To Passive House or not to Passive House

This week I went to Ecobuild, the annual exhibition devoted to sustainable building.  Normally I'm spoilt for choice with seminars, but this time I went for a meetup group with Ben Adam-Smith of House Planning Help podcast.

Ben gathered a small group of architects, builders and punters together to talk about self build and passive house projects.  

There were alarming accounts of the vagaries of the planning system.  These and other stories from professionals on some of the exhibition stands left me with an impression of a bunch of people sitting around making key decisions based on whimsy and personal taste.

I talked to one of the architects in the group, Paul Testa, who has been involved in a range of sustainable building projects.  He told me he uses the discipline of Passive House planning (PHPP planning software) for every project he does, even if clients don't want the expense of going for full certification.  To me that's strange and rather like coitus without an orgasm.

It's good to know that architects find the Passive House design process useful, even if the budget won't stretch to the full standard.  At least you know exactly how the building will perform and which areas have brought it below the PH level in energy and thermal efficiency terms.

Perhaps in time that will change.  Costs will inevitably come down and clients/property buyers will adopt Passive House as readily as solar panels.

Nigel Lawson and the Green Deal

Nigel Lawson was a Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer under Margaret Thatcher.  He presided over the Big Bang, the deregulation of the City of London and various tax cuts.

He was interviewed recently and defended his record, blaming other governments for irresponsible deregulation, which contributed to the financial collapse in the last decade.

He criticised the burden of taxes for environmental measures, claiming that taking care of resources for future generations placed unnecessary financial pressure on current generations.

The Green Deal was an initiative introduced in 2012 by the Coalition government.  It provided loans for energy saving measures and recouped the money through energy bills.  It was criticised for being bureaucratic and enriching some unscrupulous providers.

After Nigel Lawson's interview the initiative was scrapped by the Conservative government.

Was Nigel Lawson right?

I've written before about a young couple who renovated their house to Passive House standards and regret installing central heating.  Their cosy home only required two hours of heating in 18 months.  This could have been achieved with one oil filled radiator or heated towel rails.  They could have avoided lots of  pipework, radiators and expensive boiler.  Their energy bills are very low.

My local council introduced higher building standards and required more energy saving measures.  Small builders resisted and attacked them for imposing regulations that increased costs.  The same builders returned a year later to apologise.  They explained that the projects had resulted in offers of new contracts, so the increased costs were offset by the unexpected free positive PR.

Another developer was asked to install solar panels in 6 out of 10 new build flats.  He was reluctant, but agreed.  Later he returned to request permission to install panels in the 4 remaining flats.  He realised that solar helped with marketing and enabled him to sell the development very quickly.  The aim is to build and sell as quickly as possible so that the money can be used for the next project.

My local council demolished its council buildings and commissioned new offices to reflect their aim for transparency of local government.  The architects interpreted this as a request for glass boxes.  The council now has a set of very modern and high tech greenhouses, which need a lot of heat in winter and cooling in summer.  What a pity they didn't retrofit and extend the original council building.

Businesses and individuals always take time to adapt to change.  I've yet to witness an environmental regulation that hasn't been embraced by businesses and used to their advantage, contributing to the bottom line.

One business that works with local councils to help social housing tenants reduce energy bills (by simple changes) finds that tenants are enthusiastic and more likely to pay their rent, if their bills drop.  Housing officers also report that tenants in energy efficient and passive house accommodation want to  do everything they can to avoid being evicted from comfortable homes.

Sadly central and local government in the UK are far behind other Northern European neighbours in taking practical steps to improve housing stock and work premises now and for the future.

Apparently we demand the right to piss money out of windows (with poor U values).

Passive House and the waterbed effect

What is Passive House?

This is a building standard for new and refurbished buildings.  They are airtight and watertight, free of draughts and damp.  Passive House buildings require up to 90% less energy to heat and light than conventional ones.

This results in buildings that are healthier for those living and working in them.  They are comfortable, with constant, even temperatures.  Air is fresh and warm.  There is no damp or mould and humidity levels are low. They cost much less to run.

