Dott Blog - Energy

Energy Smenergy

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 09:57:00+0100

Energy has had a difficult start to the New Year. Mammoth gas and electricity price rises, the latest figures on fuel poverty and controversial Government proposals for nuclear power has turned the heat up big time. But who will foot the bill? According to last Sunday’s Observer, British Gas raising its prices will take customers’ total spending on heating and lighting to more than £1,050 per year - adding £1bn to British Gas coffers this year. Consumer groups are now calling for a ‘collusion’ investigation. The war is on. Industry regulator Ofgem has challenged Npower, British Gas and EDF’s calculations about their estimated wholesale price rises: (66%, 51% and 117% respectively). Not true, Ofgem protests. In fact according to them, wholesale gas prices have risen by 31%, electricity by 40%, and in the last three weeks oil and wholesale gas prices have been falling. So what is going on? [More]

Low Carb Lane Debate - Speaker Transcript

Fri, 11 Jan 2008 13:07:00+0100

More and more of us would like to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, especially at home. But how do we do it? Wind turbines? Fuel cells? Solar panels? Wood-chip? How can we do it affordably? Low Carb Lane tackled these challenges head-on, in a real street: Castle Terrace in Ashington. This debate reviews the project from household, local government and industry points of view, asking: how can we save energy, money and carbon – one house at a time?

Read the transcript or listen to the audio files of the guest speakers at the Low Carb Lane Debate below. [More]

Carbon Hero Flies High

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 11:23:00+0100

Is Carbon Hero the future of our travel carbon use? As a son of a pilot and an air stewardess, Andreas Zachariah (Zac) has carbon in his blood. So it comes as no surprise that after a degree in Materials Engineering at Nottingham, followed by a decade as an investment banker, he has returned to his first love. While doing an MA in the Royal College of Art, Zac developed his new product: Carbon Hero along with co-inventor and coder Nick Burch. In the vernacular of his banking days; Zac has put his shirt on it and the two lads are busy testing their device, winning awards and looking for backing. Carbon Hero is a piece of software that works on GPS mobile phones and does all the hard work for us by automatically tracking our travel carbon expenditure as we go about our daily lives. [More]

The Institute of the Future Reveals All

Fri, 23 Nov 2007 10:55:00+0100

The Great Movement Debate should be renamed The Great Movement War. The Government is in a muddle over it and so are we. The recent Climate Change Bill commits the government to moving towards a low carbon economy while at the same time The Government’s recently published White Paper on transport identifies an “urgent need” for extra aviation capacity in the South East of England. With all this talk of travel, it seems like the government is going nowhere. Caught between a rock and a hard place over transport might be uncomfortable for their conscience but whatever inner battle they have, there are plenty of battles on the outside too. [More]

Dott 07: The Final Frontier

Fri, 09 Nov 2007 10:05:00+0100

Is it the Starship Enterprise, is it a plane... no it’s an Urban Space Station and it’s coming to a building near you soon. You heard it here first: the advanced colonization of urban roof tops is on the way thanks to the ingenious invention of Professor Natalie Jeremijenko. Natalie Jeremijenko is a powerhouse of knowledge on environmental issues. Listing her qualifications alone, would generate enough CO2 to run a large office block for months. No joke. Some people just blow you away with their credentials and Natalie is one of those. [More]

Sebastian Conran at Lord Lawson School

Mon, 18 Jun 2007 16:03:00+0100

Internationally renowned designer, Sebastian Conran, created quite a stir when he recently visited Lord Lawson of Beamish School. A man responsible for thousands of designs, if he attempted to design a visiting-professional that ticked all the boxes he would have to come up with a reproduction of himself and Sebastian Conran only does originals! While he has taught design at the Royal College of Art and gives frequent lectures there, capturing the attention of a classroom of 13 year olds is another matter and one he took to like...well... like a baby to a Via Pushchair or a new homebuyer to one of those ingenious Katie Allsopp starter tool kits! Lord Lawson of Beamish School is one of the 20 schools that have been short-listed to take part in Dott 07's Eco Design Challenge. After completing Dott 07's eco-footprint of the school along with Calvin Rodger, head of geography and his geography class, Denise Taylor, Year 8 teacher and her eco-footprint team discovered just how much energy is used and wasted throughout one 24 hour period of school life. They came up with a terrific project for the year 8 pupils to get their teeth into called Eco-Eat. Eco-Eat challenges the pupils to design a set of canteen food containers from recyclable materials. Sebastian Conran with his strong environmental and ethical background in product design was perfectly matched to the task. Conran Africa one of Sebastian's initiatives, was set up in August 2004 as part of a project called Black Economic Empowerment. One of the schemes involved making glasses for the Conran shop from recycled Coca-Cola bottles in workshops in Swaiziland, so recyclable school canteen containers in Birtley, should be a piece of cake! [More]

Climate Change: A Design Opportunity?

Thu, 07 Jun 2007 10:21:00+0100

John Thackara, Programme Director of Dott 07, shares his opinion on design and sustainability in this month's edition of Blueprint Magazine. Let us know if you agree or disagree with John by leaving your comments at the end of the blog. And if you want to hear more from John check out Doors of Perception weblog. 'As designers, are we guilty of killing the planet? Eighty percent of the environmental impact of the products and buildings that surround us is determined at the design stage, after all. The ways we have designed the world force most people to waste stupendous quantities of matter and energy in their daily lives. Playing the blame game is pointless. Yes, humanity has trashed the biosphere by design - but the best way to redeem ourselves is to become part of the solution. We need to imagine sustainable and engaging futures - and take design steps to realise them. Dott 07 (Designs of the time) is doing this on a region-wide scale - in the birthplace of carboniferous capitalism. [More]

