Consuming Higher Education explores the status of students within the university and society, and the funding and purpose of higher education, drawing on empirical data, UK and USA government policy documents, speeches by policy makers and media representations of students. Joanna Williams moves beyond the debates surrounding fees to consider the impact of the consumption model on universities, learning, knowledge, and student identity. While consumer status initially appears to empower students, Williams argues that it ultimately erodes students' autonomy and reduces learning to an...

Housing is a major contributor to CO2 emissions in Europe and America today and the construction of new homes offers an opportunity to address this issue. Providing homes that achieve "zero carbon," "carbon neutral," "zero-net energy" or "energy-plus" standard is becoming the goal of more innovative house-builders globally, whilst energy providers seek to decarbonise the energy supply to new and existing development.

Various new technical systems for achieving these goals are beginning to emerge. For example the passive house whose energy requirement for space heating and cooling is...