The second passive house home I visited had been renovated by a young couple.  They regretted installing central heating, as they'd only had the system running for 2 hours in the previous 18 months.  Effectively the home could be heated by a couple of electric towel rails.  Their tenants were delighted to avoid problems with dry skin and rollercoaster variations in temperature of standard heating systems.  The mechanical ventilation and heat recovery system kept the air fresh and warm by heating incoming fresh air and removing cooking and bathroom moist air.

How is it done?

The key to reaching passive house standards is to put time and effort into the plans.  The essential tool used in the process is the PHPP package.  This is based on an Excel spreadsheet.

Data from the design of the new build or retrofit is entered into the PHPP spreadsheet.  These calculations enable designers to estimate whether the build will meet the standards (for Passive House or EnerPHit for older buildings being refurbished:

Energy performance targets and air changes per hour:

Criteria                                                                                          Passive House       EnerPHit                            

Specific Heating Demand                                                             ≤ 15 kWh/m². yr          ≤ 25 kWh/m².yr

Specific Cooling Demand                                                             ≤ 15 kWh/m². yr         ≤ 120 kWh/m².yr 
                                                                                     * PE ≤ 120 kWh/m².yr + ((SHD - 15 kWh/ m².yr) x1.2)
Specific Heating Load                                                                  ≤ 10 W/m²

Specific Primary Energy Demand                                                ≤ 120 kWh/m². Yr

Air Changes Per Hour                                                                  ≤ 0.6 @ n50

Limiting Value                                                                              n₅₀  ≤0.6^-1                  n₅₀  ≤1.0^-1

Calculations include the Form Factor, derived from the external surface area and the Treated Floor Area.  The size and shape of the building affect the energy demand of the building and the amount of insulation required.  Data is included from the U values (thermal efficiency) of all construction material including windows.  Thermal bridges, the junctions and links between parts of the building, are potential areas for the greatest loss of heat.  These must be reduced or eliminated as far as possible and data is added to the spreadsheet to demonstrate this.

Airtightness is key to effective thermal insultation and airtightness tests are usually carried out several times during the build to ensure that detailed finish is done to a high standard.  Simple mistakes, such as poorly applied insulation tape, may negatively affect airtightness.  Summer temperatures are included in the spreadsheet and methods to prevent overheating, such as shading.  Data for mechanical ventilation and heat recovery is included.  Primary energy appliances are also calculated for heating, ventilation, hot water and cooking.  The orientation of the building and its geographical location are also included in the calculations.  Solar gain may reduce winter energy use, but may require additional shading to prevent summer overheating.  Windier, colder areas at higher altitude may face bigger challenges than buildings located in sheltered, mild valleys.

What has PHPP software got to do with a waterbed?

The spreadsheet provides a framework for the designer to use, against which everything is measured. Rather than guessing and producing a more or less well insulated house, PHPP channels the work into a disciplined approach, which achieves a specific result.

On paper, building designs look straightforward.  In practice, building takes place in messy, complex situations.  Typically people create problems or require certain amendments to the plan.  A house may lie in a conservation area, which prohibits use of modern, highly efficient, single expanse, triple glazed window units.  The local authority may insist that the facade matches its neighbours, increasing the heat loss from one part of the building envelope significantly.  PHPP helps the designer increase insulation in other parts of the building to compensate for heat loss at the front.

The customer may insist on a particular design element that includes a thermal bridge, which may be difficult to reduce or eliminate.

The client may refuse to spend as much money as the designer suggests on insulation, focussing instead on state of the art facilities in bathroom and kitchen.

The builder may not be able to source material of the required U value for a part of the build, which may mean that PHPP has to be recalculated to make up lost ground elsewhere, if the project is to be complete on time and to budget.

Push down the energy gains in one area, then lift up insulation/reduce the energy loss in others.  PHPP enables a dynamic design process with constant iterations throughout the project.

Why bother?

The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and, as the above link indicates, politicians may rush into new schemes that look as if they will solve all of our housing and energy problems at a stroke.  I see new and renovated buildings that are completed without using a rigorous and dynamic standard: medical centres with noisy reception areas because of 100% hard surfaces, where confidential information is heard by all; public buildings which are too hot in Summer and too cold in Winter; heating vents on outside walls that pump valuable heat into the street.

