Policy documents, research peer reviewed and cutting edge
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What are Passivhaus Standard Requirements?
The requirements for a home to meet Passivhaus Standards. The Passive House Institute detail these as follows:
- Space Heating Energy Demand should not exceed 15 kWh per m2 of net living space per year.
- The Renewable Primary Energy Demand, the total energy to be required for all of your home’s domestic applications, must not exceed 60 kWh per m2 per annum.
- For Air-tightness, a maximum of 0.6 air changes per hour is allowed at 50 Pascals pressure (ACH50). This will be verified with an onsite pressure test.
- Thermal comfort should be met for all living areas for energy-efficient houses in both summer and winter seasons. This shouldn’t exceed 25°c for any more than 10% of the hours in a year.
- The "fabric first" concept of making sure the property is heavily insulated, is paramount - and generally to a much higher standard than current UK Building Regulations.
See our detailed blog regarding Passive House Standards as defined in the US/UK CLICK HERE
The image indicates the mechanical ventilation system [red and blue circuits] - in this example the fresh incoming air has been routed under the basement to pick up some 'heat' from the earth [in the winter] and to cool this same air in the summer - "Earth Heat Exchanger" A further method to reduce the total energy requirement of this design.
Also indicated is the summer sun entering the building via the windows, with suitable shading {roof overhangs] to prevent over-heating in the summer. However in winter, the lower sun will penetrate deeper into the structure, thus giving a valuable solar gain in these colder months.
The Basement will also be used for rainwater harvesting - to be filtered and used for flushing toilets and even bathing and showering etc. Thus reducing the cost of drinking water into the property.
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This report expands on the Location of DevelopmentLocation of Development series of research examining the location of approved planning applications for major residential developments across England. Using new data sources, this research seeks to explore the accessibility of these new developments to a variety of different amenities.
You can download the report here or read in full below
Report authors
Samuel Spencer, RTPI Policy and Data Analyst
David Pendlebury, MSc
Acknowledgements
This report has been made possible thanks to the use of transport data originating from the Department of Transport (DfT) and provided by the National Audit Office (NAO) as well as thanks to a private database of planning approvals that was curated and made available by LandTech.
Executive Summary
This report builds on the Royal Town Planning Institute’s Location of Development work series commenced in 2015. This third report analyses planning permissions granted between 2015-2019 in England.
The location of new development, defined in this report as recent planning permissions for new major residential housing, can significantly impact accessibility to key amenities for residents across England in several ways including:
- Access to amenities that support economic opportunities, healthcare services, and educational facilities varies widely by location and mode of transport or new planned developments.
- In locations with a major agglomeration of jobs such as London and the North West, reaching key amenities by public transport takes less than an hour. In other regions, a comparable journey can take nearly twice as long.
- This research highlights the stark differences across England. For example, in the 10% most accessible planned developments, access to jobs and educational facilities will be within a 30-minute walk. In the 10% least accessible planned developments, access to the same facilities will be over 90 minutes walking time away.
- We analysed new residential developments in England based on the location of planning permissions approved between 2015 and 2019. This showed that access to amenities from these locations is twice as fast by car compared to public transport, and nearly three times quicker than by walking. Average public transport travel times to hospitals or large employment centres were also comparable or slower than walking, which may not be a realistic option for all residents of these new developments.
The impacts of such diversity in the location of development are potentially severe and wide ranging. This report recognises that some individuals will make a personal choice to live in more isolated locations. However, there is a significant proportion of planned development and major housing sites which be poorly connected to key amenities by any modes, including the most sustainable, healthy and affordable transport options.
This impacts on those who live in the least accessible of new developments in multiple ways. They will have less access to economic opportunity, reduced access to - and choice of - healthcare and educational provision, and fewer options to choose their mode of travel.
Where there exists a positive link between accessibility to key services and house prices, a lack of accessibility will serve to widen economic and health inequalities. New communities with poor accessibility encourage private vehicle dependent travel, which undermines initiatives to encourage sustainable transport use in line with net zero objectives and promote healthy lifestyles.
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Choosing the best motherboard for your mining rig is a crucial step that some new miners tend to overlook.
Just because a motherboard’s specs meet the required amount of PCIe lanes doesn’t mean its bios settings will support mining of a multi GPU configuration. However, with the support of several manufacturers, you can now purchase motherboards designed explicitly for mining cryptocurrencies. With many different variations of mining motherboards to choose from I decided to put together this guide of which motherboards are best suited for as well as my top 4 picks of mining motherboards too date [May 2022].
Key considerations will the total power draw, cooling options [please consider liquid cooling systems - as air is a poor medium for the transfer of heat compared to water or other fluids], price of electricity and budget. In addition for the really serious players newer IMMERSIVE LIQUID TECHNOLOGIES are worth considerations for overall efficiency {fewer fans, more efficient heat transfer and consequently a lower power draw/cooler operational aspects.
Using renewable's to generate the electricity for such 'mining' operations will help make such an activity cost effective - even with the price of the various crypto currencies now being much more volatile. So the Capital Costs of such set-ups will still be a big factor.
In the end, the best motherboard for mining in 2022 can vary depending on the end-users specific needs and more importantly budget. For mining with a server case frame then one might choose BIOSTAR TB250-BTC D+ due to its no riser architecture, but for, the ASUS B250 MINING EXPERT is going to be the best option.
| Motherboard | PCIe Slots |
| 1. ASUS H370 MINING MASTER | 20 GPU |
| 2. MSI H310-F PRO | 13 GPU |
| 3. BIOSTAR TB360-BTC PRO or D (without risers) | 12 GPU |
| 4. ASUS H370 Mining Master | 20 GPU |
| 5. BIOSTAR TB250-BTC | 6 GPU |
| 6. GIGABYTE GA-H110-D3A | 6 GPU |
| 7. MSI H270-A PRO | 7 GPU |
| 8. ASUS Prime Z370-A II | 8 GPU |
| 9. ASROCK H110 Pro BTC | 13 GPU |
| 10. BIOSTAR TB250-BTC PRO | 12 GPU |
| 11. GIGABYTE B250-FinTech | 12 GPU |
| Table of the better and available Mining Motherboards. Some needing risers to connect to the GPU's | |
Best Mining Motherboards
Due to the high demand for mining motherboards most are sold out. Below is a few models that are good to build a mining rig with that are in stock now.
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Coal mine methane (CMM) is the term given to the gas trapped in coal seams, which has an approximate chemical composition of 70% methane, 15% carbon dioxide and 15% nitrogen. The gas is released once the seams are mined and can then escape to the atmosphere. Internationally, the UK was the sixth largest producer of coal mine methane in 1990,140 behind China, the former Soviet Union, the USA, Germany and South Africa. The UK submission to the UNFCCC declares that 0.24 Mt of methane were emitted from active coal mines during 2002, accounting for 12% of all UK methane emissions.
Historically, the contribution of coal mine methane to the UK’s methane budget was more significant when major coal fields in the UK where extensively mined for power generation and industry (Figure 20). However, the decline of the UK coal industry and subsequent large-scale pit closures has resulted in far fewer mines and emissions. In 1947 there were 958 mines producing 189.6 Mt of coal annually. At present, there are just 17 deep mines and 39 open cast mines in the country, producing a total of 27.8 Mt coal in 2003.
The open cast mines release methane directly to the atmosphere. However, emissions from such mines are small as the seams lie close to the surface and have retained little of their original methane over geological time.
Why recover coal mine methane?
The primary reason for recovering coal mine methane is safety. Historically, underground mine explosions have been the cause of many injuries and fatalities, so reducing methane concentrations underground has aided mine safety operations.
Secondly, there is an economic motivation: if methane from coal mines can be captured, it can be used directly as a fuel or to generate electricity.
Lastly, there is the environmental imperative: reducing emissions of methane to the atmosphere aids the meeting of Kyoto and other targets.
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Notice that the methane levels have jumped up to 1800 ppb in the last 50 years [Blue Line] the global mean temperatures [Grey Line] used to mirror methane spikes, but now something else is happening graph source https://methanelevels.org
RECENT AND HISTORICAL DATA [Post 1983]
Since 1983, globally-averaged CH4 levels have been collected and updated monthly as new samples are added to the analysis. A 3 month lag is required to ensure the data has been properly vetted for possible contamination. Prior to 1983, methane levels have been extracted from ice core data from Antarctica.
Globally-averaged, monthly mean atmospheric methane abundance is determined from marine surface sites. The Global Monitoring Division of NOAA's Earth System Research Laboratory has measured methane since 1983 at a globally distributed network of air sampling sites.
Credits: Ed Dlugokencky, NOAA/ESRL (www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends_ch4/)
METHANE
E. Dlugokencky, S. Houweling, in Encyclopedia of Atmospheric Sciences, 2003
Biological Production
Decomposition of organic matter by bacteria under anaerobic conditions in, for example, wetlands, flooded soils, sediments of lakes and oceans, sewage, and digestive tracts of ruminant animals, involves complex simultaneous processes that can produce methane as a byproduct.
Read more: Rising Methane Levels - and impact on Climate Change