ADAPTATION OF CITIES KEY TO ENERGY EFFICIENCY
The expertise of building services engineers will be needed to respond to the impact of climate change and rising energy consumption, says CIBSE’s new President George Adams
T
he rapid growth of cities represents the greatest challenge facing building service engineers over the next 50 years, according to CIBSE’s new
president George Adams. With the world’s population predicted to
be over 9bn by 2050, and with 70% of people expected to live in cities, Adams said tackling the energy effi ciency of the built environment was of vital importance. ‘We need to move to a world where buildings are continuously improved to make them more energy effi cient,’ said Adams, who was speaking at his Presidential inauguration at the Royal Society in London last month. In his address ‘Whole Life Thinking’,
Adams warned that some climate change models were predicting rises in temperature of 4-60
continue. With 40-50% of energy use related to
the built environment, Adams said CIBSE members had a key role in tackling energy waste and hence their skills would be in demand. ‘We need better information on energy performance in use, so we can benchmark our true performance in relationship to energy investment opportunities,’ he said. The refurbishment of existing stock is a
major challenge that should be spearheaded by building services engineering, said Adams. He said CIBSE should work with others to offer guidance on how adaptation of cities to mitigate against climate change can be achieved. ‘There is a big job to be done. I am
clear that CIBSE is gearing up to provide thought leadership in all aspects of the
14 CIBSE Journal June 2013 C if current energy behaviours were to
built environment – advising engineers and technicians at all stages of their careers and creating a platform for a new energy engineering conscience incorporating Women in Building Services Engineering (WiBSE), Young Engineers Network (YEN) and diversity networks,’ said Adams. The new President, who took over the
badge of offi ce from David Fisk, said engineers needed to look holistically at the built environment and be prepared to look beyond building services when addressing the impact of climate change and energy consumption. As an example, Adams referred to a number of research projects that were looking at how cities can be adapted to infl uence summer peak temperatures, and he referenced a paper presented by Dane Virk at the CIBSE Technical Symposium: Developing and expanding current CIBSE design guidance on urban climates. ‘Studies of urban planting on a strategic
scale have indicated that heat island temperatures could be reduced by 30
C,’
said Adams. ‘The studies suggest it is also commercially viable and seems to have a relatively quick payback. This is an area that CIBSE could embrace.’ Adams said no one strategy to tackle
climate change would suffi ce. He spoke of the potential of renewables such as concentrated solar power in Africa, and highlighted the German achievement of over 22GW of electricity from PV on one day last year – the equivalent of 30% of all electricity demand. He sounded a warning note on the embodied energy contained in some renewables, and noted that concrete, which provides support
Honorary Fellows Immediate past president David Fisk
presented medals to David MacKay, Peter Sheaves and Robin Nicholson OBE. MacKay is the chief scientifi c adviser at the Department of Energy & Climate Change and known for his book ‘Sustainable energy – without the hot air’ (see ‘The real game changer’ on page 17). Sheaves was managing director at Oscar Faber and worked on the original CIBSE governance task group, which introduced the new structure of the board and advisory council. Architect Nicholson is a senior member of Cullinan Studio and is convenor of the Edge think-tank, which debates cross-disciplinary issues.
David Fisk passes the Presidential Medal to George Adams
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