Zero Ambitions Podcast

Jeff and Dan

Zero Ambitions is a consultancy and weekly podcast about sustainability and the built environment.

We find interesting and experienced guests who know what they're talking about, usually to discuss how we navigate the complexity of decarbonisation and sustainability in the built environment and its many related sectors.

The success of the podcast has seen it grow into a consultancy, Zero Ambitions Partners. The consultancy works with blue chip clients, public sector institutions, and niche-market innovators that operate in the built environment, advising about the development and delivery of sustainability strategy and how it should be communicated.

Hosted by Jeff Colley (Passive House Plus), Dan Hyde (Everything is User Experience) and Alex Blondin (Everything is User Experience).

Episodes

Mentioned books

May 8, 2023 • 1h 32min

How should we calculate carbon and how long should a building last? With Dr Oliver Kinnane and Dr Richard O'Hegarty of University College Dublin

This week we're joined by Dr. Oliver Kinnane and Dr. Richard O'Hegarty of University College Dublin to discuss their recently published paper: A whole life carbon analysis of the Irish residential sector - past, present and future. In some ways it's quite a technical episode, delving into calculation methodology, but one tempered by lots of meandering diversions. The pair are academics who both occupy positions in the rarefied world of academia and can hold their own space at the coal face of the built environment, and this is one part of a body of work that is focused on unpicking the sort of detail that the industry really needs. Their paper looks into carbon consumption in the residential sector, from both an operational and embodied perspective, forecasting results in line with Ireland's national development plan and climate action plan using a methodology that accounts for consumption, not just production. Notes from the episodeThe paper we're discussing: A whole life carbon analysis of the Irish residential sector - past, present and futureTheir previous paper: Whole life carbon quantification of the built environment: Case study Ireland Grant Chalmers' tweet illustrating changes in regional carbon consumption: April 2023 median carbon intensity gCO2eq/kWh) and power consumption breakdown (%). Data via Electricity Maps, table via R {gt} package.Another paper: Small Penises and Fast Cars: Evidence for a Psychological LinkThe Building in a Climate Emergency Research Lab**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**We don't actually earn anything from this, and it's quite a lot of work, so we have to promote the day jobs.Zero Ambitions Partners email address - zap@eiux.agencySubscribe and advertise with Passive House Plus (UK edition here too)Join ACANJoin the AECB Join the IGBCListen to Accelerate to Zero, Sara's podcast produced at BE-ST, on Apple or Spotify Email Alex and Dan about websites, branding, and communications - zap@eiux.agency; Everything is User Experience**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**

May 1, 2023 • 1h 17min

MMC is value engineering that should benefit everyone, with Emma Elston and Amandeep Singh Kalra of Be First Regeneration

This week Alex and Dan were joined by Emma Elston (Sustainability Associate) and Amandeep Singh Kalra (Associate Director) to talk about all things MMC (modern methods of construction). The pair are working on some pioneering projects that are utilising MMC in order to deliver value throughout the supply chain, including a construction pattern book that could be of massive value to everyone involved, long into the future.Notes from the episodeBe First Regeneration website / LinkedInThe Be First design team's InstagramModernise or Die by Mark Farmer We haven't included the UK government website, as per Emma's recommendations (we're sure you'll be able to Google it though)Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey A Moore**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**We don't actually earn anything from this, and it's quite a lot of work, so we have to promote the day jobs.Zero Ambitions Partners email address - zap@eiux.agencySubscribe and advertise with Passive House Plus (UK edition here too)Join ACANJoin the AECB Join the IGBCListen to Accelerate to Zero, Sara's podcast produced at BE-ST, on Apple or Spotify Email Alex and Dan about websites, branding, and communications - zap@eiux.agency; Everything is User Experience**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**

Apr 24, 2023 • 1h 22min

Informed architects will want to do more: convincing clients to do better and Michelin stars for building performance, with James Woodall (Sustainability Lead at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill)

For a change, it's an episode that mainly concerns sustainability for non-residential building design. Friend of the show, James Woodall joined us to talk about his experiences in sustainable architecture in all its complexity, and how to help clients do better work by challenging briefs, asking difficult questions, and then help clients to answer those questions.We also covered the untapped potential for rewarding positive outcomes by promoting them (i.e. a Michelin star guide for building performance), how the effectiveness of building design is impacted is affected by location and climate, the importance of understanding embodied carbon versus operational (and how the emphasis and importance of each is will flip at some point soon), and the great work LETI is doing in creating guidance for retrofitting commercial buildings.Notes from the episodeSkidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)The paper about embodied carbon that we mention: A whole life carbon analysis of the Irish residential sector - past, present and future by Richard O Hegarty and Oliver KinnaneThe LETI website, do check it and sign up to their mailing list, it's right there on the homepage.**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**We don't actually earn anything from this, and it's quite a lot of work, so we have to promote the day jobs.Zero Ambitions Partners email address - zap@eiux.agencySubscribe and advertise with Passive House Plus (UK edition here too)Join ACANJoin the AECB Join the IGBCEmail Alex and Dan about websites, branding, and communications - zap@eiux.agency; Everything is User Experience**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**

