RESOURCE EFFICIENCY WRAP PROJECT
copper and aluminium. Rare-earth materials are increasingly used in components. Once installed, building services components and equipment are frequently replaced and often disposed of at end-of-life, rather than being reclaimed, reused or recycled. Some resources – particularly precious
metals – are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. This includes silver, zinc, copper and terbium (used to make green phosphors in fluorescent lamps). Copper is widely used in building services,
for both pipework and for electrical wiring. It has been widely reclaimed and recycled for many years as it is so valuable. However, only about 40%1
of new copper is from recycled material, and there are estimates2 that around
26% of all extractable copper in the earth’s crust has been lost as waste, rather than being recycled. Mining copper has significant environmental and social impacts and is a fast- depleting resource. Rare-earth elements are used in building
services equipment including fluorescent and LED lamps, LCD panels, fuel cells, wind turbines, heat pumps, lift motors and chillers. China controls around 90%3
of the world’s
rare-earth element production, resulting in pricing and supply challenges for the West. The high prices fetched for copper, gold and rare-earth minerals are leading to a surge in interest in mining the ocean. The implications of this could prove catastrophic for seabed ecology.
Industry opportunities There are opportunities for designers, contractors, manufacturers and end users to radically improve the resource efficiency of the
Opportunities for resource efficiency •
Now: Systems use metals such as aluminium and steel in boilers and heat exchangers. The future: Can modular plant rooms be used to reduce embodied energy and materials use?
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Designing out the need for plant and equipment by aiming to do more through natural means, relaxing design criteria, rationalising designs and working closely with prospective occupiers to provide the appropriate level of servicing. This would require a new incentive for designers to design out services.
Changing designs to be more resource efficient. For example, using exposed soffits with circular ductwork would reduce the amount of material required for ductwork, but this would impact on floor-to-ceiling heights and building look and feel.
Standardising products and systems for ease of maintenance, part replacement, full replacement and reuse. For example, cable trays are relatively standard products that could easily be reused.
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(Left and above) Balfour Beatty Services Engineering cranes prefabricated services into position at HMP Oakwood
Resource efficiency is, essentially, about doing more with less. It covers the use of materials, recycled content, embodied carbon, water use, resource scarcity and security, life span and end-of- life potential (eg. reuse and recyclability) Hywel Davies
Product labelling that give details of the constituent materials and how to reuse or recycle them.
Leasing equipment rather than purchasing it. Manufacturers would retain ownership and responsibility for their equipment and provide a heating or cooling ‘service’ rather than selling equipment. This would encourage manufacturers to design efficient equipment that is simple to maintain and easy to disassemble at end of life. Leasing would allow the product to be upgraded without cost to the user and removes the responsibility of what to do with the de-commissioned product and the cost of disposal.
Formalising the market for reusing or reconditioning equipment with testing regimes, labelling and re-selling through the same channels as new products.
May 2013 CIBSE Journal 25
HEATING
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