The energy efficiency pyramid, urban planning successes & vertical farming

Sorry for the slow stream of blog posts recently, I've been out of the office a lot. I spent yesterday looking at some innovative home systems for dealing with wastewater in Dundalk, and I'll try to blog about that soon. But for now, here's a bumper bunch of links.

Interesting profile of a small Welsh town designed in 1925 with some green principles in mind: Sustainable Cities Collective

Vapour profiles help predict whether a wall can dry: Green Building Advisor

The pyramid of energy efficiency — is this a useful tool for approach energy upgrades? Treehugger

How Britain's homes could make cost free emissions cuts: Guardian

Insightful interview with renowned green architect William McDonough on "cradle-to-cradle" design: Forbes

Improving the energy efficiency of buildings — IIEA conference in Dublin, Sept 3. IIEA

London's new "green" Strata tower named ugliest building in Britain: Treehugger

If the grid didn't exist, would there still be a need to invent it? Infrastructurist

Top 20 urban planning successes of all time: Public Servant Blog

Some vertical farms could actually get built says the SSC. George Monbiot, writing in the Guardian, thinks it's an absurd idea.

RIAI course on designing low energy retrofit in association with Joseph Little Architects: RIAI

Profile of a pay-as-you-save scheme in the UK: Guardian