blog. These are “plans to boost investment in gas-fired power stations that will allow them to emit high levels of CO2 until 2045. Davey said that the emissions standard for gas powered stations would be 450 grammes of carbon dioxide emitted for every kilowatt hour of electricity generated. This is over 4 times the 2030 level recommended by the independent committee on climate change. He hopes for legislation in the next Session of Parliament.”
Minus any support for investment in renewable energy.
Plus a promise to scrap or simplify the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) which is due to cost service employers like Tesco £9 a tonne of CO2 from next April.
Liberate Tate – new audio tours and installations
Anyone visiting the Tate museums in London might want to check out Liberate Tate’s new sound art/ audio tours that refigure the collections in the light of BP sponsorship of the Tate. The Tate Modern audio tour has been created by two guys, one of whom works at ClimateRadio. The audio tours and installations will be available for download from 5pm 22nd March.
BP protest at Tate_picture from Platform website
Free carbon calculator for building industry
The Environment Agency has a free downloadable carbon calculator for the construction industry.
The Environment Agency says “This tool helps highlight where big carbon savings on specific construction projects can be made. It can also be used to calculate your total carbon footprint from construction and help reduce it.”
Using the carbon calculator has helped construction projects save hundreds of tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2). For example, the Radcot Weir construction saved round 600 tonnes of CO2, through using a replacement for concrete, re-using old material and avoiding waste. There are case studies of construction projects that have used the carbon calculator on the Environment Agency website.