PHPP and the passive house standard enables designers to achieve a level of energy efficiency and comfort in buildings that will have a long life and fewer problems than those of conventional design.  Whether they meet the standard or not, the discipline helps ensure a quality finish and customer satisfaction.  Bob Prewett's 80% house, above, didn't meet the standard, but achieved a comfortable and energy efficient level, which fitted well with the rest of the street.

PHPP is not an easy or straightforward tool to use.  A new book is designed to assist the designer in getting to grips with the process.  PHPP is cost effective and can be used when standards change or a designer decides to include heat recovery from water and other Passive House Plus elements.

I wouldn't employ an architect or designer who DIDN'T use PHPP, even if their work didn't fully hit the target.

NHS and the Mansion Tax diversion

Michael Gove, Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury and Chief Whip, appeared on Radio 4's Question Time recently.  He said he was outraged and insulted at allegations by another panellist that the Coalition Government is privatising the National Health Service.

Who is he kidding?

Some of my work is in the NHS is in primary care.  The NHS is being privatised by stealth.  Here's how it works:  a particular service, such as Physiotherapy, is put out to tender.  The chosen provider is a private company.  As the NHS physiotherapy service loses market share, it withers on the vine.  When the contract comes up for renewal, there is no longer any NHS physiotherapy to make a bid for it.  True to form, the contracted out service proves to be more expensive than the NHS equivalent.  In the county I work, mental health services were under pressure.  The area health authority contracted a private company to provide low level Cognititive Behavioural Therapy paid for centrally.  As financial pressure mounted on GP surgeries, they looked around for cuts to make.  Locally funded counselling services were an easy target.  Patients now have CBT or nothing (a service which costs the NHS more than the locally funded counselling.)

Salaries have been flatlining for several years and many services typically provided by GPs have been contracted out, reducing income.  GP surgeries run as businesses, a legacy of arrangements made when the NHS was first founded.  The more that income shrinks, the greater the pressure.

The ambulance service is in crisis as the population has increased massively in the last 2 decades, but funding has not kept pace.  Trivial and prank calls contribute to expansion of demand, but not completely.  Paramedics report that they get no breaks on shifts, because the pressure is constant.  Staff are leaving.  People are dying because ambulances take too long to reach high risk cases.

What does this have to do with the Mansion Tax?

The Liberal Democrats promoted this idea, but failed to get it through the Coalition.  Labour are now advocating this policy and promising that funds raised will be spent on the NHS.  This plays well with many regions outside of London and the South East.

If you live in Pontefract, an impoverished part of West Yorkshire, you can buy a 5 bedroom, detached 5 bedroom house built in 1894 (with attic and cellar rooms and extensive grounds) for £595,000.

In Clapham, South London, you can buy a small 3 bedroom terraced house for the same price.

These are neither the cheapest regional area or the most expensive zone of London and the South East.

The Mansion Tax will hit lots of ordinary people, who will pay a premium on top of inflated housing prices.  It will not hit the non-domiciled Russians, Chinese or Middle Eastern multi-millionaires who are buying up properties all over the South East.  These are for investment, a bolt hole insurance in case the regime changes and many are left empty and crumbling over time.  These people tend to buy through companies and are often not subject to Stamp Duty and other taxes.  Nothing has been suggested to deal with this development that skews the property market.  Properties that are bought to let will have rental prices increased to absorb the Mansion Tax.  There are no rent controls, so accommodation costs are pushing people to the margins.

Why is this a diversion from the state of the NHS?

The biggest single threat to our state run National Health Service is the current move to join the TTIP.

The Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership is a bi-lateral tade agreement quietly being negotiated with the USA.  This has already been agreed between North and South America to devastating effect.  Private Eye describes it as a deal which opens the door for US corporate lawyers to challenge any service that is state run in the UK, demanding access for private companies.

If you watch/listen to BBC news and analysis you might imagine this does not exist, as TTIP is so rarely reported.  Negotiations are held in secret and nothing is being reported to the public.  TTIP did not feature in any of the political party conferences in the past month.  It is left to charities and pressure groups to gather support to block the deal.

