Refrigerants Phase-out
Urban
cool
Regulators and planners are still focusing on how to heat
buildings, ignoring strong evidence that ‘coolth poverty’ will
soon be their most pressing problem. Ewen Rose reports
B
y the middle of this century most London moment, much of it is aimed at heating and fuel poverty,
summers will be as hot as the heatwave but we now have a problem with ‘coolth’ poverty [when
experienced in 2003 during which 600 people people need to spend a disproportionate amount of their
died in the capital from heat-related causes, income on keeping their homes cool].”
according to scientists. The combination of the urban ‘heat SIRAC chairman Graeme Maidment says that people
island’ effect and a growing population – likely to have living in a typical apartment built in the 1960s would be
reached between 8.2m and 8.6m by 2026 – will mean that experiencing temperatures above 25 degrees C for more
cooling becomes the priority for London planners, says than 35 per cent of the time by later this century. He is
Syed Ahmed, the Greater London Authority’s principle concerned that efforts to address this will drive up energy
policy officer for climate change and energy. consumption from air conditioning.
In 2006, London’s peak summer energy demand “Ten per cent of global energy is used for refrigeration
exceeded its peak winter demand for the first time, Ahmed and air conditioning, and 15 per cent of UK electricity –
says. We are destined to experience warmer, wetter winters and growing,” he points out. “And, if you look at the energy
and longer, drier summers in the future. Meteorologists performance of our equipment, it is rubbish – Japan
forecast that average global temperatures will have risen by achieves double the efficiencies we have in Europe.”
3 degrees C by the middle of the century and 5 degrees C by
the end, with winter temperatures up by 2.5 degrees C.
Between 500,000 and 750,000 new homes are planned
UK energy policy is mostly aimed
for London over the next 20 years – primarily small,
single-occupancy dwellings, many of which will be built
at heating and fuel poverty, but we
on brownfield sites. This could have a dramatic impact
now have a problem with ‘coolth’
on the ‘heat island’ effect, which already adds between
poverty – Syed Ahmed
six and 10 degrees C to urban centres during hot weather,
compared with surrounding countryside. And most of Maidment, who is a lecturer in mechanical engineering
these homes will need air conditioning. at London South Bank University (LSBU), proposes a
“In future, all new-build design will have to take potential doubling of the spending on research and development
overheating into account,” says Ahmed, who addressed to improve equipment efficiencies. He warns the industry
the recent Sustainable Innovation in Refrigeration and that the phase-out of R22 – the most popular refrigerant
Air Conditioning (SIRAC) conference. “However, even – will have to be managed so it does not further damage
the new buildings being planned today are still being energy performance. “We will have to do a lot more
designed to be kept warm.” integrated heating and air conditioning,” he adds.
He adds that the new building regulations put an According to research carried out by LSBU for the
emphasis on air tightness to reduce energy consumption, GLA, increased demand for cooling could potentially
which can effectively turn homes into “hot boxes”. The lead to an additional 600 to 820 GW/h of annual power
intention is for new homes to be zero carbon by 2016 and consumption, which is equivalent to between 260,000
commercial buildings by 2019. and 350,000 tonnes of carbon. This is a relatively small
“There needs to be more focus on cooling in the amount compared with the capital’s total emissions,
government’s energy policies,” Ahmed insists. “At the but this has to be viewed in the context of the Mayor of >
www.cibsejournal.com March 2009 CIBSE Journal 45
CIBSEmar09 pp44-48 Closecontrol.indd 45 6/3/09 14:19:48
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