Apr 17, 2023 • 1h 3min

Retrofit, risk, and reward: how energy efficiency is set to increasingly affect the value of property, with John Baguley (Director of Technical, Risk and Compliance, Countrywide Surveying Services)

John Baguley, Director of Technical, Risk and Compliance at Countrywide Surveying Services joined us to talk about how sustainability in the built environment is being affected by market forces, and how energy efficiency is likely to impact market conditions.A vastly experienced professional who has seen all sides of the industry his experience affords him a different perspective on all the usual angles. There are no simple solutions but we discussed how energy efficiency is affecting property valuations (well, it is and it isn't), how change is likely to be driven, and the writing that we're able to see on the wall.**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**We don't actually earn anything from this, and it's quite a lot of work, so we have to promote the day jobs.Zero Ambitions Partners email address - zap@eiux.agencySubscribe and advertise with Passive House Plus (UK edition here too)Join ACANJoin the AECB Email Alex and Dan about websites, branding, and communications - zap@eiux.agency; Everything is User Experience**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**

Apr 10, 2023 • 6min

Unsustainable ambition and the absence of content

Apr 3, 2023 • 1h 8min

Learning from our mistakes? Looking back at ten retrofits, ten years later, with retrofit pioneer Marion Baeli (PDP, Passivhaus Trust)

This week we're with Marion Baeli, an architect who is a retrofit pioneer, a partner at PDP London, a board member of the Passive House Trust, and the author of seminal retrofit-related text Residential Retrofit: 20 Case Studies. Some time ago we saw her posting about the impact DPEs are having on the property market in France and we realised that we had to have her on.We talk about the imminent reprise of her book, a look back at ten of those case studies and the lessons learned since (that's how we justified the clickbaity "mistakes" in the title, it's more about lessons than mistakes, that's why we added the question mark). We also discuss progress and the significant changes that the retrofit industry has seen since the book was first published in 2012 (air source heat pumps, as it turns out).Obviously, we talk about EPCs and DPEs too.Notes from the episodeMarion Baeli on LinkedIn and on the PDP websiteLe Monde Sans Fin - the french comic book aboutPrincedale Road retrofit project in Passive House Plus and on PDP's own websiteThe Scottish Housing News podcast we guested on, about the impact of passive house policy there, where we met Andrew Kubski who we reference; it's worth a listenSara's podcast Accelerate to Zero, produced at BE-ST, on Apple or Spotify **SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**We don't actually earn anything from this, and it's quite a lot of work, so we have to promote the day jobs.Zero Ambitions Partners email address - zap@eiux.agencySubscribe and advertise with Passive House Plus (UK edition here too)Join ACANJoin the AECB Join the IGBCEmail Alex and Dan about websites, branding, and communications - zap@eiux.agency; Everything is User Experience**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**

Mar 27, 2023 • 1h 4min

Systems design for passive houses, radon research as a proxy for ventilation, and some further education. With Dr. Barry MCarron (PHAI, CREST)

In this episode, we had the pleasure of Dr. Barry McCarron's company, from his car, during a break in the conference he was attending. If you’re looking for an inspiring journey into academia and leadership in low-energy building, Barry’s story has you covered. We also talk about how passive house certification appears to mitigate risk from radon, the impact of further education (as opposed to academia), and how proper systems design is essential to making even passive houses work properly.Barry earned his doctorate at Queens University Belfast in a piece of academic research of real consequence: comparing the levels of the deadly cancer-causing gas radon in passive houses to other dwellings. Radon, the radioactive gas which kills roughly as many people as road deaths in Ireland, can increase in low-energy buildings. Barry's research covered why passive houses appear to buck the trend, itself something of a proxy for the wider ventilation conversation.Now at South West College in Enniskillen - who recently developed the groundbreaking passive house premium-certified Erne Campus - he is the chair of the Passive House Association of Ireland and is doing powerful work to bridge the gap between academia and the construction industry.Notes from the episodePassive House Association of IrelandSouth West College Crest Centre (Centre for Renewable Energy and Sustainable Technology)**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**We don't actually earn anything from this, and it's quite a lot of work, so we have to promote the day jobs.Zero Ambitions Partners email address - zap@eiux.agencySubscribe and advertise with Passive House Plus (UK edition here too)Join ACANJoin the AECB Join the IGBCEmail Alex and Dan about websites, branding, and communications - zap@eiux.agency; Everything is User Experience**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**