Political parties are all careful to say that the NHS will remain free at the point of use under their stewardship.  They do NOT guarantee that it will be state run.

The mansion tax is a diversion from wholesale corporate sell off of the NHS.

It's not that easy being green

For the purposes of this post I'm side stepping the climate change debate.  We have a big enough challenge ensuring there are energy and natural resources for generations coming after us on Planet Earth.

I live in Croydon, an unfashionable area of Greater London that lies South of the capital on the way to Gatwick airport.  It is both a borough and a town called Croydon (to confuse people driving to the areas.)  The town of Croydon is sometimes called the Manhatten of South East England because of the number of high rise blocks on the skyline.

In recent years many tower blocks are being demolished to make way for newer replacements.  Some of the demolished buildings were built in my time in the area.  If it takes more materials to build new rather than renovate and retrofit old buildings, why are so many recent apartments and office blocks being torn down?

The simple answer is money.

It costs more to renovate, because full VAT (value added tax) is charged on retrofitted building and zero rate on new build.  The greener option is not on a level playing field with the alternative.

I'm not making a party political point here as all the major parties have followed this formula and chosen to cosy up to the large construction companies and property developers.

Let's look at another example.  The supermarket firm Sainsbury commissioned a new branch in Greenwich, which was designed and built to high standards of energy efficiency and eco-friendliness.  Later it decided to sell, but placed a caveat in the contract that no rival could use the shop as a supermarket.  This led to plans to demolish the building.  Campaigners worked to save the store.

Eric Pickles of the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has decreed that no local council should raise local building standards beyond those laid down by central government.  He has blocked new schemes that would significantly increase the development of zero carbon homes in South West England.  His argument is that this disadvantages building companies.

In my view there are 2 reasons why Mr Pickles is wrong:

1)  Progress and improvement have been made through innovation and deviation from the norm by pioneers.  Without experimentation and trail blazers we will continue to waste energy and resources.

2)  When Croydon council planned massive redevelopment of the town centre, the Head of Planning was clueless about energy efficiency and sustainable building.  Local councillors told me that higher standards would be too expensive.  I asked staff of large building companies about this.  They told me they were building similar schemes to higher standards in Greenwich.  Did it cost more?  No.  Why did they build to a higher standard in Greenwich?  Because Greenwich council asked them.

If political parties are serious about their Green Credentials for the coming general election, here are some fundamentals:

1)  Reduce VAT on renovation projects to zero.

2)  Maintain building standards and encourage local councils to go beyond them.

Anything else is Greenwash.

Green Crap?

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, claims he is building a resilient economy by sweeping away green crap or environmental taxes.  An article in the Independent claims that Osborne will reduce penalties for high use of fossil fuel in Tuesday's Budget.

The 'Carbon Tax' is symbolic for environmental campaigners, as it indicates how strongly the government is committed to combating climate change.  I'm not here to argue about how far humans have contributed to climate change and whether we can reverse it.  Fossil fuels are pollutants and have had a major impact on human health and contamination of the planet for all life.  Steps taken to mitigate this have not been hugely effective.

We are running out of fossil fuel.  The developing world is catching up with Western consumption.  Oil companies are prospecting for oil in ever more remote and difficult to access locations.  Shale oil and gas extraction is provoking popular protests, as communities see their local area being damaged and livelihoods threatened by the direct and indirect effects of the process.

Environmental taxes that encourage companies to reduce consumption and improve efficiency make sense.  Commercial organisation complain and lobby, whatever is suggested.  If companies know that taxes and environmental regulations are coming, they plan and incorporate them in their daily practice.  However, if there is no regulatory pressure,  there is patchy adoption of sound energy efficiency measures.

Some say that we lose jobs to the developing world, because companies move manufacturing abroad to avoid regulation.  Much heavy industry has moved abroad already.  Germany seems to have found a way to retain engineering works in the country, while maintaining high standards of environmental regulation.

