Building DIY Gardening

Eco Workshops are to help self builders, DIY people and renovators understand the green issues affecting them and their projects.
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 [...]

Visiting a Home Depot in the US recently, President Obama said “Energy Efficiency is sexy”.

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Penang is a UNESCO world heritage city but has an over supply of high rise condos while many old buildings are left to rot, or even worse, turned into swift houses (or swifthouses) (where swifts are factory farmed for bird nest soup ingredients – the nest – in old buildings that no one can afford [...]

This opens today, if you still want to go you can still register for free at
Register for EcoBuild 2010 >

Next year’s Ecobuild has a look at the effect of 3 years of Government legislation on building practice – the Code for Sustainable Homes, EPCs, and many others. These are for new building and also refurbishment and DIY refitting.
We are supposed to be headed for the zero carbon home by 2016 – that is [...]

New student competition to design build and use a zero carbon home (no emissions or balanced emissions).
The University of Nottingham’s student entry (with Saint-Gobain) will début at Ecobuild in March 2010 at Earls Court, London. (See other post). The student final is in Madrid later in the year.
This is of great interest to builders and [...]

World’s biggest event for sustainable green building, DIY, architecture, and living.
2 – 4 March 2010 at Earls Court London.
Ecobuild has:

100 free seminars
1000 suppliers’ stands
Conference with famous people
Speakers include Joan Ruddock, lots more
Cityscape & Ecobuild Installer – for builders, DIY fans and developers
Commentators at Ecobuild Arena
Sponsored by RIBA, BRE
Free registration for invitation >

reat piece in Scientific American about a plan to replace fossil fuels completely by 2030.
Achievable with political will, if not capsized by vested interests of oil, coal, gas, car companies.
I will add a proper article in our main web site when I get around to it (sense of urgency huh!) – and maybe start a [...]