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10 Reasons Why You Should Not Eat Meat
4 Jun 2019

Alexis Rowell News Eliminating the bird flu, You could save the environment

10 Reasons Why You Should Not Eat Meat

As we had discussed the importance of reducing the meat presence in our diets earlier, we will use this article to present 10 reasons why you should not eat meat. Of course, this is not an overnight process as it takes time to get used to a diet without meat, but considering all the benefits and problems we solve, it is worth consideration.

Animal cruelty would be eliminated

Not that all farmers are cruel to animals, but there are extreme cases when humans do not act right towards the animals. Some of these are kept in sheds without windows, on the leash and other confinement systems. These animals are just kept for slaughtering so we could eat them.

Pigs at a factory

You could save the environment

More than 40% of green-house emissions come from eating the meat, which is far more than when you combine all trucks and cars on the planet. Another reason to stop eating meat!

Eliminating the bird flu

The bird flu could be caught by eating uncooked chicken flesh or eggs, or if a meat is cut on the same board where the infected chicken was laying.

Longer lives

It is scientifically proven that people who do not eat meat live longer. Also, you greatly reduce the possibility of heart disease, cancer and stroke.

when-you-stop-eating-meat1

No heart disease

People who eat meat have 50% higher chances of catching a heart disease. That is why vegetarian live longer!

You will not be fat

More than 30% of people who live in urban area are obese and have problems with overweight. Eliminate the meat from your menu and you will be fit!

Global Peace

Once you realize that those who like meat actually provoke the killing of animals, you will understand that no meat should be eaten.

More vegetables mean better health

To replace the meat, you will have to increase your vegetable daily intake dose. All vegetables are great for our health!

vegetarianism-wide

Money

For all those who are concerned with money, you will spend less money as you do not eat meat. Cool, isn’t it ?

Processed meat is as toxic as asbestos

Hot dogs, hams, bacon and sausages are equally carcinogenic as asbestos. Think about it next time you want to eat spam!

 

Chris Huhne Calls For Every New Home To Reach The Passivhaus Standard
4 Jun 2019

Alexis Rowell News Mr Huhne

Chris Huhne Calls For Every New Home To Reach The Passivhaus Standard

The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Chris Huhne, has described the Passivhaus comfort and energy efficiency standard as “a watershed moment in our relationship with the built environment” and said he “would like to see every new home in the UK reach the standard.” Mr Huhne was speaking at the first ever UK conference devoted entirely to discussion about the Passivhaus standard, which which was held at Islington Town Hall on Monday 11th October. The main topic on this conference was building new houses that will incorporate the Passivhaus standard as a way to improve the already made concept of eco homes.

The Passivhaus standard is a comfort and energy efficiency standard for both new build and retrofit which was designed by German architectural engineers more than 20 years ago.

Thick walls, triple glazing, heat recovery ventilation and, where applicable, careful solar orientation of the building means, in most cases, there’s no need for central heating or air conditioning – the warmth of human bodies and electrical appliances is enough. There are now thought to be about 100 Passivhaus buildings either completed, under construction or being planned in the UK. It is estimated that there are tens of thousands in Europe. The new concept of eco-friendly home is not something new, but rather a redesigned concept that could have a huge positive impact on the environment preservation.

huhne

Mr Huhne promised the introduction of a “minimum standard for fabric energy efficiency” as part of the government’s forthcoming Green Deal. He told conference delegates that the Green Deal would be “underpinned by a strong framework of standards and accreditation – for assessors and installers” and that “eligible energy efficient measures [would] be focused on the building fabric, and [would] have to be installed to the highest standard.”

Alexis Rowell, the Director of the UK Passivhaus Conference, said: “Whilst I support the principles of the Green Deal, I am concerned that it will allow householders to install a potpourri of measures that will not add up to a coherent whole; using builders who will not have to follow a measurable, energy-based route map; and that consequently the Green Deal will not significantly reduce energy demand. I’m delighted to hear that there will be a minimum standard for fabric efficiency, but I’m worried that unless the standard uses Passivhaus design principles it will not get us anywhere near the 80% cut in emissions needed by 2050.”

chris-huhne

Mr Rowell went on to say: “Chris Huhne described heat recovery ventilation as an “expensive, nice-to-have add-on” but it’s not. In my opinion there’s no conceivable way to reach an 80% reduction in carbon emissions across the UK building stock without using heat recovery ventilation. I’m delighted that he’s taken on board the message that eco bling – mini wind turbines etc – isn’t the answer, but I do think he needs to think again about heat recovery ventilation.”

Mr Huhne also said that “a new paradigm was needed in housing, where value is measured in the running costs to 2050 and beyond, and where we look at total cost – construction cost and running cost.” Mr Rowell welcomed this statement and said: “As the Secretary of State pointed out in his speech the cost of building to the Passivhaus standard is coming down all the time.

It’s already the case in the UK that when future energy bills are included in build cost Passivhaus developments are cheaper than conventional build, but in both Germany and Belgium Passivhaus architects are achieving build costs that are lower than conventional build even before accounting for future energy bills.

In his opening speech to the UK Passivhaus Conference Mr Rowell called on the UK government to: “introduce the Passivhaus standard into building regulations for new build by 2016; to work with the UK building industry to provide training on the Passivhaus standard; and to use the Passivhaus retrofit standard (a slightly easier-to-hit target than the full Passivhaus standard) for the government’s forthcoming Green Deal.” Although it takes a lot of effort to make this standard become a default one, the way for implementing is bright. It will not take long before the every new house that is going to be built would use this standard.

