Following the huge success of the first networking event in October, UK AWARE is pleased  to announce the second in the Catalyst series which will be taking place on Thursday 20th January at The Hub in King’s Cross.UK AWARE is delighted to welcome Chris Arnold as our keynote speaker. Chris is the founder of the ethical marketing & advertising agency Creative Orchestra (the world’s first not for profit ad agency) and a former Creative Director of Saatchi & Saatchi.

• network and build relationships with other green and ethical organisations
• hear world class speakers with a proven track record offering knowledge and wisdom from past experiences
• pitch your ideas to the floor to gage response from trusted peers
• meet corporate innovators
• equip yourself with the tools to thrive and survive in the current difficult economic climate
• connect, innovate and share experience and contacts amongst other like minded organisations

Capacity is limited, so register for your free tickets now to avoid disappointment.

Options

‘As the Government gets firmly behind renewable energy with the confirmation of the Renewable Heat Incentive, installers need to look at the options available for making the most of these ‘green’ technologies,’

Adrian Troop, Nu-Heat’s Sales & Marketing Director.

Renewable energy encompasses any technology that takes its energy from the natural resources of the sun, wind, tides and ground. ‘Renewable’ simply means that this energy, unlike fossil fuels, is self-replenishing. There is an increasing range of renewable products, from wind turbines and wave hubs to biomass boilers, heat pumps, solar thermal and photovoltaic.

What has become increasingly apparent is that no single technology offers a complete solution, and that the way to achieve the most energy efficient systems for customers (and also to meet the increasing levels of the Code for Sustainable Homes) is in the integration of different technologies.   

Heat pumps with underfloor heating

The low flow temperature of warm water underfloor heating makes it an ideal partner for heat pumps, both ground source and air source.  When UFH is specifically designed to be fed by a heat pump, additional tubing and more efficient floor constructions facilitate the lower flow temperatures whilst still achieving the required internal temperature. Factors such as the thermal resistance of the floor covering are included in the heating calculations to determine the correct tube spacing. A floating floor panel with variable centres such as Nu-Heat’s Tri-Panel allows the most suitable tube density to be selected for appropriate flow rates, whilst screed offers the greatest flexibility and is arguably the best floor construction for conductivity. 

Heat pumps with radiators

Conventional thinking has questioned the viability of heat pumps integrated with radiators from the simple fact that reducing the flow temperature from 75 to 50°C requires a standard radiator to be approximately 250% bigger than normal. However, high output, low temperature radiators such as Jaga Strada’s DBE range go some way to answering this issue. The Strada features low energy fans activated by an intelligent temperature monitoring function to boost output by precisely the right amount.     

Heat pumps with underfloor and radiators

A combination of UFH downstairs and radiators upstairs may be a possible solution for a retrofit situation. Again, using the more energy efficient radiators available makes this a viable option. The goal of a combined UFH / radiator installation is to keep the UFH and radiator temperature exactly the same in order to maintain the efficiency of the heat pump system; low temperatures and a good Coefficient of Performance (CoP).

Sizing a heat pump

A system must be designed to deliver the best possible performance. Nu-Heat, for example, uses highly regarded design capabilities to ensure the correct sizing of a heat pump. Specialist software runs a simulation of performance over an average year, based on local monthly weather data. Heat pump systems are designed to an outside temperature of -3°C and an optimum bivalent point (the point at which supplementary heating cuts in). Once a heat pump has been sized, Nu-Heat calculates a year’s heating and hot water requirement giving an assessment of the Seasonal Performance Factor, including an estimate of the total heating and supplementary energy usage and an approximate cost for running the system.

Heat pumps, underfloor heating and solar thermal

To help achieve an even more efficient system, solar thermal can be integrated into the design. For domestic hot water, a cylinder such as Nu-Heat’s EnergyMaster HP Solar 360L hot water tank with solar coil will be appropriate. Each element of an integrated system is supplied with its own product-specific control so attention must be paid to insuring that there is no conflict between the controls. Information about what times of the day the heating and hot water will be used helps with the correct programming of the heat pump and solar controllers, ensuring maximum efficiency from both. The underfloor heating can be set back to reduce building heat loss whilst not in use. When specifying an integrated system, it helps if the supplier knows the estimated water usage – the number of bathrooms, power showers and so on to allow correct sizing of the system.

In summary, to achieve the best energy efficient system for customers, accurate design is of paramount importance as is the necessity to ensure that all of the technologies have been configured to work together in one integrated system with control systems that complement each other by making the most of their individual operational characteristics.