We are an island nation and reserve the right to hold dear to our Anglo Saxon attitudes.  Unlike our German and Scandinavian near neighbours, we continue to flush money down the drain through poor building standards and draughty, badly insulated homes.  Ed Milliband demands a freeze on utility prices rather than pushing to meet standards of some continental countries, that achieve low U values.

I visited an ex-council semi-detached house recently, that had been refurbished to passive house standards.  They had only used the central heating for 2 hours in the previous 18 months.  The house was warm and comfortable.

Eric Pickles has blocked local authorities from varying planning regulations to boost insulation and encourage triple glazing and passive house design, as this 'would be unfair to large house builders'.  Never mind if we have a growing problem of fuel poverty, rising heating bills and diminishing energy resources.

Vladimir Putin has demonstrated scant regard for territorial boundaries and UN warnings in his recent incursions into Georgia and Ukraine.  He knows that Russia controls vital oil and gas reserves, which the West needs.  He also knows that governments have given in to threats from large accountancy firms and permitted offshore limited liability partnerships, which have shielded illicit funds from tax, which were siphoned out of Ukraine and other Eastern bloc countries.

We forget how embargos and price rises imposed by OPEC in the early 1970s had a major negative impact on Western economies.  Scandinavia predicted the oil crisis and the UK didn't believe it until it happened.  Unless we consume less energy, we are hostages to those with large resources.

No, Mr Osborne, reducing green taxes won't lead to a resilient economy or more jobs.

Punishing the whistleblower 1

This is not a typical whistleblower, but a Hungarian researcher on Lectins, who published results on genetically modified potates.  In 1998 Dr Arpad Pusztai criticised the lack of testing procedures prior to introducing GM foods onto the market.  He demonstrated that rats developed immune system defects and damage to stomach lining, stunting growth.  These defects emerged over a longer time period than standard research, thus opening humans to damaging effects because of short term testing.

How was Dr Pusztai rewarded for his warning to prevent damage to human health?

The Rowett Institute suspended Pusztai, circulated misinformation about him and his research in an attempt to discredit him.  The implication that he was a doddery old buffer, who had confused the science and botched his research.

How did Dr Pusztai respond?

He sent the research protocols to 24 independent scientists in various countries.  They refuted the conclusion of the review committee and found his research of good quality with justifiable conclusions.

What happened next?

The Royal Society dismissed the conclusions of the 24 indpendent scientists and backed the review committee's findings that Pusztai was mistaken and had deficient research.

Read the whole story here.

Dr Pusztai and his wife sacrificed their careers to bring important information to world attention.  They continue to spread information, despite constant public humiliation and derogatory remarks about them.  Here's one example, which speaks of Pusztai's 'flawed and inconclusive experiments'.

How much money/support do the Rowett Institute and the Royal Society (and senior people on their boards and review committees) receive from Monsanto and other companies involved in genetically engineered foods?

How many UK research posts and research projects are funded by Monsanto and other companies involved in genetically engineered foods?

I have written before about the way in which charities and consultants are silenced in the UK because so much of their work depends on funding from Big Pharma.

Where are the public disclaimers in the BBC, Lancet and other media/journals, so we can assess the independence of what we are reading and hearing?

Make do and mend in the Philippines

What do you do when there's no electricity and you're poor?

In the Philippines they've started generating power with simple plastic bottles:



Litre of Light is an initiative to make solar bottle light in a country where energy prices are high.

In parts of Africa they've leap frogged the development cycle by jumping straight into mobile phone technology. Landlines and universal secure power supplies aren't necessary for telecommunications. This has also enabled many people to run businesses from their mobiles, handling payments electronically rather than having to visit a bank.

The project in the Philippines may point the way to a leap straight into sustainable energy supplies.

Lowering blood sugar

Those concerned with weight loss, diabetes and heart disease have found that blood sugar levels are one of the keys to making positive changes. Specialists such as Dr Richard Bernstein and Dr William Davis recommend lower levels than typical Department of Health guidelines (indicated here).

Bernstein, Davis and others recommend eliminating sugars from the diet and starches (easily converted to sugars). Fats and proteins, as well as non starchy vegetables and berry fruits are helpful in maintaining blood glucose at optimum levels.

