The Future of Energy

For the past few days, I have had time to look for papers and research on the way the UK will look at energy, there are a lot of reports available on the web, but each one is written with a particular slant to it, the Engineers looking for massive structure, the Government looking for tax, all the various business units looking to enhance their particular corner.

The recent exit from the European Union, has opened up a need to look at this in a new way, we are an island, we have many forms of energy resources available to us, long term and short term.

I can't find a paper academic or other, that looks at the whole gambit, of energy, from small users to the mainline industrial needs, the way solar can balance with other renewables, to the way things like my computer consume power, and the manufacturers views on power consumption for  the way we live and work.

Is energy consumption guided by the need to generate jobs, I hope not.

Energy is all encompassing to the survival of the human race, I was going to say the planet, but the Earth got on just fine till our insatiable needs started to upset the natural balance.

I don't have an answer, all I have are questions, Is Nuclear power right, is my belief in the sun powered devices well founded. do we need the electrical grid, is micro grid the way. Is Elon Musk right in his storage methods, does the electric car really make a difference, and do I need to travel so often to teach or do business.

As as for planning, are we right to have such a rigid enforcement of shape, orientation, material use thrust upon us, and how will any energy strategy impact of the existing building stock, notice I am looking at all types of existing buildings, historic through to modern.

My dad, alway used to say put on another layer, if your cold, in todays society, I think its not easy to do, the thermostat is so convenient, and looking back to cold damp houses it not a rosey memory.

BIM the darling of the industry, has it a place in energy usage, I tend to think it might, but true to my ethos in this research, I remain open, but you can be sure it will be looked at.

So what am I going to do, well my own research for one, I will open up a new CPD project called "Long term Energy", I am going to look at as many aspects of energy I  find, I will be as unbiased as I can, Yes climate is a criteria I think will be high on my list. The Report commissioned by the Government and written by the Royal Academy of Engineering, despite my opening remarks, offers a good guide, and the Wiki article on UK Energy is also a must read, and has excellent links and further reading.

My Evernote note book is now established, and I shall add clips and what ever I find into it, I am keen to share this research and get some sort of dialog going, if you want to share or link to my evernote notebook, drop me a comment of send an email.

Solar Time Vs Man made Time

On a very recent trip to Italy, I happen to see this excellent pair of clocks on a church, one was a solar clock, the other a mechanical clock.

If you look carefully, you can see that the solar clock shows 12 pm, yet the mechanical clock shows 11 am, yet both are right. Let me explain, the solar clock is as the sun depicts, it can not be changed, well not on this stone solar clock, yet the mechanical clock can be altered, as we enter daylight saving.

I like this a lot, it show how time works and how man has altered time to suite his needs, it opens up a lot for both shadow work, surveying and a simple yet fundamental view of our Solar system, the tilt of the earth to the sun, and its effect on weather.

Such a simple photo yet so full of information.

I will use this next year as I teach first year students in both simple surveying and detailing.

City Design

I am fascinated by CIty design, I love walking cities, trying to see how they have developed, and what is being developed, but I have yet to see how a city can transform the way this article in the Guardian article outlines.

I love the idea of a city thats truly green, a city that smells right, not of car fumes, and a city that loves light. but most of all a city that might live, not envy at night.

Lets get this straight though, it will not be easy, the article covers a lot of ground, and misses some vital points, services, existing services, and transport, but its a start.

The article might be a dam good two hours CPD, with all the followup and research, plus sketching, and looking at your own city. As I stated, I walk my own city a lot, and dismay at the lack of care, the waste, and road structure. But love the way some people can take an old building and bring it to life after so long in the back streets of industry.

Planting out a city takes time, and its not an instant thing, it takes an army of people to care for plants, I know this from our small garden, I can imagine this on a city scale, the water requires, the soil, the containers the leaf trimming, and the season effects, of changing planting at the end of summer.

Insects will once again become the norm, and we will have to get used to it, bees will flourish, and thats a good thing, after all, no bees or insect, no humans.

So there it is, an excellent article, and one that needs a lot of thought, Its not just the planners, its the human race that needs to take a action, the planners work for us, not the other way round, demand action, but don't think it is a one sided problem, we all need to get on board to achieve green cities.

In a few weeks I will visit Paris and one of the "To Do List" items will be to walk a long park thats been made out of old railway and industrial areas right in the centre of the City, can't wait.

