Ecobuild claims to be the world’s biggest event for sustainable design, construction and the built environment – although that claim doesn’t sound very ‘eco’. Bigger? I though Small is Beautiful. Anyway…

Ecobuild show Excel London 2012 solar display

This show is focussing on “new eco thinking and challenging designs“. Although Eco is still outside the mainstream. New Building Regulations are very good for insul;ation – which is the main factor for an eco home. Other things tend to be a bit expensive, so stay in the luxury or niche market. Such as grey water recycling, sustainable materials (like hempcrete – hemp to make building blocks), straw, recycled materials, etc.

Ecobuild is at London’s ExCeL on Tuesday 20 – Thursday 22 March 2012. This is over in Canary Wharl to the east of LOndon, and is quite an interesting place, makes a change for Earl’s Court. Grand Designs is in ExCel, it is a very good venue for this sort of thing (vast consumer show).

Ecobuild show Excel London 2012 big crowds

So what’s on?

• more than 1,500 exhibitors – more! bigger! sustainable construction systems and products
• conference – with Sir John Beddington, Angela Brady, Greg Dyke, Monty Don, Stephen Bayley and others
• over 130 free seminars – these are promos by companies so be prepared, select with care
• many interactive displays which are fun – including Solar hub, Fabric first, Renewable heat and Natural, traditional and sustainable

Important
Before you go, make a list of what you want to do and see, or you will get swamped by the diversity and volume of things there.

To get a free ticket, register at:

Ecobuild 2012 at London ExCel tickets >

Where and When is it?

Tuesday 20 March 2012 10.00 – 17.00
Wednesday 21 March 10.00 – 18.00
Thursday 22 March 10.00 – 16.00

ExCeL London
One Western Gateway
Royal Victoria Dock
London
E16 1XL

See also our Building DIY pages on Green Building advice >

and

Building DIY pages on Solar power, solar thermal advice >

Eco Technologies Workshop – Retrofit Your Home – 10am – 5pm

95% – 99% of housing is old not new – so green and sustainable technology has to be added to OLD homes and office snot just glamorous new housing.

• solar panels
• solar thermal
• insulation – all types natural, synthetic
• costs – very important!
• effectiveness
• ease of installation
• project planning for maximum effect

Tickets from the Buildstore website >

Many seminars.
11.00 – 11.30 Eco Technologies – What’s Available?
12.00 – 12.30 New Tricks for Old Bricks
13.00 – 13.30 Question Time – All Experts
14.00 – 14.30 What To Install & Where To Start

See our Green DIY and building index advice >

And Solar technology index advice >

Small green roof

That time of year again, the Big Green Home Show in Swindon off the M4. Many exhibits, seminars, Expert Alley (Ask The Experts) where you can get answers to your home renovation questions.

Dates: Fri 29 to Sun 31 October 2010
Where:
The National Self Build & Renovation Centre, Swindon
Open from 9.30-17.00.

Car: M4 at junction 16, signposted Swindon West, Wootton Bassett. Down A3102, signposted Swindon, go left after 200metres.

Of course you should take public transport to Swindon centre then get out there on a Bus, which is easy.

Suitable for all DIY and professional builders, the exhibition centre is worth a visit if you have not been before – it is huge with many excellent permanent installations showing foundations, water recycling, walls, roof, even an old house being renovated.

Topics include:

Eco Technologies
Sustainable Building
Energy Efficiency
SAP Assessor & Code for Sustainable Homes
Environmental Buildings
Plot/Property Searching
Design, Planning & Building Regs
Building Control
Builders Merchants
Buying Materials
Planning
Mortgages & Finance
Insurance & Protection
Eco Project Management
Self Build
Building Work Guarantees

You can get tickets from here:

Big Green Home Show 2010 >

See also our Green DIY Building advice >

Biochar machine

Terra preta (“black earth” in Portuguese) is a sort of enriched soil, dark in color.