Blood sugar can also be affected by drugs, raising, lowering or causing swings in levels. The list includes caffeine, which can contribute to hyperglycemia (high blood sugar), so coffee, tea (including green tea) and chocolate may cause a spike. If caffeine is consumed with sugars or starch the blood sugar spike can be followed by a dramatic drop to hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). This may be dangerous for diabetics on insulin.

Each person responds differently to food and may tolerate more carbohydrate/fat/protein than others without raising and maintaining blood sugar above the recommended levels. Dairy products can raise blood sugars and increase weight, for example. Some people struggle to limit food intake and reduce their appetite, in spite of curbing addiction to sugars and carbs.

Dr Gundry recommends increasing levels of raw vegetables in the diet to increase the feeling of fullness, which encourages us to stop eating. The diet includes high levels of fibre to help regulate how the body processes food and maintains an even blood sugar level.

These are healthy blood sugar targets recommended by Jenny Ruhl:

Fasting under 83 mg/dl or 4.6 mmol/L

1 hour after food under 120 mg/dl or 6.6 mmol/L

2 hour after food under 100 mg/dl or 5.5 mmol/L

Bernstein and Davis advise people to aim for lower levels, but this may be difficult to achieve, particularly when losing weight.

Some people struggle to bring blood sugar down, even when following these guidelines and may risk long term health effects from excess glycated haemoglobin. One challenge is coping with signs that the body is adjusting to a lower background level of sugar and getting through symptoms that seem to be hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) but are not:

'The symptoms you feel during a false hypo may include a pounding pulse, shakiness, a raised blood pressure and other symptoms very similar to those of a panic attack.'

One simple food seems to produce startling reductions in blood sugar, without first spiking or taking blood glucose down to dangerous levels. Chia seed comes from a plant, which is part of the mint family, native to Central and South America. The seed can be soaked in coconut milk to make a porridge or sprinkled on any food.

According to Dr Wayne Coates, who wrote 'Chia: Rediscovering a Forgotten Crop of the Aztecs' chia is 16% protein, 31% fat, 44% carbohydrate of which 38% is fibre. Most of its fat is omega-3 fatty acids including alpha-linolenic acid (ALA).

The high fibre content of chia, both soluble and insoluble, induces a feeling of satiety, which seems to last for some time, without converting to sugar and spiking blood glucose levels. On the contrary, blood sugar levels may drop to mid 4 or 3 mmol/L (85, 75 or 65 mg/dl).

Jenny Ruhl states: 'Doctors do not consider true hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) to begin until under 3.9 mmol/L (70mg/dl). It does not become dangerous until it reaches levels like 2.5 mmol/L (45 mg/dl).'

Dr Coates has collected research on his website, following the work he undertook at the University of Arizona. He gives sensible advice on choosing your seed for best results.

Some organisations are trying to patent strains of white chia seed, to make some money out of a simple, safe food that has many health benefits. Doctors are unlikely to recommend adding chia to the diet and may continue to prescribe medication to control blood sugar and blood pressure. Obese people might find chia helpful in controlling appetite and losing weight steadily without drugs or surgery.

The internet provides a medium for sharing information and research, so that individuals can choose a diet and lifestyle approach to avoiding surgery and unnecessary drugs. The Wiki Patient won't conform.

Out of sight, out of mind

We use increasing numbers of plastic bags and they disappear into the waste stream. However lots of them aren't biodegraded in industrial compost plants but end up in the natural environment. A huge amount of plastic ends up in the ocean and kills a lot of sea creatures.

Who cares? It doesn't affect human beings, apart from the tree huggers.

Plastic takes a long time to degrade. In the process it is shredded into smaller and smaller particles that get everywhere. We may ingest plastic when we eat seafood.

Do we want our natural environment to look like a landfill site?

Some people have made a start by making local towns free of plastic bags. Modbury in the UK and Coles Bay in the Tasmania are 2 examples where this has happened.



What else can have an impact on behaviour?

