Do smart grids offer a new incentive for SME carbon reduction?

Collectively small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are significant energy users although many are unregulated by existing policies due to their low carbon emissions. Carbon reduction is often not a priority but smart grids may create a new opportunity. A smart grid will give electricity suppliers a picture of real-time energy flows and the opportunity for consumers to receive financial incentives for engaging in demand side management. As well as creating incentives for local carbon reduction, engaging SMEs with smart grids has potential for contributing to wider grid decarbonisation. Modelling of buildings, business activities and technology solutions is needed to identify opportunities for carbon reduction. The diversity of the SME sector complicates strategy development. SMEs are active in almost every business area and occupy the full range of property types. This paper reviews previous modelling work, exposing valuable data on floor space and energy consumption associated with different business activities. Limitations are seen with the age of this data and an inability to distinguish SME energy use. By modelling SME energy use, electrical loads are identified which could be shifted on demand, in a smart network. Initial analysis of consumption, not constrained by existing policies, identifies heating and cooling in retail and commercial offices as having potential for demand response. Hot water in hotel and catering and retail sectors may also be significant because of the energy storage potential. Areas to consider for energy efficiency schemes are also indicated

Making the construction industry resilient to extreme weather:lessons from construction in hot weather conditions

The construction industry is susceptible to extreme weather events (EWEs) due to most of its activities being conducted by manual workers outdoors. Although research has been conducted on the effects of EWEs, such as flooding and snowfall, limited research has been conducted on the effects of heatwaves and hot weather conditions. Heatwaves present a somewhat different risk profile to construction, unlike EWEs such as flooding and heavy snowfall that present physical obstacles to work onsite. However, heatwaves have affected the construction industry in the UK, and construction claims have been made due to adverse weather conditions. With heatwaves being expected to occur more frequently in the coming years, the construction industry may suffer unlike any other industry during the summer months. This creates the need to investigate methods that would allow construction activities to progress during hot summer months with minimal effect on construction projects. Hence, the purpose of this paper. Regions such as the Middle East and the UAE in particular flourish with mega projects, although temperatures soar to above 40̊C in the summer months. Lessons could be learnt from such countries and adapted in the UK. Interviews have been conducted with a lead representative of a client, a consultant and a contractor, all of which currently operate on UAE projects. The key findings include one of the preliminary steps taken by international construction companies operating in the UAE. This involves restructuring their entire regional team by employing management staff from countries such as Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq, and their labour force from the sub-continent such as India and Pakistan. This is not only due to the cheap wage rate but also to the ability to cope and work in such extreme hot weather conditions. The experience of individuals working in the region allows for future planning, where the difference in labour productivity during the extreme hot weather conditions is known, allowing precautionary measures to be put in place

Time, the Written Record, and Professional Practice: The Case of Contemporary Social Work

Drawing on a three year ethnographically-oriented study exploring contemporary professional social work writing, this paper focuses on a key concern: the amount of time taken up with writing, or ‘paperwork’. We explore the relationship between time and professional social work writing in three key ways. Firstly, as a discrete, measurable phenomenon - how much time is spent on writing? Secondly, as a textual dimension to social work writing – how do institutional documents drive particular entextualisations of time and how do social worker texts entextualise time? Thirdly, as a particular timespace configuration of lived experience - how is time experienced by professional social workers? Findings indicate that a dominant institutional chronotope is governing social work textual practice underpinned by an ideology of writing which is at odds with social workers’ desired practice and professional goals. Methodologically, the paper illustrates the value of combining a range of data and analytic tools, using textual and contextual data, as well as qualitative and quantitative frames of analysis

Kennet Valley local plan Written statement: public consultation draft

SIGLELD:f84/0652 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Green Plan Action to improve Reading's appearance

10.00SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:OP/LG-5838 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Local transport plan 2001-2006

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:7300.890(2001-2006) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Waterways Plan

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:OP-LG/7735 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Kennet Valley local plan Written statement; deposit copy

Incl. 9 mapsSIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:OP-LG/2329 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Shopping impact study final report The demand for retail floorspace in Reading Town Centre and the impact of the proposed Oracle Centre

Work carried out by Roger Tym and Partners, LondonSIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:OP/LG-5839 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Planning commitments for housing at March 1998 Reading Borough; a survey by the Joint Strategic Planning Unit and Reading Borough Council

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:6509.05074(1998) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo