PH+ revisited: 'Cold Truths' about heating and energy in Britain, with Kate de Selincourt

Today, we have a new show on the feed. Long-time friend and contributor to the Zero Ambitions Universe, Lloyd Alter is taking the reins to look back at some of the fine work that Jeff has commissioned over the years, with a mind to making it more accessible to a wider audience.

So, in parallel with the main show, Lloyd will be curating a tour through some of the best of Passive House Plus, interviewing the work's authors, and looking at the subject matter from a transatlantic perspective.

This week we are joined by journalist Kate de Selincourt to talk about her 'Cold Truths' two-part feature, published back in January of this year. It might seem out of place to be discussing it in July, but these issues shouldn't just be seasonal because if we're only talking about them in winter it's already too late to act.

• Cold Truths: Part 1
• Cold Truths: Part 2

Kate's links

• Kate's own website 
• Kate on Twitter 
• Her appearance on our 'overheating' episode last summer 
• Kate’s research on the PHT website: the Passivhaus Trust Costs & Benefits research report  
  1. Download the Benefits summary guide (part two) here
  2. Download the Health & Wellbeing PDF from here (it's referenced in the further reading section) 

Lloyd's other links

• Safety checks run down and boom time for criminals: this is why the UK is becoming the ‘dustbin of Europe’ - Lloyd shared this article with us shortly after the conversation, which neatly sums up much of our conversation
• A paywall-free link to the FT article Lloyd mentions 'The battle over M&S Oxford Street and construction’s carbon footprint'

**SOME SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**
We don't actually earn anything from this, and it's quite a lot of work, so we have to promote the day jobs.

• Zero Ambitions Partners email address - [e-mail]
• Subscribe and advertise with Passive House Plus (UK edition here too)
• Check Lloyd's Substack: Carbon Upfront
• Join ACAN
• Join the AECB 
• Join the IGBC
• Listen to Accelerate to Zero, Sara's podcast produced at BE-ST, on Apple or Spotify 
• Email Alex and Dan about websites, branding, and communications - [e-mail]; Everything is User Experience

**END OF SELF-PROMOTING CALLS TO ACTION**

What is Zero Ambitions Podcast?

Zero Ambitions is a consultancy and weekly podcast about sustainability and the built environment.

We find interesting and experienced guests who know what they're talking about, usually to discuss how we navigate the complexity of decarbonisation and sustainability in the built environment and its many related sectors.

Hosted by Jeff Colley and Dan Hyde, publishers of Passive House Plus magazine (UK and Ireland), the podcast has now grow into a consultancy, Zero Ambitions Partners.

The consultancy specialises in defensible sustainability communications. We create the strategy that makes built environment leaders stand out, enabling them to occupy positions that are distinct and defensible.

As with the podcast itself, we help organisations to communicate about what they do and the value that they offer. Usually, this means strategies to change a conversation from price to value and how to futureproof an offer with evidence that makes its claims watertight.

If you're a leader, or want to become one, we help you to make sense of where you stand in your sector, how to improve your positioning, how to communicate this to the market you operate in, and how to highlight the difference between you and your peer group.

If you can engage your value chain by speaking about what matters to them, you can educate your key stakeholders and turn them into evangelists for your cause.

Book a ‘ZAP Defensibility Audit’, but brace yourself
- Uncover value and opportunities that you may 
not have recognised
- Find out if your sustainability claims are defensible
- Find out if your claims are too meek
- Change the conversation from price to value