Zero Ambitions Podcast

Guestless, we had a chat amongst ourselves and talked a lot about social housing and retrofit. Eventually, we even got on to talking about Alex's passiv shed. We've got some links below to the things we talked about. A link to the BE-ST Fest 2022 web page.Jan Rosenow's article 'Is heating homes with hydrogen all but a pipe dream? An evidence review'.That Richard Seymour book: The Disenchanted Earth: Reflections on Ecosocialism & Barbarism (it's really good and a very easy read).Ryan Philip's blog 'Heat Pumps are not the Answer'.That Guardian article about how the Scottish rent cap will affect social housing.The white paper we wrote about how social housing could be a catalyst for the retrofit industry.We'll add a link to some photos of Alex's shed. Keep an eye on his LinkedIn profile.**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.Join the AECB Join ACANSubscribe and advertise with Passive House Plus (UK edition here too)Email Alex and Dan about websites, branding, and communications (zap@eiux.agency; Everything is User Experience)**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**

We got a chance to have a chat with a bonafide celebrity, Ed Begley Jr. As well as being a TV and Hollywood actor, Ed is a long-time environmental activist, and in those terms, Ed is a man who walks the walk, not just red carpets. Jeff got in touch with him to speak about the Platinum LEED house he was able to build following the success of his reality TV show. The interview was actually conducted for Passive House Plus magazine, but we thought it might work as a podcast episode too, so we recorded it and have a version ready to put out as a bonus episode on the Zero Ambitions feed.We talked about Ireland, what it's like to be a sustainability-focused person promoting better practice in a land of overconsumption, his long-time interest in environmentalism, the challenges of any resource-conscious building project, and Ed's three pillars for driving progress in sustainability activism.**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.Join the AECB Join ACANSubscribe and advertise with Passive House Plus (UK edition here too)Email Alex and Dan about websites, branding, and communications (zap@eiux.agency; Everything is User Experience)**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**

The immensely knowledgable and experienced Marina Topouzi and Nigel Griffiths joined us for a chat about retrofit, this time adding heritage into the mix and acknowledging the past, not just thinking about the future.Marina Topouzi is a research associate at the Environmental Change Institute's energy research programme in the Lower Carbon Futures team. Her current project researches deep renovation policy initiatives and policy mixes across the world including both technology-focused and people-focused policies. Marina has been involved in building the Eco Retrofit App - a risk management tool to support low-energy skills literacy and mitigate the risk of poor-quality retrofits. She is a steering group member for the BSI PAS 2035: 2019 Retrofit standards.Nigel Griffiths is a sustainability and energy efficiency expert in the built environment with over 25 years’ of experience as a practitioner, project manager, author, and consultant. As Director of the Sustainable Traditional Buildings Alliance, he works at the cutting edge of sustainability for heritage buildings. He is the author of numerous reports and several books on sustainable building including the Eco House Manual (Haynes 2007, paperback edition 2016) and more recently From Retrofit to Regeneration: A blueprint for post-Covid recovery.**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.Join the AECB Join ACANSubscribe and advertise with Passive House Plus (UK edition here too)Email Alex and Dan about websites, branding, and communications (zap@eiux.agency; Everything is User Experience)**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**

Alex and Dan took some time to speak with Allan Smith, Low Carbon Manager at Morrison Construction, to find out about how a tier one contractor is approaching the low-carbon game.The conversation took in the viability of the Passivhaus standard at scale, the responsibility for leading your supply chain in learning how to deliver for you, a little bit of retrofit, and a little about the difference between private and public sector demand. **OUR OWN 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)Join the AECB Join ACANSubscribe and advertise with Passive House Plus (UK edition here too)Speak to Alex and Dan about websites, branding, and communications (Everything is User Experience)**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**

A great discussion with Gavin, the Chief Executive of the CIH, and Callum, who is the National Director in Scotland. We had a fascinating conversation that covered a wide range of housing policies, including new builds, retrofits, the private rented sector and loads. This is the second part of the podcast we recorded.

