Ecobuild conference London, March 2010

Industry at risk of misselling technology, warns Strong

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There is a real danger of major misselling

and misapplication of certain technologies aimed at making buildings more efficient, said Professor David Strong, chief executive of Inbuilt Consulting. He said examples of such technologies included micro combined heat and power, and micro-wind power. ‘And the flavour of the month in

technology terms is the air source heat pump,’ he said, adding that he was concerned about their performance in heavy snow because of the risk of iced-up evaporators. ‘The greatest challenge is the

huge commercial vested interest in selling plant and equipment, a lot of which can be designed out,’ he said. But this was difficult partly because: ‘Many architects and engineers link the value of their fees to the value of the capital works – that introduces a highly perverse incentive in the whole process,’ Strong insisted.

We are not learning

from Germany and Sweden, which are 20 years ahead of us

– Howard Liddell

heat recovery and fans,’ said Liddell, who preferred a more naturally ventilated environment. He added that there was also

David Strong... For passive solutions.

Speaking in the same conference

session entitled ‘Zero carbon without the bling’, Howard Liddell, principal of the eco-designers Gaia Architects, accused the sustainable- building sector of indulging in ‘techno-optimism’. He said any technology in a

house that took it above level four of the Code for Sustainable Homes, would lead to green bling. Liddell, one of whose projects

Howard Liddell... Against Passivhaus.

was featured in CIBSE Journal last July, said: ‘Eco-bling will not take one person out of fuel poverty. We need to incentivise the reduction of technology.’ He also attacked the Passivhaus

building standard that emanates from Germany, arguing that there were concerns over levels of ventilation in such highly air-tight dwellings.

‘Passivhaus means mandatory

a danger that the standard would become part of the UK Building Regulations, which meant that Britain was ‘not learning from Germany and Sweden, which are 20 years ahead of us’. Strong, a proponent of

Passivhaus, rejected the idea that mechanical ventilation would form part of regulatory requirements. He insisted that relying on

natural ventilation was a ‘hit or miss approach’, adding: ‘The least worst option is mechanically ventilated heat recovery.’

Parties vie for green turf as election looms

Leading politicians from the three main political parties vied to be seen as having the greenest agenda for Britain’s building stock. The three formed a panel

discussion on the impact of the recent Copenhagen climate change summit, which failed to produce a binding agreement.

Greg Barker, the shadow climate

change minister, said Labour’s policies were simply a ‘watered- down version’ of the Green Deal launched by Tory leader David Cameron. He singled out the Conservatives’

pledge to give every home £6,500 worth of energy efficiency measures. But Climate Change Minister

Joan Ruddock insisted that ‘£6,500 won’t get you solid wall insulation or micro-generation’. She said Labour was already

piloting such ‘pay-as-you-save’ schemes to support home improvements. Simon Hughes, the Liberal

Democrats’ climate change spokesman, insisted that the real issue was about ‘not spending on things that you don’t need to do’. ‘The key is getting finance in, and

Joan Ruddock... Backs 'pay as you save'.

www.cibsejournal.com

the precondition of this is getting a reliable, proper survey,’ he said. But the political parties all shared

the common ground of wanting to be sufficiently efficient and warm. The fourth member of the panel,

John Sauven from Greenpeace, agreed with Hughes that it was important ‘to get the basics right’. He said: ‘There has been a lot of misselling [of home improvements], and a lot of eco-bling.’ Attacking the government green initiatives, he said: ‘My problem with targets is that I don’t believe any of them [will come true]. They are missing them all.’ In response to questions from

CIBSE Journal, Barker said that a Tory government would bring about ‘changes in the regulatory framework’ for buildings – a reference to the party’s plans to streamline the Building Regulations. Barker said: ‘There are far too

many itsy-bitsy, stop-go initiatives [under Labour]. We want to see a change in the whole culture so we get away from these grants that are

Greg Barker... No to 'stop-go' initiatives.

dribbled down on a stop-go basis through a plethora of programmes, and actually end up with some long-term certainty. By deploying private capital you can actually start to get a framework for long-term investment.’

April 2010 CIBSE Journal

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