Legislation can affect the types of plastics used in manufacture. Here's a quote from a report by a company called Symphony Environmental Technologies PLC:

'The British Standards Institution published BS8472 on 20 June 2011, which provides tests for biodegration in soil and simulates the real-world behaviour of plastic products which get into the environment and cannot realistically be collected.....

The Commission also said “In the current practice, a packaging product is acknowledged to be biodegradable if it biodegrades in industrial composting facilities in controlled conditions. However, a product that is compostable in an industrial facility will not necessarily
biodegrade in natural conditions in the environment.”

The Commission made the important point that “Advertising a packaging product as biodegradable when in fact it will not biodegrade in natural conditions can be misleading for the consumer and can contribute to the proliferation of littering of products that will persist in the environment.” Symphony therefore expects that suppliers of compostable plastic will stop describing their product as “biodegradable.”

The Commission also said “The current legislative provisions do not allow for a clear distinction between biodegradability and compostability” - highlighting the need for a Standard for oxo-biodegradable plastic, which has now been published as BS8472.'

This was brought to my attention by a skilled City trader. He also noted that management described this as a material 'game changer' for the company, though this had not yet been reflected in the share price.

The United Arab Emirates have now switched to oxo-biodegradable plastics entirely and many other countries may follow.

What could help clean up our beaches and prevent further destruction of marine life?

Collapsing share prices of plastics manufacturers and loss of lucrative export markets.

That means MONEY.

Wicked oil (1)

In the last week 4 friends have sent me an email outlining a campaign to force oil companies to lower petrol prices.  The suggested solution is to buy from supermarkets to force oil companies to compete for trade.

I was surprised at the idea.  The Big Four supermarkets already have a dominant position in high street retail and I'm not keen to contribute further to this trend.

Here's a different view from Down Under:



The assumption in the email that the problem:  How to reduce petrol prices? is simple to solve or Tame in the terminology of Rittel and Webber.  I'm not so sure.

Ever since oil was discovered at Spindletop, Texas in 1901, sources of easily refined crude oil have been mined extensively.  On shore sources are diminishing and 2010 saw major controversy over an explosion during offshore drilling by BP in the Gulf of Mexico.  The site of the rig indicates that companies are having to explore areas with increasingly difficult access.  People in the USA are accustomed to cheap petrol prices and seem to have trouble connecting the rapid consumption of a finite resource with the need for ever riskier exploration methods.  The US government punished BP for the consequences of the explosion, but is not pleased with the news that BP has done a deal with Russia to explore oil in the Arctic.  This type of exploration is not cheap and requires new and experimental technology.  Tesco doesn't do oil exploration.  They sell what others make at a price the market can bear.

The underlying problem statements for the US public seem to be:

How do we maintain an unending and increasing supply of petrol?  How do we keep petrol prices low?  How do we prevent loss of life and damage to the environment in the process?

Rittel and Webber would describe this as a Wicked problem.

'..we are calling them "wicked" not because these properties themselves are ethically deplorable.  We use the term "wicked" in a meaning akin to "malignant" (in contrast to "benign") or "vicious" (like a circle) or "tricky" (like a leprechaun) or "aggressive" (like a lion, in contrast to the docility of a lamb.)'

Several commentators, notably Matthew Simmons (Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy), have alerted the world to the unreliability of Middle Eastern oil reserves and the idea that Peak Oil has been reached - ie that the major sources of oil are now in decline.

Here's a simple graphical illustration of this point. The decline probably doesn't accelerate this quickly, but if we factor Peak Oil in, we're more likely to ride the wave.



It has been suggested that the original catalyst for the invasion of Iraq was the threat to oil price stability by Saddam Hussein. Some commentators assert that Iran became a potential target for similar reasons.

Dominance of oil and gas supplies enables countries to exert control over neighbouring territories. Ukraine developed a degree of independence until Russia brought the country to heel by stopping all supplies and enforcing prices beneficial to them.

The BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) are developing at a formidable rate with an increasing demand for commodities including oil.  In the West we have shifted from one car per household to one car per adult in many areas.  Developing countries, such as China, have shifted from the bicycle to the car.

The increased use of motor vehicles is thought to be a major contributor to diminishing air quality and greenhouse gases. GHGs are linked to climate change.

