News


Biomass boilers not low carbon, argues study


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Biomass boilers are not low carbon and need proper


analysis of their impact, a new study says. The discussion paper, published


by the Association for Environment Conscious Building (AECB), argues that the use of biomass as the default solution for a low or zero carbon fuel in new buildings is ‘fundamentally misguided and leading to increased UK carbon emissions’. The paper adds: ‘This mistaken assumption that biomass is low carbon, combined with the use of a carbon rather than energy metric for buildings, is undermining efforts to achieve large-scale carbon reductions in the UK.’ The paper says that burning gas


instead of biomass fuel will result in fewer carbon emissions. Defining biomass as low


carbon, and then setting carbon- based energy standards, leads to a relaxation of building energy efficiency and ultimately higher carbon emissions. A recent survey by the UK


Forestry Commission found that the use of biomass boilers had


Industry ‘hit by shortage of F-gas engineers’


Industry faces a shortage of engineers trained to new F-gas standards, with up to 35,000 still to update their qualifications. Technical skills trainer, Develop


Training, fears the lack of action could leave thousands of engineers working illegally come July 2011. The legislation is part of the EU


F-gas Regulations, the first part of which was introduced in April 2007. Since July 2009 any company which employs engineers working under F-gas regulations must have a Company Certificate. From July 2011 this will be extended to individuals. Anyone carrying out service, maintenance, recovery or leak checking on refrigeration equipment covered by the regulations must have completed one of the updated national qualifications. www.developtraining.co.uk


10 CIBSE Journal October 2010


Arup looks to cut


600 jobs


International engineering firm Arup has informed staff that it is looking to make up to 600 redundancies, and has launched a three-month consultation with employees. The company, which has been


involved in such high-profile projects as the Sydney Opera House and, more recently, the Ropemaker Place development in the City of London, has blamed the move on recent government cuts. The company said that ongoing


projects would not be affected, but confirmed that the consultation had already started. An Arup spokesman said: ‘While


Biomass boilers are one of the least sensible uses for wood, insists the AECB


increased by 25% in the past two years. But, biomass boilers are ‘one of the least sensible uses for wood’, the AECB said. The group says it is concerned


that the planned introduction of the Renewable Heat Incentive in Britain will only exacerbate the problem, with biomass expected to be included in any incentive scheme that is launched. There are also wider industry


concerns surrounding the sourcing, processing and transporting of biomass fuel, and concerns about increases in NOx (nitrogen oxide) and particulate emissions as a result of biomass boilers, the AECB said. The AECB is calling for proper


analysis of biomass in use before the country is ‘rushed into policies based on creative (carbon) accounting’. www.aecb.net


we will endeavour to redeploy staff, we anticipate that these staff reductions may affect up to 600 employees. ‘Like many other businesses,


we have been affected by the weak market, as well as expected and current cuts in government expenditure. Our people are our greatest asset and it is with regret that the very difficult decision has been taken to implement a programme of redundancies, with a 90-day consultation [that began] on 6 September.’


Three rivers form heart of urban regeneration in China


The Sanshui district at the heart of Foshan in China is to undergo a major expansion, depicted above. The urban regeneration project will include a new cultural centre, library city archive and civic offices. ‘Sanshui’ means three rivers – marking the historical beginnings of the district – represented by three


principal routes linking and organising movement between the sites: a leisure river, a formal river, and an ecology river.


Multi-disciplinary consultancy BDP has been


appointed as masterplanner and designer for all the main buildings within the development.


www.cibsejournal.com


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