Nu-Heat is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

Get 15% off the cost of arranging breakdown cover through The Green Insurance Company during the month of January. With a selection of breakdown cover options available, choosing the right policy has never been easier. With more than 5,000 mechanics nationwide and an average call out time of only 40mins you’ll never be left stranded. That’s not all; we offer a priority service for female drivers or those with children at no extra cost.  Policies start from only £18.20*

Benefits included as standard:

• Over 5,000 qualified mechanics nationwide, available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year
• An average callout time of only 40 minutes anywhere in the UK, with a guaranteed £10 cashback if a mechanic doesn’t reach you within the hour
• Priority service for female drivers or those with children
• 2% of our annual profits are donated to good causes

*Price based on vehicle 5 years or younger with Roadside level of cover.

How to claim your discount:

Click here for a quick quote. To redeem your 15% discount simply enter the promotional code ‘ETHICALSALE’ when you purchase your policy online, or call 0844 842 5438 where one of our friendly team will be happy to help. Simply give them your discount code.

 GET A QUOTE

Terms and Conditions

The Green Insurance Company is an insurance intermediary, authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Registered address: 1 Masterton Way, Tannochside Business Park, Glasgow, G71 5PU. Qualifying criteria, terms and conditions apply.  These will be explained before you buy.  For your protection and ours, calls may be recorded or monitored. This offer is valid until 31/01/2011, and is open to new customers only, buying directly from The Green Insurance Company.

The Green Insurance Company is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

Get £40 off the cost of arranging car insurance through The Green Insurance Company during the month of January. We make it easy for you to go ‘green’ by offsetting 100% of your car’s harmful carbon emissions every year that you insure through us. So you can be kinder to the environment without compromising on quality or value.

Some of the benefits included in our policies as standard are:

• 100% offset of your car’s emissions
• Guaranteed courtesy car with comprehensive policies*
• 90 days European cover included as standard
• 24 hour accident and windscreen claims line
• 2% of our profits are donated to charity – helping others
• Special customer offers and discounts throughout the year

Limited Offer for Ethical Junction members: Get £40 off the cost of arranging car insurance through The Green Insurance Company

How to claim your discount:

Click here for a quick quote. To redeem your £40 discount simply enter the promotional code ‘ETHICALJAN’ when you purchase your policy online or call 0844 842 5438 where one of our friendly team will be happy to help. Simply give them your discount code.

GET A QUOTE

Terms and Conditions

The Green Insurance Company is an insurance intermediary, authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Registered address: 1 Masterton Way, Tannochside Business Park, Glasgow, G71 5PU. Qualifying criteria, terms and conditions apply.  These will be explained before you buy.  For your protection and ours, calls may be recorded or monitored. This offer is valid until 31/01/2011, and is open to new customers only, buying directly from The Green Insurance Company.

* Provided an approved repairer is used.

The Green Insurance Company is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

Are you enjoying being a green builder, but are frustrated about:

• Building code constraints
• Building projects that you don’t value because your clients aren’t willing to think outside the box about what’s possible
• Feeling isolated and alone because you are not getting the connection you want with others who share your values

Are you excited at the idea of:

• Supporting an off the grid ecovillage that is modeling a a new way of life
• Growing in your career as you build critical infrastructure necissary to demonstrate how to live sustainably
• Building friendships with new people who share your values, and support your work in the world

Learn more about the construction we do!

We use a variety of different natural building technologies including:

• Clay plaster
• Adobe floors
• Straw Bale Construction

Get an application:

Go here to get a green building construction career application.

Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

Passivhaus (translated as ‘passive house’ in English) is an approach to designing ultra low energy homes and buildings that is beginning to sweep the nation. Today (Tuesday 12th October 2010) Green Building Store launches ‘Future Passiv’ a short 10 minute documentary which makes the case for Passivhaus as a standard for all UK new builds – and even for the refurbishment of existing buildings.

Presented by eco broadcaster Penney Poyzer (BBC2’s “No Waste like Home”), ‘Future Passiv’ features Green Building Store’s Denby Dale Passivhaus project in West Yorkshire and outlines the many advantages of the Passivhaus approach to low energy building. As well as offering incredibly cheap heating bills (heating costs for the Denby Dale Passivhaus are expected to be around £75 per year), Passivhaus buildings can also make a significant contribution to tackling climate change, as well as being very comfortable to live in. ‘Future Passiv’ includes interviews with the owners of the Denby Dale Passivhaus and looks at the way in which Passivhaus design is really beginning to take off in the UK including housing associations, schools, offices and community centres as well as private homes.

