Many institutions and companies don’t invest in solar pv because they think it will take decades to recover the cost…but really they are missing a trick.
#Norwich University of the Arts have just had a big install (186 panels) that is projected to pay for itself within just 7 years.
Loco Home Retrofit is hiring for 3 roles in or near Glasgow: Marketing and community engagement, Technical leadership (retrofit), Innovation Programme Manager. These are senior roles and this is a good company to work for (I am on the board HR committee and the employee handbook is good). Astonishingly competently run. It has real values that it is really accountable to and is a coop owned by its workers and customers. https://locohome.coop/vacancies/ #Job #ClimateCrisis #Retrofit #Glasgow #LocoHome
I believe we need a civil service, but what Bingham says about BEIS rings very true in my experience of it from a completely different field of #retrofit, for which it also had responsibility.
How do we get the civil service we actually need?
This is an important question because it really matters at times of crisis…and climate breakdown is just as bigger crisis as #Covid, if not more so.
Alexandra Rd Estate, #Camden #retrofit dilemma:
- Brutalist architecture
- Social housing
- Communal heating
- How to maintain?
Residents want to maintain integrity of original design. The homes are Grade II listed, iconic, used in numerous films. Also they don’t suffer from damp/mould and have flat rate billing.
But the council thinks the heating is costly and difficult to maintain.
But if they have had bothered to get this far into the article they would have seen a graph that makes it clear to the public, mainstream media how much the #retrofit industry was cut to its knees by #Tory decision to ‘cut the green crap’
Loft and cavity wall insulations fell off a cliff between 2012 and 2013. Without the government putting in funding for these measures the industry withered away. We are having to start over…and #Labour are sadly all just talk. The reality is more of the same.
I did something to amuse myself last night. I decided to post this story about how bad the situation is in the UK in terms of our cold, drafty homes that leave people in debt trying to heat them…to LinkedIn.
Most of my connections on there are people working in the #retrofit industry. People who profess to care about #insulation and improving the energy efficiency of homes.
Tumbleweed.
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/heating-uk-home-winter-insulation-cold-191422173.html?
I know writing a letter to a newspaper won’t change a damn thing…I don’t even know who bothers to read the letters page when we have BTL commenting on most articles.
But I could think of no other medium to express myself in response to #Starmer’s words last week during #Cop29 that he will “not [be] telling people how to live their lives”.
#Retrofit
#CostOfLivingCrisis
#FuelPoverty
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/nov/18/making-homes-greener-isnt-nanny-statism
#Retrofit is proven technology. It cuts emissions, bills and reduces chronic health conditions and even saves lives from extreme weather.
To boot for every pound spent by government on retrofit, according to Professor Sir Michael Marmot the Treasury saves £3.
What’s not to like about retrofit?!
Alas I fear the #Labour government have decided it’s not a vote winner because to implement it they fear being seen as the nanny state.
Stop reading the Daily Fail #Starmer.
Simon Francis, a coordinator at the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, said:
“The only way to bring down bills permanently is through investment in insulation, home improvements, renewables and infrastructure which will free us from volatile gas prices for ever. But in the budget, the chancellor only confirmed half the spending commitment Labour pledged in their manifesto to the warm homes plan.”