3 guys

Answering questions after his speech Mr Huhne said he thought the Passivhaus standard was probably too tough and too expensive for most British refurbishments but he promised to visit any retrofits that proved him wrong. Mr Rowell later told delegates: “Our challenge now is to provide the Secretary of State with the evidence and the spreadsheets to show that retrofitting using Passivhaus design principles does not have to be prohibitively expensive, will lead to dramatically more comfortable houses and is the only way to reduce the energy demand of existing buildings by 80% or more.

Notes to editors:

1. The UK Passivhaus Conference is a biannual not-for-profit event. The aims of the conference are to further knowledge, to stimulate debate and to press for change.

2. The PH standard requires that the total energy demand for space heating and cooling be less than 15 kWh/yr per m2 of floor area and that the total primary energy use for all appliances, domestic hot water and space heating and cooling be less than 120 kWh/m2/yr. There must also be no more than 0.6 air changes an hour at standard pressure (50 Pa), which is more than ten times better than the average UK new build. This last point is why the creator of the standard, Prof. Wolfgang Feist, always describes it as first and foremost a comfort standard. No draughts and heated fresh air means comfort. There’s also now a trial PH retrofit standard which is slightly easier to reach (25 kW/h/m2 and 1.0 air changes per hour).

3. In December 2009 the BRE released a Passivhaus Primer which said: “The fabric performance requirements required for level 6 of the Code are based upon the PassivHaus standard. With the exception of flats, it is not generally possible to achieve Code Level 6 without adopting a performance specification similar to Passivhaus.”

The Health Decline Of The UK’s Countryside
4 Apr 2019

Alexis Rowell News habitat loss and climate change, Pesticide, The continuous decline

The Health Decline Of The UK’s Countryside

The problem of urbanization, carbon level and human’s impact on our environment can be see in the simplest form that shows the level of damage that has been done to the UK’s countryside. The latest study points out the problem of pollinators in the UK, as one-third of wild bees have ceased to exist in the areas where their number was in the highest amount.

The study used data that presented clusters of the wild bees that lives in the area from 1980 to 2014.

The continuous decline

Some previous studies had also pointed out the problem of decreased pollinators, due to the human impact on our environment. To make things worst not only bees’ number diminished but also number of hoverflies, carabid beetles and moths.

natural-england

Still, some 13% managed to expand their existence and this includes mostly bees that are responsible for oilseed rape and crop pollinating. But at least one quarter of the area that was populated by this insects is now empty. This continuous decline is a clear warning sign that should make us think much more about our countryside’s health and preservation. This is also a big problem for ecological and agricultural environment, which has a really slow process of regenerating.

Pesticide, habitat loss and climate change

One of the biggest reasons, beside the human’s impact, are also pesticides, habitat loss and climate changes that happen globally. Farmers would use various pesticides to protect their crops from pests, but that directly rejects the bees and insects, or even kills them, as these chemicals are highly toxic.

Green nature

People expand their presence and cut down woods to make farms, houses and plants which in return influences the presence of these precious insects. On top of that, climate changes that happen thanks to human, cause insects to move out to a more appropriate area that is suitable for their lives.  This directly disrupts the balance between these insects, as some studies also shown that some species have expanded their presence violently.

Taking into consideration the fact that these studies are not final and complete, we could say that we have a really bad news wildlife and its conservation.

Passivhaus – The Comfortable And Energy Efficient Standard
1 Feb 2019

Alexis Rowell News Passivhaus

Passivhaus – The Comfortable And Energy Efficient Standard

Since humans do more and more damage to our planet every day, it becomes obvious that we could use some new concepts whose theory revolves around the planet’s protection. The real future of nature’s and environment’s preservation, especially when speaking about houses and buildings, lays in the high level of comfort and small level of energy use for heating/cooling.  This is where Passivhaus standard comes in!

Zero Energy Building

However, the standard is not present in the world that much, but there are some indices that show that the things could change in the near future. For this occasion, let’s say a few things about the Passivhaus standard.

Why should we use it?

First of all, the full utilization of this standard results in 75% reduction of heating energy, which we, in default standards, do not pay attention to a lot. Once we decrease the heating energy consumption, it means that we decrease other performances in various industries, which ultimately leads to a less carbon release during the heating process.

PH_from_the_inside1

Not only we protect our atmosphere, but we also protect the wildlife and rare species that depend on our mercy and technology. The best thing about this standard is that supports retrofit projects.

How to achieve this standard?

Of course, achieving a standard is not that easy, but it can be possible if at least 50% of our population becomes aware of the problems that we cause with our “obsolete” technologies. In order to achieve standards, there are a couple of things that this concept involves:

  • Highly accurate modelling via Passive House Planning Package
  • Use of materials that have high level of insulation efficiency
  • High-performance windows that use insulation materials in frames
  • Thermal bridge-free construction
  • A highly efficient ventilation system.

While it takes a lot of time, effort and resources to comply with all of these things, it is more than worth of that effort. Various certifications will ensure that meeting the requirements is complete and that you can have a highly energy-efficient home. This is especially true when we loon on the long-term effects.

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  • Chris Huhne Calls For Every New Home To Reach The Passivhaus StandardChris Huhne Calls For Every New Home To Reach The Passivhaus Standard
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