Star Charts and Lovers on World Environment Day

Tue, 05 Jun 2007 16:09:00+0100

Ok. June 5 is World Environment Day. I didn't know either until I got my daily fix of The Guardian. It's true, it's true... many of us want to live greener lifestyles but don't know where to start. Today's article suggests some small changes to help us on the way. Check out their suggestions which include: start the day with a shower instead of a bath; buy an Eco-Kettle; don't leave the tap running when brushing teeth and take your bike to work. Alright, I have a snappy cold shower today but so what? I won't have one tomorrow, I love my hot bath, it's good for my head, my back, my aching bones - hot baths make me a nicer person. So, I've come up with an idea of my own, something permanent, something long-term that suits the vagaries of my human fallibility and contemporary lifestyle. I have decided to have an affair with The Environment. [More]

Not So Low Carb Lane

Thu, 12 Apr 2007 11:28:00+0100

I have a confession to make. I know nothing about design and I know even less about my carbon footprint. Ok, I adore my pink slim line iPod and I know that at some point in its perfect design, people with ideas have huddled in groups behind closed doors. That's about the extent of my design knowledge: I like it, I buy it! While I recycle newspapers and things I have no idea what my carbon footprint looks like: I imagine it is a great big black blob on my ecological soul but just how thick, oozing or large is it? Who knows! So, I am a little nervous about meeting Alex Webb Allen from Live|Work to catch-up with him about his design project, Low Carb Lane. On the surface, Low Carb Lane is a project aimed at cutting the carbon emissions in a residential street, Castle Terrace in the town of Ashington in Northumberland. However, as I am soon to learn about design: nothing is quite what it seems. [More]

Car Share

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 14:56:00+0100

Chancellor Gordon Brown has increased taxes for the most polluting vehicles, while slashing bills for the greenest. Drivers of gas-guzzling design will pay £300 a year - rising to £400 next year. Meanwhile drivers of greener cars will have their annual bill cut by 30% to just £35. There'll be those who think it's worth the price, but if you need a car to get about but can't afford the tax and fuel costs it might be a good point to look at a car sharing scheme, the praises of which were being sung by Alex Steffen and Sarah Rich of World Changing at the Doors of Perception 9 conference in Delhi. In the North East 70% of us travel to work by car (figures from reed.co.uk) compared with 22% in London, which is probably understandable but considering car ownership is at its lowest nationally in this region, it's still one of the highest rates in the country. [More]

Low Carb Lane Family Wanted!

Fri, 23 Mar 2007 16:49:00+0100

Low Carb Lane are looking for a family to move in to their eco-friendly property in East Ashington, Northumberland. Work has started on renovating the two-bedroom house. The new tenants will be asked to open the door to show others how to live a greener life and save money on fuel bills. If you are interested in becoming the family of Low Carb Lane contact: Janet or Sanchia on 01670 854 422, or pop in for an application pack to East Ashington Development Trust, 82 Beatrice Street, Ashington, Northumberland. Don't miss Low Carb Lane featuring in 'Climate Change Make a Difference' on ITV, 17 April.

Climate Forecasting at Explorers

Fri, 16 Mar 2007 14:56:00+0100

Most of us watch the weather forecast each evening, so would happen if we had a climate forecast after the evening news? Would we take note and change our behaviour to try and improve the situation? If we wanted to produce a weather forecast for climate change, how would we design it? This was the task we set for our explorers. The evening started with some quick fire rounds of speed meeting. It's a great way to break the ice and get people chatting. Phil Hughes, chairman of Sustaine and IGNITE, was first up with a presentation on 'What indicators should we measure, and what should they look like?' Sustaine is a key multi-party sustainability forum in the North East, and has been working with the World Wildlife Fund and the Stockholm Environment Institute on an indicators programme. IGNITE is the Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Communities in North East England. [More]

Explorers - Sustainability and Wellbeing

Wed, 14 Mar 2007 20:37:00+0100

Date: 13 March
Topic: Sustainability and Wellbeing
Location: Robert Stephenson Centre

Most of us watch the weather forecast each evening, so would happen if we had a climate forecast after the evening news? Would we take note and change our behaviour to try and improve the situation?

If we wanted to produce a weather forecast for climate change, how would we design it? This was the task we set for our explorers.

The evening started with some quick fire rounds of speed meeting. It's a great way to break the ice and get people chatting. [More]

Hannu The Robot At Doors 10?

Fri, 09 Mar 2007 12:05:00+0100

Hannu Nieminen is Head of Insights and Innovation for Nokia, and from what he was saying we were lucky to catch him in the flesh at Doors in Delhi. He discussed the fact that we are now in a world of environmentally conscious consumers who care about the planet and and that atoms (objects) are now becoming 'bits' with information being moved around in a non physical form - cutting down the impact on the planet. As technology has developed so has cheap global travel and we now travel more rather than less. Hannu's answer is to create a robot of himself on which he can superimpose his face and personality and intereact with workers at Nokia's bases around the world (other people could use the same robot when he wasn't in virtual residence). Will we see Hannu the robot at the next Doors while the real thing stays home in Finland? [More]

A Sustainable Region?

Thu, 08 Mar 2007 10:58:00+0100

An independent board is being formed in the North East to provide advice on how to achieve ecomonmic growth alongside meeting social and environmental needs. Up to 12 individuals are expected to be selected for the 'Sustaine' board to guide sustainable development in the region. The board will provide strategic advice and promote best practice in sustainable development. It will lead innovative projects and provide regional leadership, including drawing up a North East Sustainable Communities Toolkit that will help local communities take action to become more sustainable. Board members for the unpaid posts will come from a wide range of backgrounds and possess a variety of different skills. Interested in applying? Visit the Sustaine website for more details. [More]