Last year before CoP26, we spoke to Scott Foster, the Director of Sustainable Energy and Jenna Crammer at the Green Building Alliance in Pittsburgh. This year between the 21st and 23rd of September, the U.S. will host the first ever Global Clean Energy Action Forum in Pittsburgh. The three-day event will feature a high-level plenary, topical roundtable with energy and science ministers from 31 countries, CEOs and experts, side events, technology demonstrations, and other activities. As the High-Performance Buildings Initiative – Centres of Excellence will feature throughout the summit, we thought we would rerelease the episode we did last year.

A great discussion with Gavin, the Chief Executive of the CIH, and Callum, who is the National Director in Scotland. We had a fascinating conversation that covered a wide range of housing policies, including new builds, retrofits, the private rented sector and loads. This is the first of a two-parter, with the second out Thursday the 22nd of Septebmer.

This Zero Ambitions bonus episode is the second part of our CIH collaboration, produced a Scotland's Housing Festival 2022. Again, we're joined by Callum Chomczuk (National director, CIH Scotland) following the 'Four nations - one PRS system' session. That session introduced PRS reps from across the UK presenting their take on the priorities and challenges faced by the PRS housing system, particularly looking at post-devolution divergence across the regions.We were joined by:Alice Simpson | Board member, CIH ScotlandProfessor Ken Gibb | Director, UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence (CaCHE)Daryl McIntosh | Policy manager, Property MarkDouglas Haig | Board member, CIH Cymru and non executive Janet Hunter | CEO, Housing RightsMany thanks to our speakers and all the guys at the CIH who helped us out on the day.The CIH podcast can be found on the CIH website, Spotify, and the usual other apps. **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.Join the AECB Join ACANSubscribe and advertise with Passive House Plus (UK edition here too)Email Alex and Dan about websites, branding, and communications (zap@eiux.agency; Everything is User Experience)**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**

We don't have a standard Zero Ambitions episode this week so we're putting out this bonus episode that we recorded back in May. We are joined by Callum Chomczuk (National director, CIH Scotland) following the festival's opening session "The right to a home". It is the first of a collaborative two-parter we produced a the Chartered Institute of Housing's Glasgow Conference, Scotland's Housing Festival 2022. At this session our speakers talked about why human rights and dignity must be at the heart of our housing policy, as well as the notion that having a stable, secure home is central to every aspect of our health, wellbeing, educational attainment. We were joined by:Gavin Smart | CEO, Chartered Institute of HousingDr Elaine Webster | Director, Centre for the Study of Human Rights Law, and Senior Lecturer at Strathclyde Law SchoolFanchea Kelly | Chief executive, Blackwood Homes and CareMike Dailly | Solicitor advocate and principal solicitor, Govan Law CentreMany thanks to our speakers and all the guys at the CIH who helped us out on the day.The CIH podcast can be found on the CIH website, Spotify, and the usual other apps. **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.Join the AECB Join ACANSubscribe and advertise with Passive House Plus (UK edition here too)Email Alex and Dan about websites, branding, and communications (zap@eiux.agency; Everything is User Experience)**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**

First, thanks for the heads-up, Joe!Part two of our chat with Robin McAlpine is an experienced political strategist and founder of the Scottish think tank, Common Weal. (Again. it's a little profane at points, so be warned if you have kids about.)Over the two episodes, we discuss the political landscape, the actual economics of change, how power is exercised in order to activate and inhibit change, and what plans to achieve a zero-impact society might actually look like.Links to other things that we mentionedCommon Weal websiteCommon Weal's Green New Deal for ScotlandCommon Weal t-shirts La Haine, "so far, so good" clip Do watch the whole film though, La Haine Tales from the Mall, by Ewan Morrison **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.Join the AECB Join ACANSubscribe and advertise with Passive House Plus (UK edition here too)Email Alex and Dan about websites, branding, and communications (zap@eiux.agency; Everything is User Experience)**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**