Reading the newspaers across three continents today there was alot of talk about carbon neutral buildings and zero net energy buildings.  One report from Sydney said that the greenest buildings will be the tallest, just like nature I thought.  But on investigation and the advertisement in today's Financial Times from United Technologies sets it out nicely, zero emissions often means thinking more about using the technologies we already have and combining them sensibly.  It also involves a little common sense.  But that doesn't stop companies pushing their technologies as being new!  It comes with the times I guess.

Glancing through the newspaper stories it seems the mantra is little an often, something Danish engineers at a recent conference I attended, repeated again and again.

  You'll save energy by planning how and when you use it so that your CCHP system (Combined Cooling, Heating and Power System) improves energy efficiency essentially by placing energy in the right and in the right place. Solar and wind will package up some savings as well and if you are clever feed the grid, intelligent window settings will climatise the building so there is less need for energy, lift technologies that can regenerate electricity as they move doubling efficiencies and generators use fuel cells that use carbonless energy.  If you aren't there yet, then geothermal energy can top up.  That might mean that not only do you save but there might be the odd carbon credit in it as well.

  There aren't any numbers to check in these analyses but it sounds impressive and the great thing is that many answers that allow us to act now, are there.

How do we get companies and individuals to put these energy strategies in place and quickly.  Ken Livingstone has begun the process with cars.  Should there be a building equivalent?  New builds are easier to tackle, but older buildings?  Listed buildings?  Residental buildings?  New planning applications are setting the agenda and it is likely that local councils will force though lower energy targets.  The question is the rest.  We can't have a congestion charge, we can up standards so replacement systems in old buildings comply to new and higher standards and we can pressure manufacturers.  The answer might be to apply the pressure little and often and as often as the small company and individual can bear it.