Tue, 19 Dec 2023 05:20:16 +0000 http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/ Lussumo Vanilla 1.0.3 http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=1461&Focus=16965#Comment_16965 http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=1461&Focus=16965#Comment_16965 Sun, 23 Mar 2008 18:31:22 +0000 GBP-Keith
People deliver post to my door every day
The internet is just there whenever I switch on my computer
I can order anything I like and have it delivered to my door for next to no cost in next to no time

My wife grows a lot of our 'greens' but we still buy the staples like flour, rice and potatoes out of season
OK, our energy is supplied almost 100% on-farm but this doesn't fuel the postman's van
We drink water pumped up from under our feet but I still buy-in organic beer

Of course I always choose the 'greener' things but it is still consumerism.

Consumer goods (electronics etc) get ever cheaper even in a recession?

Apparently the Polish workforce is returning home and there is a lot of talk about who will build our buildings for us. Are our children not interested.

Zero carbon households - in my opinion there are none.]]> http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=1461&Focus=16973#Comment_16973 http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=1461&Focus=16973#Comment_16973 Sun, 23 Mar 2008 21:21:54 +0000 rogerwhit http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=1461&Focus=16982#Comment_16982 http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=1461&Focus=16982#Comment_16982 Sun, 23 Mar 2008 22:46:50 +0000 ali.gill http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=1461&Focus=16986#Comment_16986 http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=1461&Focus=16986#Comment_16986 Sun, 23 Mar 2008 23:53:19 +0000 fostertom http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=1461&Focus=17033#Comment_17033 http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=1461&Focus=17033#Comment_17033 Mon, 24 Mar 2008 12:07:03 +0000 James Norton
Put a post/deliveries box as near to main road as possible, walk to pick it up. Doesn't flour keep or ages....?

If you must then get another PV /array turbine and get exporting like mad...

(but to be honest I think you're doing pretty well so far )

J]]> http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=1461&Focus=17109#Comment_17109 http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=1461&Focus=17109#Comment_17109 Mon, 24 Mar 2008 21:16:49 +0000 Chris Wardle
Consumerism has been the "religion" of the last half century. It hasn't always been this way and it seems likely to me that this will turn out to be a temporary phenomena. In the Western world we have spent our capital and have gone into debt to keep the party going as long as possible. The debt mountain coupled with the demographic timebomb, the decline of our wealth creating industries and Peak Oil on top will set us back decades in terms of our standard of living. We will need to concentrate our efforts on securing the necessities of life like food, water, shelter and energy and there will be fewer resources available for the "trinkets" that many are currently obsessed with.

The wealth is now being created in the East but even there resource depletion will curtail the explosion in consumption and they will never reach the living standards we have enjoyed over the last decade. The pie is going to shrink (because of resource depletion), the East will get more of the pie and the West less (because they save and invest where as we borrow to consume) and the share of the pie devoted to consumption will decline (because our infrastucture is clapped out, just think of the investment in new energy infrastructure that is required).

If we can re focus on how to earn a living as a nation more self sufficiently and live within our means again, I think it would help us to survive this trend and people could take more ownership of their environmental impact as production was re-localised.]]> http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=1461&Focus=17174#Comment_17174 http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=1461&Focus=17174#Comment_17174 Tue, 25 Mar 2008 18:40:58 +0000 GBP-Keith
Look at the way housebuilding is going. All the major housebuilders are gearing up to build hundreds of thousands of zero carbon homes (recession allowing) but perhaps a greener alternative might be to ban single person households and second homes.

If I became a politician I'd probably be assassinated within a week.

The government has to keep the ball rolling so all politicians can do is paper over the cracks and paint it green. Less would be more but it would be a recipe for anarchy.]]> http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=1461&Focus=17177#Comment_17177 http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=1461&Focus=17177#Comment_17177 Tue, 25 Mar 2008 19:04:54 +0000 Chris Wardle
Something which worries me about way the green building movement is going is that such a lot of the materials and technology are imported. We have a massive trade deficit right now and declining North Sea oil & gas and the problems in the financial markets are going to make this structural deficit worse. You could spend thousands on imported kit for an "eco-house" or you choose different ways and spend your money in the UK giving your neighbours the chance of a job. I know which I think is the more sustainable route, the other making anarchy all the more likely.]]> http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=1461&Focus=17178#Comment_17178 http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=1461&Focus=17178#Comment_17178 Tue, 25 Mar 2008 19:18:07 +0000 chuckey What the country needs are some form of inter- industry co-operation. Only the Goverment can encourage this. To give some examples:-
1. The CFL, its an immature technology, its only claim to fame is that it produces less heat the incandescent bulbs. The people who make them are just making them cheaper. What is required is a ceiling rose with the convertor in it and a simple tube, which is cheaper to change. So an new industry standard must be set for the bulb connector, so one is not left with the Betamax type ceiling rose and no CFL to fit in it. So a one,two or three. . output ceiling rose to fire up one , two, three. . bulbs in your chandelier. . . The tubes themselves would then be smaller and neater.
2. LED lighting is immature, needs standardisation so new houses have a 12V power supply to feed the LED circuits, again needs standard outlets and connectors.
3. 16,000,000 + houses have no possibility of added wall insulation, or can only to be done when the house is totaly renovated. So externally applied foam with a cast in brick pattern (slips or such like) is necessary, so its the foam manufactures , and mesh re-inforcing and casting people all have to get together to produce a totaly new product.
Frank
No doubt there are a lot of other inter-industry areas where co-operating IS required. If the Goverment does not initiate this who is?
Frank]]> http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=1461&Focus=17182#Comment_17182 http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=1461&Focus=17182#Comment_17182 Tue, 25 Mar 2008 19:32:45 +0000 Mike George
Universities are too narrow minded alone and the funding they receive is often targeted at a perceived gap in knowledge, something which benefits the researcher and their supervisors; but does not necessarily come up with a worthwhile product. You also need to tow the topical line, as not doing so rarely results in funding. This stifles innovation in my view.

There needs to be a new approach, perhaps if the government were to offer rewards for innovative products?]]> http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=1461&Focus=17190#Comment_17190 http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=1461&Focus=17190#Comment_17190 Tue, 25 Mar 2008 20:11:55 +0000 CWatters Posted By: chuckey
1. The CFL, its an immature technology, its only claim to fame is that it produces less heat the incandescent bulbs. The people who make them are just making them cheaper. What is required is a ceiling rose with the convertor in it and a simple tube, which is cheaper to change.

You mean like this one with the ballast built into the fitting rather than the tube....
http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/AALEP6.html]]> http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=1461&Focus=17446#Comment_17446 http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=1461&Focus=17446#Comment_17446 Sat, 29 Mar 2008 06:55:25 +0000 howdytom http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=1461&Focus=17672#Comment_17672 http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=1461&Focus=17672#Comment_17672 Tue, 01 Apr 2008 21:19:24 +0100 Noyers You could argue there is plenty of oil (and water)- it's simply that there are too many people.
What people need to downsize is the size of their families.
Or stick around for nature to reduce world population by the traditional methods: pestilence & famine.....not a very cheery prospect.]]> http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=1461&Focus=17674#Comment_17674 http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=1461&Focus=17674#Comment_17674 Tue, 01 Apr 2008 21:28:09 +0100 Chris Wardle