News
News in brief
Wave power for 1.4m homes
The first full strategic environmental assessment to enable wave and tidal energy to be generated for England and Wales has been outlined by the government. Renewable UK’s analysis shows that up to 2 gigawatts of wave and tidal capacity could be installed by 2020 – enough to power 1.4 million UK homes.
Peak oil crunch in five years
A follow-up report says that oil shortages, insecurity of supply, and price volatility will destabilise economic, political and social activity within five years. The second report of the UK Industry Task-Force on Peak Oil and Energy Security (ITPOES) was launched by six UK companies from a range of industries – Arup, Foster + Partners, Scottish and Southern Energy, Solarcentury, Stagecoach Group and Virgin.
www.peakoiltaskforce.net
Sustainable shopping
Cundall has provided engineering design services for the £170m redevelopment of Eldon Square Shopping Centre in Newcastle. Cundall’s services included structural, civil, transportation, environmental, and mechanical and electrical design. The phased project has included the reconfiguration of the existing bus concourse into a new shopping mall and a new bus station.
Awards for green heroes
Developers, clients, architects and building services professionals involved with environmentally friendly new buildings or recent renovations in north west England are being urged to enter the Northwest Business Environment Awards 2010. www.greenheroawards.
co.uk
EAL training accreditation
EMTA Awards, an industry certificate-awarding body, has launched a national accreditation service for in-house training programmes across the building services, engineering and manufacturing sectors. eal.org.uk
Green strategy is a lost opportunity, says body
n
A trade body in the energy and power industry has
accused the UK government of missing a golden opportunity to maximise household CO2 reductions. The British Electrotechnical and
Allied Manufacturers Association (BEAMA) says the ‘Warm Homes, Greener Homes’ strategy, which was launched by the Department of Energy and Climate Change last month, fails to give prominence to the effective role of any type of controls – particularly those for heating and hot water systems. The government claims the
new strategy will help people make smarter use of energy in homes, encouraging people to take action and reduce bills. It says installing some technologies, such as solid wall insulation, could see energy bills cut
households must simultaneously consider other issues, such as improving their boiler’s efficiency and ensuring it sits within a well- controlled heating system. These very cost-effective measures have received much less focus. ‘Surely, it must be better to have
Howard Porter... Criticises strategy.
by £380 a year (averaged between 2013 and 2020) – and that the new strategy will also be good for employment, with up to 65,000 jobs required in the green homes industry as a result. Howard Porter, BEAMA’s
chief operating officer, said the government is right to address insulation measures. ‘But
a whole-house approach, including a requirement for a minimum controls package, and ensure that all homes with boilers have a programmer, room thermostat and thermostatic radiator valves.’ Rob Manning, CIBSE president-
elect, said: ‘We need to focus on fabric energy efficiency first, then meet the remaining demand using efficient systems, including appropriate controls, and choose the appropriate technology to do that. We need to apply the government’s own hierarchy for zero carbon new build to this.’
Red tape a ‘barrier’ to uptake of MCS
The Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) is being stifled by bureaucracy before it has even begun, according to a major supplier of solar panels and heat pumps. From this month, UK householders will be able to sell solar and wind energy back to the national grid, at up to 41p per kilowatt hour. But Worcester Bosch’s head
of sustainable development, Neil Schofield, says the scheme risks
being scuppered by a severe lack of engineers qualified to carry out the necessary work. Schofield said about 60,000
registered heating engineers have expressed interest in registering for the three-year qualification scheme set up by the UK government – but because of the high costs of the scheme, and the excessive red tape involved in applying, few have taken their application any further. There are only about 500 certified
installers of renewable energy equipment in the UK at the present time. Schofield said: ‘It’s hellishly complicated and expensive. You have to have a customer complaints procedure, and health and safety documentations. ‘For a one-man plumbing
operation, they are just not interested. The scheme has become a barrier to uptake – we welcome consumer protection but we just need some common sense.’
Developer wins
The MIPIM Architectural Review Future Projects Awards 2010 have been announced, with Land Securities’ One New Change (pictured) the second British scheme ever to win both the Overall and Mixed Use categories. The commercial and retail development uses loop bore holes that extract and discharge water from the underground aquifer, with 219 closed loop energy piles, designed by Hoare Lea.
www.mipimarfutureprojects.com
10
CIBSE Journal April 2010
www.cibsejournal.com
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