Biochar and Terra Preta was first ‘discovered’in the Amazon Basin, where it has been used for over 2000 years.

Local peasant and small farmers and caboclos (mixed race, European and Brazilian Amerindian) in the Amazonian basin.

Biochar is a type of charcoal made by pyrolysis of biomass.
Unlike charcoal it is not burnt for fuel.

Biochar is used as a soil enricher, and as a byproduct, stores carbon that would otherwise enter the atmosphere. Carbon is locked into the soil.

Ever increasing pollution is causing poisonous effects for life on earth. It’s also the reason for Ozone depletion and global warming. Biochar is a fine-grained charcoal made from biomass used mainly for agriculture purposes. It is incredibly helpful in reducing pollution and carbon dioxide effects.

Biochar has been used for over thousands of years and is now getting a lot of attention for its ability to lessen green house gases.

Benefits of Biochar

Biochar is used with soil compost in order to provide rich fertilizer allowing soil to store more carbon in it.
Directly stores carbon that stays in the soil for thousands of years
It helps plants and vegetables absorb more nutrients from the soil

• Lessens soil acidity and groundwater pollution
• Biochar speeds up the decaying process in soil
• Making biochar results in production of a byproduct called bio-fuel which can be a substitute of diesel containing very little amount of carbon dioxide in it.
• It helps soil retain its nutrients for a longer period of time and lessens need for irrigation.
• Biochar production requires very little or no oxygen and less emission of carbon dioxide.
• It provides solution for animal wastes.

Production of Biochar

Biochar is made with waste from plants and agriculture matter called biomass. It is produced through a process known as pyrolysis. A kiln or furnace which needs low or no oxygen to burn with, is filled with organic material like wood, grass, farmyard scraps, animal manure, crop remains and other agricultural waste.

Pyrolysis process starts with heating furnace at 700˚C approx and adding organic matter into it. This slowly burning process results in production of three products : one is biochar which has the ability to retain carbon and the other is syngas – which contains carbon monoxide and little amount of carbon dioxide in it and third is bio-fuel.

Biochar, along with byproducts, is then processed in a gasifier through the process of gasification. This produces more refined biochar and bio-fuel. Syngas obtained from gasifier acts as useful energy to power pyrolysis furnace. Most of the carbon produced in the burning process is locked inside biochar therefore there is very less chance of carbon emission in air.

To fight against global warming and harmful gases with simultaneous increase in productivity, biochar is really an economic and environment friendly means to produce nutrient rich fertilizer, equally acting as a trapper for poisonous gases so it must be produced on large scales and governments must emphasize and assist in its production.
(by our bio tech writer)

See also:

Green DIY building advice >

Energy microgeneration >

Wiki biochar >

We have a green and eco building background and now support nuclear as the alternative – more coal and gas – is so bad for the climate. The fears about storage of waste are misguided as in the future it may all be recyclable. And low level radiation is part of nature. People ignore coal because it is an old fashioned working class sort of energy source: nuclear is a sort of far out SF dangerous thing, mainly due to military use in WW2 and the cold war – if that had not happened (fantasy!) then nuclear power stations would be far more popular.

Chernobyl and Three Mile Island show how infrequently there are problems, and how small scale the fatalities are – compare to fatalities in coal mining, gas extraction, and transport, illness, etc. Also new designs are safer.

Getting off the elecricity grid is the aim as then central large scale plants can be reduced, or fewer new ones built.

Building a DIY reactor - this is about solar power from our book

With all this energy generation, adding more sources usually gets absorbe din the overall increase in eberhy consumption. Norway has added more wind farms, but they do not decrease energy use, just get added to conventional sources of power.

Building your own reactor may sound extreme, but only because people are scared of nuclear, which is irrational when compared to the dangers of say coal powered station, in mining, transport, pollution (illness) and carbon emmissions.

People are experimenting with low energy fusion reactors (Bussard reactors) using ionized hydrogen as well.