Passivhaus design can create buildings which use 90% less energy for space heating than standard UK buildings. Based on the principle that reducing heating loss to the minimum is the most cost-effective way of creating a low carbon building, Passivhaus design relies on a simple ‘tea cosy’ effect maximising the use of super insulation and stringent airtightness. By combining this with passive solar gain and mechanical ventilation and heat recovery (MVHR) systems, Passivhaus design can create healthy and comfortable buildings that require minimal heating.

Penney Poyzer said,

“Passivhaus is a philosophy in itself. It is a mix of applied physics, common sense and practical wisdom and it can be applied to any type of building, not just housing. It can be applied to new build or retrofit. It is a proven technique which shows that it is entirely practical and feasible to aim for buildings that use 90% less energy than typical UK housing stock. If the UK is to achieve massive reductions in carbon then it is essential that we tackle the built environment. Across Europe, buildings account for 60% of carbon emissions. I believe that Passivhaus can slash those emissions now.”

The ‘Future Passiv’ documentary is part of a larger film ‘Passivhaus low energy building in the UK’  project which includes a 60 minute technical film for building professionals, covering all stages of construction of the Denby Dale Passivhaus  – the UK’s first Passivhaus to be built using traditional British cavity wall construction methods. With a Foreword by Jonathon Porritt, the film sets out to offer the UK construction industry a template for building ultra low energy Passivhaus buildings using construction methods and materials familiar to UK builders and designers.

The Future Passiv documentary and Denby Dale Passivhaus technical film are freely available to view at Green Building Store’s website www.greenbuildingstore.co.uk.

‘Future Passiv’ and ‘Passivhaus low energy building in the UK’ were filmed and edited by student film-makers and were made possible thanks to the kind sponsorship of Kirklees Council.

Green Building Store is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

There’s been much talk about prompting and nudging as ways of getting people to do the right thing.  But aren’t these just euphemisms for the old ‘push’ mentality that points the finger and blames and shames people into taking action?

People have never liked being told what to do – it’s no different now.  But they don’t seem to mind being reminded about what they are capable of.

Any brand or organisation with sense will put out messages that are attractive, appealing and accessible. People don’t have to be pushed into buying an iPad, going on holiday or buying the latest handbag.  They want to do it.  

Creating a greener business is not about goading people into being more responsible, but about encouraging them to be more resourceful in ways that are easy and appealing to do. Businesses – regardless of size – are in a great position to do that. They have everything they need to pull people in the right direction. It’s not rocket science.  All it takes is commitment, collaboration and an appetite for win/win situations. With a bit of incentivisation, creative thinking and inclusivity everyone can own the challenges and the successes of being a green business – not just the top management.

We know the best way to persuade people is to make things easy, fun and relevant. This approach informs every aspect of our environmental policy and it’s one of the reasons why we won the Sunday Times Best Green Business award last year. Introducing imaginative programmes can help your company stand out as a place to work, they needn’t cost much to implement – and can make significant savings to your bottom line.  With so many financial benefits to successfully promoting green policies, organisations like The National Trust, Bike Week, Waste Watch and The Science Museum having been working with us.  But nothing we do is revolutionary, anyone can do it – once you know how.

At Forster, running our business sustainably is part of our DNA.  But we’re still coming up with new ideas, mainly generated by our staff. To get you started, here are 10 tips from Forster’s Green Guide to Pulling:

