My LED Lighting Saga (Mar13)
Remember the joke about how many men are needed to change a light bulb. The answer is generally a joke about the number of people standing around watching. But my experience with LED bulbs has become a joke – it’s taken me over a year now and I still haven’t succeeded in replacing all the […]
Second Nature Advisory Board (Oct12)
I sit on the Advisory board of Second Nature – their mission is making sustainability ‘second nature’ for the organisations they work with. Charles Perry and Mark Griffiths are the company’s founders – and they have a lot of experience between them, with particular emphasis on business strategy and expertise in energy, built-environment, clean tech […]
Biomimicry – sustainable solutions (Sept12)
I’m a great fan of Michael Pawlyn – from Exploration Architecture. I love his ideas and thinking. And so was keen to attend his Lignacite lecture at the Royal College of Physicians. Michael’s key theme is ‘biomimicry’ and his most recent book is ‘Biomimicry in Architecture‘ . And his speech was full of examples of […]
Moved house – and have limited access to broadband (Jun12)
I’ve just moved house – just over the border from Somerset to Dorset. Loads of boxes to unpack and things to do. But the most difficult issues is that there’s no broadband or landline phone and mobile telephone connections are poor. We’re working on this and should be up and running properly by August. In […]
How efficient are energy efficiency schemes? (Jun12)
I wrote this article in June 2012 but am only posting it on my blog on 1st October, in advance of the introduction of the Green Deal. It seems that this government initiative is not being welcomed with open arms – I’m not surprised. I think that there’s ample room for improvement with Energy […]
Eco-flat rented! (May12)
My eco-rented flat near Portobello Rd has been rented. See FT article, I wrote about it Like all properties that are being sold or let, I had to have an Energy Performance Certificate carried out. I was horrified by the first one that I had done because it was totally inaccurate – and didn’t reflect […]
FT Article written on Eco-renovating London flat (Apr12)
My article on eco-renovation was published in the House & Home section of the FT on 21st April, 2012. It’s explains how I set about greening my London flat – and the challenges I faced, despite being an eco-expert – see below for the original copy as written, followed by a pdf of what was […]
My eco-renovated flat is available for rent (Apr12)
Eco-renovated flat – Main room – Jan12 I bought my flat, near Portobello Road, in 1986, with my sister. We shared it for the first couple of years, before she got married and moved out. We re-painted and re-carpeted it throughout but didn’t do much more than that. The kitchen was quite dated even […]
National Trust – Forever for Everyone Sustainable Business Workshop (Jul11)
What a brilliant slogan – Forever For Everyone. I was one of two outside speakers at the National Trust’s sustainability workshop, which was looking at how to make this slogan mean something across the whole organisation. Whilst the Trust has superb examples of sustainability in practice, they’re looking at what they might do across the whole […]
Interface Carpets – Tomorrow’s Natural Business (Jul11)
Ray Anderson, CEO of Interface Carpets radically changed his approach to business in 1994, after reading The Ecology of Commerce by Paul Hawkens. I went to a workshop at Interface hosted by Andy Middleton from Tyf. Entitled ‘Tomorrow’s Natural Business’, the workshop aimed to show how biomimicry could be used as a template for creating organisations fit for a different […]
Writing for the Financial Times (Jun12)
I’ve started writing for FT House & Home. My first article, co-written with Fiona Harvey in March 2011 was about Feed in Tariffs. The second piece, published in June 2011 was ‘Eco-technologies at home – Electric Green‘ And the most recent article published on Saturday 21st April 2012, was about eco-renovating my London flat ‘It’s Not Easy Being […]
Eco-scrutiny of my Eco-renovation
My London flat must be the most rigorously scrutinised property on the planet – in terms of its eco-performance. I’ve spent the last few months researching and specifying what eco-renovations are to be done – with help from green architect Jerry Tate. But this week, just before submitting an extensive tender document to builders, I […]