Some people argue that cars should be run on biofuels. One suggestion is to use oil from crops such as rapeseed. We have an increasing world population, rising standards of living in developing countries and a greater demand for food. Crops have been poor in the last couple of years because of global weather events, highlighting the vulnerability and unpredictability of food supply. Biofuel crops compete for land with food crops.

We import much of our food in the UK. Supermarkets source a ready, cheap supply of fresh products from around the globe so that we can buy all year rather than consuming seasonal produce. Imports depend on oil supply for transport. In the UK our hard pressed farming sector struggles to meet costs from prices paid by wholesalers (including supermarkets). Some make more money from selling farmland to property developers, reducing the supply of land for food or biomass crops.

My suggested list of problem statements now includes:

How do we continue to run our cars? How do we maintain clean air? How do we reduce our impact on climate change? How do we maintain access to affordable, dependable supplies of food? How do we house our population to an acceptable standard?

My students sometimes struggle to grasp the notion of a wicked problem. I use the analogy of a waterbed. If you press down in one area, another part pops up. There is no neat and easy way to solve this and every solution may throw up unintended consequences.

Green Wash

This week Steve Jobs announced he is taking a break as Apple CEO for health reasons. News stories have criticised the company for its environmental record:

'Apple isn't as transparent as it could be when it comes to the effects its suppliers have on the environment and worker safety, according to a Chinese environmental group. The Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs (IPE) published a report (Chinese-language PDF) on Thursday ranking Apple and 28 other companies when it comes to taking responsibility for supplier conduct, with Apple coming in dead last on the list.'

'An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment on the report or its contents, but said: “Apple is committed to ensuring the highest standards of social responsibility throughout our supply chain. Apple requires suppliers to commit to our comprehensive Supplier Code of Conduct as a condition of their contract with us. We drive compliance with the Code through a rigorous monitoring program, including factory audits, corrective action plans, and verification measures.” '

Large companies are criticised for their environmental record, their use of sweatshop labour to produce cheap goods and boost profit margins. Since the financial crisis of 2008 there is increasing negative publicity about firms that outsource jobs overseas destroying Western communities in the process. Equity finance specialists that buy established brands but set up a post office box HQ in Lichtenstein (thus avoiding tax) are also under scrutiny.

Michael Porter is famous for his work on strategy and value chains. He now argues that global competitiveness involves creating shared value. This means taking corporate social responsibility into the core of the business, rather than making donations to charity or using biodegradable plastic bags. He claims that this type of cosmetic gesture won't work anymore. He doesn't believe that governments can drive changes in consumer behaviour to improve health, for example, but that corporations should take this on, because they have sophisticated marketing tools. Part of his argument is broadcast in the following video and more recent comments (linked to healthy consumption) have been aired on BBC radio 4.

'I believe that businesses acting as businesses, not as charitable givers, are arguably the most powerful force for addressing many of the pressing issues of society. We've got to do things in running our core businesses that maximise the positive benefits for the community and for society. And guess what... many of those things are going to advance the core agenda of the firm.'



Bloggers and Wikileaks may be part of the groundswell that is having a significant impact on politicians, companies and academics like Michael Porter.

I am sceptical about the impact of his ideas beyond transferring the 'healthy eating' drive from government to corporations.

Networks for Green change

I enjoy showing examples of environmental progress and practical sustainability.  Some of my students complain that it seems like an afterthought on their course and is largely irrelevant in their organisation or the current economic climate.

What do we do when our world may be negatively affected by the actions of those on other continents?

What happens when the climate and dwindling resources on other continents lead to a mass migration to ours?

How can groups of people foster their own resources?

Consider rural poor people in Kenya who use wood for fuel and building material.  Professor Wangari Maathai pioneered work in communities to renew trees.  Not only did she encourage tree planting, but recognised that young trees die unless they are protected and tended by people with a vested interest.



Green change happened by people working quietly underneath the radar.  Once those in power recognised what was happening, the women were targetted and ridiculed for their efforts.  They rallied and prevailed whilst President Moi was overthrown.