Facebook and Twitter

Once again, I seem to be tied to time, and be so busy as not to find time to blog, so I have been using Facebook to record sites I thing are worthy of looking at, I use my Konstrukshon CPD page for most of this, please drop by and check out, I also use ifTTT to notify Twitter of all posts, so perhaps you might like to follow me there, @scays is the address, I also use Google+ to link articles from both here and Facebook, again using ifTTT .

Finding time to blog correctly at this time of year is proving not difficult, but a constant itch that I sometime have to scratch, I love blogging and sharing good construction info and knowledge.

Email is getting a bore, I seem to get so much junk, it was interesting at the time, or someone has got hold of my email address, but today I solved the problem, I have created a rule, this rule sends ant email address I have added to a specific folder, I might scan through them but I am afraid most will get the boot. You might ask why not do it straight away, just in case is my answer !!!!

So there it is, bit immediate blogs go to my Konstrukshon Page, of keep checking in, University will finish soon and time will allow me to blog in detail hear.

CIAT CPD Officers Meet 20-06-2016

In about five weeks, or on the 20th June 2016, all the region CIAT CPD officers will meet in City Road, London, to discuss CPD. As yet I have seen no agenda, but you know me, thats not going to stop me making a list of things I want to talk about, from manufacturers presentations, to real study time, to reading lists, to note taking to building up some sort of personal archive of information. to just an electronic record system.

I also want to discus the way BIM seems to be taking hold of CAD, not that thats a bad thing, just the way the "CAD" bit is being dropped and I hear only I am going to BIM this up, not CAD or draw it up. Yet BIM surely should be on the list as it will and is affecting the way we draw, and also with it huge potential for data rules base, or internal / external algorithms, and how it will be shared via IFC.

Evernote, or anything similar, is there anything!, should surely be discussed, as the personal archive I mentioned before.

Is there a place for online lecture, or hangouts, I attend several and find then just as good, with no travel time.

I wonder if the way academic papers are written and viewed, might be discussed, its a major way to learn and research a subject, but for many its a system that might be unknown, thinking its only for academics, yet its not, and so many of the AT universities might well help is reading and advising on a papers format and subject.

So there it is, if you want to add to my list,  drop me a line and  will raise it, or contact your local CPD officer.

Todays photo is of the old Queens Hotel that was built onto the side of Curzon Street Station Birmingham the subject of much discussion as HS2 becomes more of a certainty,  and pulled down as part of the saving of the main station entrance building. I have never seen any other photos of the hotel building, one of the other lecturers who was heavily involved in the work says there are some, so watch this space to see if they turn up. This shot was from the rear of the site looking south West wish.

Using Sketchup to make a Site Model

Sketchup has some great tools, but one them is the link to Google Earth and maps. This video below is  a classic video that shows so easily the way to build up a site model in 3D using these tools.

I have watched this several times, but for the purposes of CPD time I have claimed only 2 hours quality CPD time making notes the second time.

On Air CPD with Podcasts

I am a massive fan of podcast, they are usually the audio versions but some like Leo La Ports Twit shows I often take as the lite video version.

I am appalled that so much is made of strict manufacturer lectures,  have aired my feelings on this in many of my blogs, and just recently at the Region 5 meet.

Its to ridged and inflexible, perhaps another way is to listen to the many podcasts that are available, My list stretches from History, through to Technology, touching on a little social, and a lot of global news both general , and political, the SA elections at present are a real interest.

But Tech news for computing is probably my favourite at the moment with Twit tv blogs, I like This week in Google, even though I have gone away from them back to Apple, and Triangulation. a show that looks at the greats of computing.

The FT is my business new blog, and I also like the Guardian, although I don't buy the paper, the podcast is not bad.

I don't have to make a specific time, to listen to my blogs, I tend to do it either driving, or walking my dog, don't ask, Barley is well up to speed on computing.

I am also a big fan of Science and love the Guardian's Science podcast.
All downloadable from iTunes store and onto the Podcast play app, which auto downloads all my listening and shows them as unplayed,

There are not many construction podcasts of note, I am trying "The Construction Leading Edge Podcast" at present, it seems to publish quite regularly, 7 issues so far this year 2016, so I'll let you know. Its lot and I mean a lot of effort to produce a show thats worthy of releasing, so I am not surprised at the lack of shows related to our industry, I would like one just for us, and I have thought about it many times, but the time just is not there.

So there it is, another way to increase your quality CPD without spending at leat 2 hours either side of a 1 hour manufacture presentation, just plug in and enjoy.