Oily truths and plastic lies

There’s a big problem in the plastic recycling industry. Oil companies are desperate to convince us that plastic recycling is possible, because it removes the guilt from us using so much of it in our daily lives. But in reality, there’s no such thing as plastic recycling.   In the UK, we’ve made plastic recycling at home far too complicated. If you … Read more

The relationship between Power and Energy – and what it has to do with your home

When we talk about “low energy homes”, what are we really talking about? Well, when we’re trying to build low energy homes what we’re figuring out how to use the lowest amount of energy to heat the entire space in your home to a comfortable 20DegC (and how to keep it at 20DegC). Where does energy come from … Read more

A tough day for building physicists and environmentalists

to those who will not have the benefit of two billion years' accumulated energy reserves - David Mackay

Today Professor David Mackay of the Department of Physics in Cambridge and former Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) lost his battle with cancer. Professor Mackay was the reason a lot of my colleagues moved into low energy design, microgeneration technology and sustainability industries. He was one of the … Read more