NEWS In brief
LONDON’S POWER BRIDGE Network Rail has switched on the world’s largest solar array on a bridge. A total of 4,400 photovoltaic panels provide around half of the energy for London Blackfriars station. Solarcentury installed the panels over the past two years, while the station remained in operation. First Capital Connect, the train operator that runs London Blackfriars, said the panels would cut the station’s carbon emissions by about 511 tonnes a year. The 1.1 MWp array will gene rate 900,000 kWh annually.
GOOGLE BUYS THERMOSTAT MAKER Technology giant Google has made its second-biggest acquisition after paying £1.93bn ($3.2bn) for smart- thermostat manufacturer Nest Labs, of Palo Alto , California. The thermostat is designed
to predict when and how you like to heat your home. It will turn heating on and off intelligently, while attempting to save you energy by only firing up the boiler when you really need it.
NATIONAL BIM SURVEY OPEN The 2014 NBS national Building Information Modelling (BIM) survey is open for members who wish to have their say on building modelling. All respondents will be entered
into a prize draw for a 32GB iPad with retina display. To access the survey, visit http://surveys.
ribaenterprises.com/wh/s. asp?k=138269119430
Cambridge ditches plans for district heating network
Return on invest ment falls short, feasibility study fi nds
Cambridge has abandoned plans to install a district heating network in the city after a feasibility study found it would not make its backers enough money.
Initially the £25m scheme would have provided heat and power for university and council buildings, and eventually would have connected to housing and commercial premises.
The city council spent £25,000
on a feasibility study for the project, which was a partnership between the council and the University of Cambridge . Councillor Tim Ward, executive councillor for planning, said the district heating scheme could have been built, but the return on investment would have been insuffi cient and could even have lost the partners money. Research by Aecom to identify potential demand for the CHP heat
No CHP for King’s College, Cambridge
and energy found some reservations among estate managers. One college bursar said: ‘It is pretty unlikely that we would look to join in, having spent large sums, of late, on replacing most boilers and installing renewables.’ Roderick Watson, director of
Best Western The Gonville Hotel, said it would also have limited use for heat , and added: ‘We installed air-source heat pumps last year, but would be interested in hot -water heating for showers, washers and so on.’
The university highlighted the
diffi culty of signing a long-term contract without knowing future patterns of occupancy. Paul Hasley, University of
Cambridge energy manager, said: ‘A 20-year contract would be diffi cult to agree on, due to changing uses of buildings. There must be a greater or equal reliability, and some kind of monetary savings.’
It was forecast that the project could have cut the heat -related carbon emissions of participants by around 57%.
Over 600 BMS systems open to attack
Hundreds of building management systems (BMS ) are in danger of being hacked because they have not been secured properly.
The security of primary care trusts, schools and a large telecoms fi rm were found to be vulnerable to cyber criminals by BMS and IT engineer Abtec . In a letter to CIBSE Journal (page 18), it revealed it had identifi ed unsecured IP-based networks on the Niagara
Framework, a universal software infrastructure on which companies can build web-enabled BMS applications. The unsecured BMS are similar to the network in Google’s Australian offi ce, which was hacked last year. Hackers will have access to the controls of the building’s HVAC and security devices. Abtec’s head of marketing, Chris Topham, warned: ‘It’s serious. I can see buildings being hijacked and even held to ransom.’
Ventilation with the windows wide shut!
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12 CIBSE Journal February 2013
www.cibsejournal.com
RADEK STURGOLEWSKI / SHUTTERSTOCK
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