I should just briefly explain the name of this blog.

I started using the term eco-bling back in 2002 to describe the antithesis of my approach to low energy building design. Eco-bling is small scale renewable energy visibly attached to poorly designed, energy hungry, commercial buildings. It’s a zero sum approach as the benefit of the renewable generation is swamped by the energy demands of conventional building design. I advocate designing buildings that can achieve 50-80% carbon reductions through passive design and investing in de-carbonising the electricity supply at a national scale.

Well, over the last 5 years or so we have seen the proliferation of eco-bling rather than any real effort to improve our built environment. In my opinion this has largely been driven by eco-correctness amongst local politicians setting planning rules for totally in-appropriate on-site renewable generation at the expense of energy conservative design and large scale off-site renewables, which could actually make a real difference.

In a moment of frustration I voiced these opinions. I just happened to be in a press conference at the time and the rest as they say is history…

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6994439.ece

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jan/20/eco-bling-retrofitting-carbon-emissions