AIR CONDITIONING
Keeping your cool:
taking control of a more sustainable approach to air conditioning
Martin Fahey, head of sustainability at Mitsubishi Electric Living Environment Systems UK and coordinator of the company’s Green Gateway programme, has more.
A
s the UK experiences its longest heatwave since 1976, inevitably the environmental impact of increased air conditioning and other cooling requirements have come under the spotlight, particularly in the commercial sector. This may have left you feeling that the debate on the merits of air conditioning has focused rather too much on the negative impact of increasing energy use, rather than the sometimes lifesaving and performance benefi ts of keeping people cooler during such incredibly hot spells. More positively, this renewed engagement and focus on the industry provides us all with an opportunity to reassess, innovate and take greater control for a more sustainable approach to our air conditioning solutions. We can’t control the weather, so it’s time to control what we can - the ‘controllables’.
With budgets becoming tighter and pressures mounting to become more energy effi cient, commercial buildings are already adopting the mindset that the priority is to reduce energy use and be the most effi cient they can be from the outset.
Whether it’s manufacturers, installers or contractors, we should all be adopting an energy hierarchy approach; a
38 September 2018
sustainable approach whereby you fi rst aim to reduce your need to consume energy, then look at how you can deliver the building’s requirements effi ciently with better solutions, and fi nally how you can deploy renewable energy sources at a building scale. Whatever the system, it will become increasingly important to ensure that the way it is designed, specifi ed, installed and operated, is done in the most effi cient way possible.
Modern commercial buildings today will often need some level of cooling. Large amounts of energy are required to both heat or cool buildings in the UK, but the benefi ts of getting it right can contribute to a healthier and more productive bottom line for the business. The right choices need to be made to fi nd a system that can deliver the comfort needed in the most energy effi cient way possible.
In today’s modern working world, it becomes hard to escape the need to consume energy. Particularly when we look at modern working spaces, there needs to be a balance of cooling alongside heating and ventilation.
A business that provides an ideal working environment, or even a variable one to suit diff erent employees, can certainly reap the rewards. It can also help them meet building
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