So if you fancy building a DIY reactor, get searching for plans, get some cash, and get building now!

See our DIY Building pages on microgenration of power using solar, water, biomass, and many other sources >

There is also the DIY Building article on renewable energy >

It is easy to join – just create an account by registering your basic details, then add articles with images, videos, text, and links.

There are many sections including

* Architecture & Design
* Building & Construction, Plant equipment, Tools, Lease, Hire & Buy
* Building Advice
* Green advice & Info
* Landscaping & Gardening

We also have sections for

* Photography
* Websites and Internet
* Vans, transport, plant
* Software for graphics, architecture etc
* Educational toys
* Other – which is anything you want like hobbies, essays.

This is brand new so we haven’t got any articles in there yet!

Eco show at Buildstore

Dave Hilton an eco expert is giving a talk, along with many others. This is at Buildstore exhibition centre at Swindon off M4 junction 16 >.

For a ticket see here >

See also our Building DIY green advice section >

and Solar section >

And Green roof, vertical gardening >

Also coming 2010:
Sat 10th April Eco Workshop – Sustainable Building Systems
26th – 30 April Self Build Course
15th – 16th May Affordable Self Build Weekend
Sat 12th June Eco Workshop – Sustainable Heat & Energy

Wood frame ready for insulation panels - phwoar!

Clever use of buzz words to get his message to the American people (and us, thanks to the internet).

Insulation is slightly erotic as it is a type of blanketing… if you find that sexy of course.

This phrase will wind its way into the consumer’s subconscious, such that if they are thinking of remodeling by painting or replacing a cupboard, they might instead recall “Energy Efficiency is sexy” and insulate instead.

Which is better for the environment as we all know! Climate change can be reduced by simple methods like home insulation, improved efficiency of cars and all machines.

Home improvement projects can be practical and save money rather than just updating the interior decoration fashions of your home.

This is very easy and cheap to do, unlike the newer high tech methods to reduce the greenhouse effect by removing – scrubbing – CO2 from the air, or change the weather with space umbrellas (I kid you not).

See our Building DIY insulation pages >

Also Building DIY natural insulation page >

And Building DIY sound insulation >

Timothy Wooi hydro car Penang Malaysia

There is a series of talks at the British Council, Penang, Malaysia.

The Lecture Series is organized by Global Leadership Consultants in collaboration with Asian Global Business, GeorgeTown College and HELP University College. They use the British Council, Penang rooms as they share the building.

This talk on 18 March 2010 was about easy green tips to save energy, save water, and help combat climate change. Timothy went through the carbon cycle then on to quick tips to save water and energy. He showed many of his home made gadgets such as a folding bicycle and a coffee heater.

More details of Timothy Wooi’s energy and water saving devices on the site later.

And GeorgeTown College Penang >

Also British Council Malaysia Penang >

British Coucncil building Penang Malaysia

British Council sign on building Penang Malaysia

Solar panels in a car park in Hull, UK (not quite FIT but whatever)

These proposals were set out a while back but we’ve been busy. The basic scheme is better than people expected with these figures:

A feed in tariff (FIT) allows home produced electricity from solar, wind, GSHP or water (etc) to compete on the grid, as national grid supplies are heavily subsidised.

Electricity is paid at a set rate. The new system pays for energy, whether you use it yourself or put it back into the grid.

This is in addition to any savings you make by using your own energy, or from selling back to the main supplier.

Feed-in tariff is set at

41.3p/kWh for a typical domestic solar photovoltaic PV installation.

26.7p/kWh for small wind turbines etc.

These rates are index linked to inflation over the life of the scheme (unless the Conservatives get in of course. Actually, do you believe Labour on green issues? I don’t think so).

Also there will be no income tax for people on revenue from the feed-in tariff, if the energy generated is used mainly by your own property (at the moment that is).

We will keep you posted of any developments.

See our pages at:

Energy microgeneration >

And Solar energy & solar power index >

Also Green building advice with renewable energy advice >