I got one of these gadgets for Christmas, looked interesting and got me pondering.  Setting it up requires measuring the flow rate of your shower which in our case was 10L/min.  A few weeks ago I remembered reading a review of showerheads (!!!) - but it was in the Architects Journal 'Sustainability in Practice' pages (26.11.09).  Water saving showerheads ranged from 3.5 to 9.6 L/min so our existing showerhead was just at the top end of the range.  A quick swap of heads to the best rated version, the 'Mira Eco', revealed a flow rate of 6L/min rather than 3.5L/min - I guess this is down the water pressure.

In advance of the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP15, Google Earth has published a series of Climate Change Tours with an introduction by Al Gore.

Some thoughts on EAVES following on from the hint about inadequate eaves on the 'Wood - Architecture Compact' review and with it being Blog Action Day 09: Climate Change - http://www.blogactionday.org/ 

These thoughts are coming very much from a UK perspective but might equally apply to other parts of our world.

The trend for buildings without eaves seems to be on the up.  The vast majority of buildings being published as exemplars of good design seem to be lacking such an important and basic feature that one wonders how this trend has gained such strength?

I've been looking at specifying a solar water heating system at our local community outdoor swimming pool.  As part of this process we visited some local pools that have already installed solar systems, these invariably used low temperature high flow panels (ie simple unglazed plastic panels).  From the feedback we were getting we understood that on sunny days these worked great but did not provide much input in less than sunny conditions (although none of the systems had any way of quantifying the gains made by the solar system).  Interestingly, we were pretty sure that the passive gains made by our pool during sunny weather had enough impact for the thermostat not to trigger the gas boiler.

I have a lot of books on Timber Architecture, it’s always a joy adding to the collection.  In recent years there have been quite a few titles that give a whistle stop tour of selected timber buildings - Architecture Compact WOOD joins this genre.  The book is indeed compact, measuring 180mm x 230mm, and so travels well - to Cornwall in my case.  As you would expect, the photography is both inspiring and informative with a smattering of text in English, German and French.  There are about 40 buildings to visit, primarily in Europe, from a mixture of big name architects and small studios.

If statistics is your cup of tea then take a few minutes to look at this great web tool from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.  Load and visualise statistics from the library or load your own.  Run animations of statistics changing over time, change visualisation methods, create your own statistics story....  a very powerful tool indeed..

Joe Thompson posted a link to this website on the Carpenters Fellowship website - well worth spending some time having a look.  The Chancellerie du Présidial in Blois, France is of particular interest.

Website: Carpenters from Europe and Beyond

This fascinating black & white film from 1961 shows the ingenious engineering required to move an entire 16th century Tudor house in Exeter, Devon.  Now known as 'The House that Moved' - the timber framed building was hauled on castors to make way for a new inner by-pass.

The film includes various shots of the house as it is lifted onto castors and manoeuvred inch by inch up the street. The footage includes an interview with the man in charge of the operation.

The film ends with a shot of the house in its new location.

Link to Film.

I have always found the firewood stack to be an object of beauty and reassurance.  There are many great 'stack' traditions from around the world but this one is a stack apart.  Built in Latvia near Aizpute this gem goes on the list of places to visit.

Heat pumps are becoming increasing popular in the UK to provide space heating for domestic projects.  With clients sometimes requesting their use on the grounds of energy efficiency I wanted to get to the bottom line of how efficient it actually is to heat a house using heat pump technology.  Below is the simple maths based on broad brush figures, I will leave the reader to make their own conclusions.