1. Not everyone gets cold at the same time. Why not have jumpers available for those who feel a chill more easily and only put the heating on when the majority of the office request it? We gave some staff jumpers and hot water bottles and held off reaching for the thermostat for over two weeks at the beginning of last winter.
2. Get in touch with your local BID (Business Improvement District) to see what services they can offer. Forster is a member of Better Bankside who provide free recycling collection through funding from Smart Green Business. This has saved us over £1000 a year.
3. Organise a Biking Breakfast or lunchtime cycle while there’s still a bit of sunshine out there – and if it is a bit nippy, it’s a great way to get the blood pumping!
4. Another cycling one – offer prizes for the most journeys cycled, longest distance cycled and most improved cyclist over a month.
5. Do you have lights left on all day in some areas of your office, when they aren’t always occupied? Motion sensors can be fitted to lighting systems so that lights only come on when people are actually present, avoiding wasting electricity on empty meeting rooms and toilets. The initial cost to install can be under £200 but the savings will be much more over time.
6. Arrange cycle training for your staff. This can either be on personal bikes or one borrowed from a trainer, or in certain boroughs training on the Hire Bikes can be arranged. Click here for further information: https://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/roadusers/cycling/request-cycle-training.aspx and you can locate or organise a Dr Bike session so that staff can get their bikes checked and learn basic maintenance skills. Evans offer this service: http://www.lcc.org.uk/index.asp?PageID=876 but other local bike shops in your area might do the same.
7. Undertake a workplace travel plan – you can get funding for equipment, training or, like us, company pool bikes http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/cycling/14120.aspx#section-4
8. Swishing, swapping and sharing can be great staff social events and help the environment too. At a Swishing event last year Forster raised over £500 for charity and lots of ladies found exciting new additions to their wardrobes.
9. Start a loan shop. We asked staff what items they would find useful to have available to borrow and so purchased a drill, a sewing machine and a tent among other things to make up our loan library and avoid lots of people buying the same items, but not using them very frequently.
10. Think you’ve got no room for growing your own? At Forster we’ve made the most of every possible space with flowers and herbs in window boxes and potatoes growing in bags on our ‘compact and bijoux’ balconies. When it comes to harvesting we all get to share the benefits with tasty and fresh additions to our lunches. We’re coming to end of our season now – but we’ll soon be planning what to plant next year.  

Forster is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

Business Week Live: 10th November 2010, The Kent Showground, Detling nr Maidstone

Interested in promoting yourselves in a business to business environment?

Business Week Live will be held at the Kent County Showground, and will feature The EcoVillage, showcasing sustainable and eco-friendly businesses. This event is a broader business event run by the organisers of Construction Expo, who hope to bring the key elements and exhibitors of that event to Business Week Live.

The EcoVillage is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

The EcoVillage, the Kent based exhibition and events organisation, has been shortlisted for the Environmental Awards for Kent Businesses.

The awards, sponsored by Kent County Council, Kent Highway Services, Business Support in Kent CIC, the Environment Agency, the Kent Messenger Group, and E.ON, recognise and reward the innovative environmental and community work undertaken by Kent businesses. 

Within the Environment Awards, there are five themed categories;

• Environmental Engagement,
• Innovative Partnerships,
• Achievements in Resource Efficiency,
• Commitment to the Environment &
• Sustainable Business Management. 

The shortlisted businesses for the 2010 event are as follows:

• Sust Ltd – The EcoVillage, Whitstable·  
• Ashford International Hotel, Ashford  
• 3663. First for Foodservice, Paddock Wood  
• Rough Old Wife Cider LLP, Canterbury
• H+H UK Limited, Sevenoaks
• Geo-Mole Limited, Faversham
• Nordic Recycling Ltd, Gillingham
• London Beach Hotel, Ashford
• Skill Net Group, Canterbury
• Directline Structures, Ashford

The 2010 Environment Awards for Kent Business awards ceremony will be held at Salomons, Tunbridge Wells, on Thursday 23 September 2010, so we’re keeping our fingers crossed!

For more information on the Environment Awards for Kent Business, click here

The EcoVillage is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

The Green Insurance Company knows how much you value your pet. That’s why we offer a wide range of pet insurance polices making it easy for you to find the right level of protection for your pet, plus Motivano users can save an extra 5%!

For as little as £5.13* a month you could insure an important member of your family, giving you complete peace of mind.

Some of the benefits included as standard are:

• At no extra cost to you, choose to donate to one of our chosen environmental charity partners.
• Option to pay by interest free monthly instalments.
• All claims assessed by qualified veterinary nurses.
• Most claims settled within 5 days.

 *Price based on cat aged under 8yrs and area 1 postcode. Price correct as of 26/07/10.

How to order:

Click Here for a quick quote. To redeem your 5% discount simply enter the promotional code ‘GREEN362’ when you purchase your policy online.

Terms and Conditions

The Green Insurance Company is an insurance intermediary, authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Registered address: 1 Masterton Way, Tannochside Business Park, Glasgow, G71 5PU. Qualifying criteria, terms and conditions apply.  These will be explained before you buy.  For your protection and ours, calls may be recorded or monitored. This offer is valid until 31/08/2011, and is open to new customers only, buying directly from The Green Insurance Company.

The Green Insurance Company is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more