OPINION Your letters


Clients often to blame for poor performance Ian Stuart has reponded to my earlier letter on the need to measure actual building performance (July Journal, page 22, and November Journal, page 19). I proposed that the building owner should take responsibility for post-constuction energy performance because they are the only party in a position to do so. Many building owners


may be desperate to achieve the desired energy efficiency, but that desperation does not extend to insisting on full and complete commissioning of the building and demonstration of its performance prior to occupation. A client will be advised that


their building is incomplete and should not be accepted, but will move in anyway. With building contracts framed the way they are, the contractor then has a ‘get out of jail free’ card and feels little obligation to even complete the job, let alone fine- tune the energy performance. As a designer, I feel the


same frustration as the owner at incomplete buildings that do not perform as designed; unlike the owner, I have no method to enforce better performance. The person who lumbers the client with a problem is frequently the client themselves. Peter Hill


FiTs attack hits resource The government’s premature and savage slashing of the feed- in tariff for solar photovaltics (PV) will not only damage a fledgling industry which is creating jobs, profits and tax revenues, it also ignores the many advantages of embedded low or zero carbon energy generation (December Journal, pages 5 and 6).


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This form of generation cumulatively displaces remote, high-carbon generation that is grossly inefficient and polluting. The embedded location reduces distribution losses and does not add to the growing problems being experienced by the national grid.


Linking future tariffs with the


energy efficiency of the building upon which the PV panels are mounted is an irrelevant diversion, seemingly designed to further limit the deployment of such technologies. PV and other such technologies should be deployed as widely as possible, and energy efficiency should be vigorously encouraged by other means. Brian Edwards


Regs set tough solar test Reading the article on the updated SBEM design tool (‘Model performer’, September Journal, page 29), I feel the greatest impact is in the often- overlooked Criterion 3 changes. The 2006 Building


Regulations unintentionally levied a disadvantage on naturally ventilated buildings, because of the exemption of air conditioned rooms in the 2006 Criterion 3 overheating test. The significant changes to Criterion 3 in the 2010 regulations (limiting the effects of solar gains in summer) take a much fairer and more rational approach, which in many instances will be easier to comply with. However, those designing air conditioned offices with high levels of glazing need to beware that compliance is going to be a tougher challenge, and dynamic simulation (DSM) may offer the only route to compliance, due to its ability to accurately take into account a wide range of solar shading measures. Michael Pollock


MANUFACTURER’S VIEWPOINT


Collaboration is at the heart of good specification, writes Martin Fahey of Mitsubishi Electric, sponsor of this column


Meeting the UK’s energy challenges head on


demands more integrated thinking from everyone supplying heating, cooling, ventilation, power and associated technologies to buildings. What is needed from manufacturers, consultants, specifiers, installers and building operators, is an approach that addresses the whole product life cycle, from pre-purchase to end of life. Key to all of this is the realisation that no one person or company can possibly solve all of the issues to do with emissions targets, fuel poverty, rising costs and fuel security on their own. We therefore all need to engage


in the debate about the best ways of providing comfortable buildings for us to live, work and play in. And we need to start that debate now. Since the launch of


most important part of the whole process – the pre-purchase phase. Today, the functionality and


energy use of a building are key to any decisions relating to its services, and if we get things right at this stage, it will help to dictate the way energy is consumed throughout the life of the building and the equipment – and put energy efficiency at its heart. The manufacturers, designers


and installers then need to ensure systems are fully optimised. Gone are the days of increasing capacity to overcome deficient building fabrics. New builds must now meet


our Green Gateway philosophy four years ago, and the introduction of Phase Two in September 2011, we have sought collaboration with all parties involved in procuring, constructing and managing buildings, as we see this as the best way to ensure needs are translated into the right solutions. We believe that this is not only


Gone are the days of raising capacity to overcome deficient fabric


tighter thermal guidelines from the start; leaky old structures need to batten down the hatches, too. More and more, it’s realised that a building should anticipate – at design stage – the heating, cooling, ventilation and power-generating technologies to be used in it. To meet


the most sustainable way to do business, but also the right way to do business, and we are already making inroads with central and local government, the construction industry and consultants. Now we are nurturing all relationships – including those between manufacturer, installer, architect, specifier and end user. In this way, our ECR principles (Efficiency, Carbon and Renewables) can be embedded throughout the whole process from conception to delivery and beyond. We have to start this engagement with what may be the


wider considerations, the types of energy utilised need to be reviewed, too. At the final stage before purchase it’s essential to understand how people will use the building and ensure the proposed solution or combination of solutions meshes with other systems required on site. Ensuring that energy efficiency,


carbon reduction and renewable energy integration are at the very heart of the specification process helps everyone to arrive at the right solution for each specific application. If you would like to join the debate, visit: www.greengateway. mitsubishielectric.co.uk


SPONSORED BY


January 2012 CIBSE Journal


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