OPINION
factors for the use of natural gas and the emission factors for the suppression of use of the displaced fuels must be the same for all the feasible systems. John Moss
We can move forward together as an industry I read with interest Terry Wyatt’s article in the April Journal titled ‘Forward Together’ (page 20). We need to harmonise our designs with feedback from the facilities managers. It must be 10 years since I was involved in a research project, with the BRE, on this very subject. We do need to move towards being a Building Engineering Industry. If this means CIBSE amalgamating, then perhaps so be it. There will of course be many barriers and resistance to change, but the industry must move forward together to prosper I see Building Information
Modelling (BIM) as a vehicle to help the industry reduce its ills, as both the design teams and the contractors will need to work closely together, for the full potential of BIM to be realised. If the government is serious, both about BIM and about supporting the industry, then it does need to offer assistance, especially to the many SMEs that we have. I hope, over the next five
years, that the industry can change more than we have managed to do in the last 20. Eddie Picton FCIBE
Give us good teamwork, not one-stop shops I was horrified to read the
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solutions to issues in the construction industry proposed by Terry Wyatt (see above). He proposes merging companies to form ‘one-stop shops’ and even merging CIBSE with other building-related professional engineering bodies. The one-stop shop principle
can work on some larger projects if different divisions of the same company work well together. This is by no means guaranteed, and many companies struggle with working cohesively across divisional and geographical boundaries. Therefore it is often really no better than having the design team made up of multiple companies. Second,
The way forward for the industry must be based on good old-fashioned teamwork,
communication and forming strategic partnerships
this principle is a bad business model. For example, if you have both engineers and
architects in the same company,
it can be a barrier to working with other architectural firms as they can see you as a competitor. CIBSE and ASHRAE are
the world’s premier building services institutions, precisely because they specialise in this area. Merging with other engineering institutions would dramatically weaken this by diluting their focus and the interests of their membership. In New Zealand we have only one professional engineering body, which is too general to serve anyone. The way forward must be
based on good old-fashioned teamwork, communication and forming strategic partnerships. Jonathan Foster Wellington, New Zealand
MANUFACTURER’S VIEWPOINT
Very few applications for the Renewable Heat Incentive have been accepted. This is a sign that we need to do a lot more to promote renewables, says Martin Fahey
News of an Ofgem report, revealing that 95% of all applications for the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) have been rejected, contrasts starkly with the RHI launch press release from Department for Energy and Climate Change in March. DECC stated that more than 95% of heat in the UK is currently produced by burning fossil fuel. (Visit www.
decc.gov.uk /en/content/cms/ news/pn2011_023/pn2011_023. aspx)
The Ofgem report, covering the first four months of the Renewable Heat Incentive also highlighted that 80% of the successful applications were for biomass projects.
RHI has ambitious targets of increasing the use of renewable energy – and thereby reducing emissions – by 44 million tonnes of carbon by 2020, and we should rightly be proud that as a nation we are leading the world in incentivising renewable heating. However, we are not going to get very far if we only convert 5% of all applicants and currently seem overreliant on one technology. The DECC release also states that around half of the UK’s carbon emissions come from the energy used to produce heat, so as an industry, we can see exactly what an important role we in the building services sector have. As engineers involved directly with technologies that can affect energy use and emissions levels, we have a huge part to play in helping the country get anywhere near these targets – if not the biggest part. It is our job to ensure that energy-consuming building services – whether heating, cooling or ventilation, are engineered properly and effectively. We also need to ensure that this equipment is maintained correctly, and that end users completely understand how to control their
systems and constantly get the best performance out of them. In terms of the technology, we all know that there is more than just biomass that can reduce carbon emissions, so we need to examine why these have not so far been successful.
Of the 376 applications mentioned in the Ofgem report, most were turned down because of problems with what is referred to as ‘supporting information’. The Ofgem report also expresses concern about complexity in the current system, which it feels has led to the dismal success rate for applications. While this call for a simpler process is to be welcomed, we within the industry should also look at whether there are any communication issues or barriers between the manufacturers of the equipment, the consultants, specifiers and installers. We know that we have a host of renewable technology that can and will work effectively, so now is the time to examine what we can do to improve the success rate, and to increase significantly the number of projects eligbile for RHI. It’s not actually rocket science. It’s just doing what we are good at! Mitsubishi Electric has developed its Green Gateway philosophy to highlight how we can all make a difference in reducing the energy we consume in our buildings.
Green Gateway can be followed on Twitter (@green_gateway) or via the Green Gateway Group on LinkedIn
Martin Fahey is sustainable solutions manager for Mitsubishi Electric’s Living Environmental Systems Division
SPONSORED BY
June 2012 CIBSE Journal
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