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Increasing demand for cooking oil and biofuels has made palm oil, > 80% of which is grown in South-east Asia, the dominant globally traded vegetable oil. However, this region is host to some of the world?s most biodiverse and threatened tropical forests. Strategic engagement with commercial operations is increasingly recognized to be an essential part of the solution for raising funds for conservation initiatives, raising consumer consciousness and potentially stemming environmental degradation. Linking market incentives towards conservation is also of critical importance because it is becoming widely recognized that conservation needs to begin to address the wider countryside (outside protected areas) where human?wildlife interactions are frequent and impacts are large. Using the Sumatran tiger Panthera tigris sumatraeas both a threatened species in its own right and emblematic for wider species diversity, we show that western consumers are willing to pay a significant premium for products using palm oil grown in a manner that reduces impacts on such species. Results suggest that the price premium associated with a ?tiger-friendly? accreditation may provide a useful additional tool to raise conservation funds and, within the right institutional context, serve as an inducement to address the problem of habitat and species loss

Global concern around energy use and anthropogenic climate change have resulted in an increased effort to reduce the energy demand and CO2 emissions attributable to buildings. This has led to the development of a number of low energy building standards, one of which is the internationally recognised Passivhaus Standard.The Passivhaus Standard aims to reduce the space heating energy demand of a building by adopting a 'fabric first' approach, thus ensuring the thermal envelope is highly insulated and airtight whilst also maximising passive solar heat gains. However, adopting such an approach does present a risk of overheating; a situation that is of particular concern when the occupants have additional healthcare requirements.This study uses 21 months of in-use monitored data to consider the overheating risk in a UK Passivhaus dwelling with vulnerable occupants using both static and adaptive thermal comfort assessment methods. The analysis of the data suggests the occurrence of substantial overheating according to PHPP, CIBSE Guide A and CIBSE TM52 criteria. The analysis was then expanded to consider a novel composite method to overcome the limitations of existing approaches, allowing overheating to be assessed during non-typical periods i.e. the heating season. This revealed apparent overheating during colder months, in addition to substantial night-time overheating. This has implications for the thermal comfort assessment of low energy dwellings and the design and operation of Passivhaus buildings, particularly those with vulnerable occupants.

To meet targets on fuel poverty, energy efficiency and carbon emissions existing homes need to be more energy efficient. We report the results of a participatory action research project to explore the challenges associated with energy efficiency retrofit programmes and ways to better implement future schemes.Six focus groups were held with 48 participants from a range of energy efficiency roles. Data were analysed thematically using the research question "What are the challenges presented by implementing energy efficiency retrofit programmes".We identified four themes in the data: Funding mechanisms; Predicting performance; Installation; and People. Challenges include funding mechanisms for retrofit programmes resulting in insufficient time to plan, publicise, implement and evaluate a scheme and insufficient flexibility to specify the most appropriate intervention for individual homes. Site workers sometimes need to adapt retrofit designs because of insufficient detail from the designer and can equate quality of installation with quality of finish. Landlords and occupier behaviour can impact on the programme's success and there is a need for greater information on benefits for landlords and for energy behaviour change interventions run alongside retrofit programmes for occupiers. There is a need for outcome evaluations of retrofit schemes with the results shared with stakeholders.

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