Mar 21, 2023 • 1h 17min

Passive house can lead to more than just houses: community engagement, control pathologies. and propagating systemic change. With Helena Fitzgerald (Department of Economics at the University of Limerick)

Our guest on this episode is Helena Fitzgerald, a passive house designer, and architect whose experience of building her own passive house led her to move beyond architecture.Taking a stance on passive house - as an attempt to be green - prompted self-reflection in Helena, which took her career off on what might seem a wild tangent. Now a research fellow in the Department of Economics at the University of Limerick, Helena's new direction is focused on equitable, community-centric, scalable sustainability. Helena's home is a striking, architect-designed, one-off passive house. It's a home beyond reproach in terms of energy efficiency, although we might query the stove today, knowing what we now know about biomass. That said, its rural location bakes in car dependency and renders it a home that couldn't be for everyone - criticisms that are addressed directly, and thematically, in the course of our conversation.As ever, it was a roving conversation with familiar themes: the importance of acting in a manner that is results-driven to guarantee desirable outcomes; technology on its own isn't enough, systemic solutions and localised community engagement are just as integral. We even start nudging at revolution.Notes from the episodeHelena's passive homeCitizen Innovation Lab - LimerickSmart Lab Limerick**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**We don't actually earn anything from this, and it's quite a lot of work, so we have to promote the day jobs.Zero Ambitions Partners email address - zap@eiux.agencySubscribe and advertise with Passive House Plus (UK edition here too)Join ACANJoin the AECB Email Alex and Dan about websites, branding, and communications - zap@eiux.agency; Everything is User Experience**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**

Mar 14, 2023 • 1h 25min

Unconventional approaches to space heating: infra red, ceramics, and the necessity for good design. With John Morehead (Wain Morehead Architects)

This week we’re talking space heating, with John Morehead of Wain Morehead Architects. Last week Jeff had hoped to talk about the absurd space heating assumptions in the standardised calculations that go into things like EPCs and BERs, so we decided to dedicate this week's episode to it. Jeff's been keen to get John on for a while, so it seemed like a prim opportunity to tempt him to join us, and it worked.That said, we didn't talk much about those assumptions and, unexpectedly, we started with a discussion of Feng shui. Don't worry though, we quickly segue into the discussion about space heating and the use of infrared heating as a complementary heating system. It should be said that with the appropriate design strategies and post-occupancy assessment in place, there are massive opportunities to create spaces that better suit a user’s comfort needs, as well as making them more energy efficient, which will save money.There's not much by way of show notes, we kept it mainly anecdotal. However, he did ask us to plug TUD's Master of Science in Building Performance (Energy Efficiency in Design).**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**We don't actually earn anything from this, and it's quite a lot of work, so we have to promote the day jobs.Zero Ambitions Partners email address - zap@eiux.agencySubscribe and advertise with Passive House Plus (UK edition here too)Email us about websites, branding, and communications - Everything is User Experience; zap@eiux.agencyJoin ACANJoin the AECB **END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**

Mar 9, 2023 • 55min

EPCs are just a ritual (pt. 2): what could we be doing in order to do better, with Adrian Leaman and Bill Bordass (UsableBuildings.co.uk)

Here we go, part two of last week's recording with returning guests, Bill Bordass and Adrian Leaman. This continues our response to that Times article that was doing the rounds last week, now looking at what we should be doing, in lieu of appropriate and demanding guidance from the institutions that dictate terms.We pick up where we left off. Enjoy.Notes from the episodeThe Usable Buildings websiteThe article that sparked the episode - EPCs are a national scandal, from The Times Newly Restored: E.F. Schumacher on Film (1977)Energy Performance of Non-Domestic Buildings: Closing the Credibility GapEnergy Performance in Use Government PolicyBuilding performance evaluation in the UK: So many false dawnsBuildings the Key to Energy Conservation (1979) How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors Behind Every Successful Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration (2023), by the unpronouncable Bent Flyvbjerg and Dan Gardner - 'Would have been better if they had not eulogised Gehry and toned down the hyperbole', as reviewed by AdrianThe chart that Jeff refers to again from The Energy Performance Survey of Irish HousingSleepwalking into unsustainability, a presentationThe National Retrofit Hub LinkedIn page**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**We don't actually earn anything from this, and it's quite a lot of work, so we have to promote the day jobs.Zero Ambitions Partners email address - zap@eiux.agencySubscribe and advertise with Passive House Plus (UK edition here too)Join ACANJoin the AECB Email Alex and Dan about websites, branding, and communications - zap@eiux.agency; Everything is User Experience**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**

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