We are building the supply chain and creating the market for the kind of work that I want to be able to buy. It has been quite a lot of work just to get some insulation and a heat pump installed. But with a lot of help from a lot of friends, we can create the market and make it possible for many people to buy that which was not previously possible. Now you can click "Make a plan" and begin a supported retrofit journey. #Retrofit #ClimateCrisis #LocoHomeRetrofit #Coop https://locohome.coop/ 2/2
My retrofit origin story: I bought a home in Glasgow that needs to be retrofitted, and I am an academic so I got the best textbook on how to do that ("Sustainable Renovation", free PDF online) and I found the best recommended local tradesperson to do the first bit of work and I pulled out the textbook and said: "Can you do something like this" and he said "Nah. I will do it like I always do it.". So several years later I am a non-exec director of Loco Home Retrofit. #Retrofit #Glasgow 1/2
Ich wünsche ein innovatives #ComputerSimulationsSpiel das nicht nur Auszubildene am Bau, #Architekten, #Häuslebauer u.a. von der #Qualität, aber auf Dauer auch von der #Sparsamkeit von #energieeffiziente #Passivhaus o. Nachrüstung gem. #EnerPHit #Retrofit und deren Vorteilen nicht nur für den #Klimaschutz, bereits beim #Hausplanen auch #Wohnungs u. #Hochbauer mitnimmt #zukunftsförderlich #weiterzudenken gern dürfen auch alle Freunde von
@fff mit weiter denken & Anregungen einbringen
Diese Woche werden wieder alle Arten von #ComputerSpiele , #Videogames auf der #gamescom der diesjährigen #gamescom2024 vorgestellt.
Wer macht mit beim #PassivhausSimulator einem neuen ' #Aufbauspiel, einer #Wirtschaftssimulation für #nachhaltigesBauen bzw. #nachhaltigesNachrüsten von Bauten jedweder Art, die #sparsam und zugleich mehr #passive immer wieder #ErneuerbareEnergie nutzen statt #fossile Energieträger jedweder Couleur.
#EnerPHit #Retrofit
Homeowners are now in a position where their homes are un-sellable as un-mortgageable due to loft spray insulation.
It’s just the same position as those who had cladding on their apartments in the style of Grenfell…but because the cost to remove is under £10K and individuals rather than whole blocks are liable, it goes under the media radar.
If #Labour wants to accelerate #retrofit they must address previous faults in the industry.
The damage that loft spray insulation has done to the #retrofit business cannot be underestimated.
Many of these installs were government funded so homeowners assumed it was a safe choice. The installers at the time could have been #Trustmark registered…but now that means nothing, because of the late realisation of danger from poor installs of the product by surveyors.
In France, efforts to convert fossil-fuelled vehicles to electricity on a larger scale have been underway for several years, with varying degrees of success. With the help of the national subsidy programme (plus extra bonus in some regions) and in collaboration with Renault, this could be a solution for larger vans (Renault Master III): from €27,000. Is it worth it for an old van?
https://www.avem.fr/2024/07/05/tolv-et-renault-proposent-le-retrofit-electrique-du-master-iii/
#EV #retrofit
Feeling frustrated by #Labour on domestic property #Retrofit. I was expecting to, but…
#Starmer has committed £6.6 over the course of a Parliament (basically 5yrs) to upgrade 5 million homes.
#Sunak is saying #Tories will spend £6 billion over 3 years to upgrade 1 million homes.
I’m not convinced Labour grasp the scale of the problem in terms of cost, time or delivery.
So I got out of my comfort zone again today to give a talk with a long-standing activist friend about #retrofit as part of #Norwich Friends of the Earth Green Week.
I’m not a natural public speaker. As a #deaf person I find myself in a double bind at these events.
a) I struggle to hear all of what the other speakers are saying (sadly this is particularly true of female speakers)…so I find myself switching off.
b) I can’t comprehend the volume of my own voice…so I fear I frustrate audience.
I think I'm in love! 
Swedish #RetroElectricDrive converted a 1979 #Volvo 265 GLE!
They replaced the old 2.7-litre petrol engine with a new #electric motor from Siemens. The car went from 123 Hp / 196 Nm, to 149 Hp / 297 Nm, and yes, it can rapid charge too! 
(Norwegian Article)
https://www.tv2.no/broom/denne-vekker-oppsikt-pa-ladestasjonen/16706932/
Kingston's Efficient Homes and Low Carbon Transport Show is all about creating more comfortable, energy efficient homes, and greener travel!
https://www.earth.org.uk/Kingston-Efficient-Homes-Show-2024.html
) 