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NEWS In brief


UNITED STATES ENJOYING MARKET SURGE The US building services sector will enjoy healthy growth throughout the rest of this year and 2014, according to the country’s leading industry bodies. The Manufacturers Alliance


for Productivity and Innovation said the heating, ventilation and air conditioning sector would increase by 4% in 2013 and 7% in 2014, while the National Association of Home Builders forecast residential construction would grow 30% in 2014 on top of 22% growth this year. The commercial building


sector will leap by 5.2% during 2013, according to the Associated Builders & Contractors body, and architects are experiencing the strongest growth in billings for almost six years as tracked by the American Institute of Architects.


CONTROLS SECTOR REJECTS ENERGY BLAME Controls systems unfairly get the blame for many buildings failing to hit their energy-saving targets, said the president of the Building Controls Industry Association. Speaking at the association’s


annual conference, Ian Ellis said too many control systems were not used properly. He urged the building engineering sector to provide better information to their clients about building operation. Building Energy Management


Systems should be used to deliver reports, but these need to be ‘meaningful to the end client with information delivered in a way that is useful’.


RAMBOLL BUYS GERMAN CONSULTANT Ramboll Group has acquired German consultant Atelier Dreiseitl for an undisclosed sum. The Überlingen-based firm also has offices in Singapore and Beijing. It employs 80 staff specialising in urban water projects. The company provided


sustainable water strategies for the Potsdamer Platz in Berlin; the city of Singapore; the Bishan- Ang Mo Kio Park; and the blue and green features in the Tianjin Cultural Park, near Beijing.


10 CIBSE Journal June 2013


Heat pump vision flawed, says ICOM boss


l Association questions government policy


The government’s plans for heat pumps to replace gas-fired heating across the country are unrealistic, according to ICOM Energy Association director Ross Anderson. He said the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) ‘wants gas to play little or no part in the UK heating industry by 2050’, but questioned the ability of the National Grid to meet the increased level of electricity demand millions of heat pumps would create. ‘They would have to re-wire the


country,’ Anderson told members at the association’s annual meeting in London.


He said it was increasingly difficult for manufacturers to know which technologies to develop for the future in the face of apparently conflicting political statements. The election in two years’ time may also create further uncertainty over energy policy, Anderson said. ‘ICOM is being forced to become more political. We need to work with


Heat pumps ‘could create an unrealistic demand for electricity’


the government to try to predict what we must do to meet its vision, but at the moment it is a vision with very little substance,’ said Anderson. However, David Pepper, chairman of ICOM’s commercial boiler and water heater group, cautioned against reading too much into political statements. ‘Experience shows that the government has only a flimsy grasp on energy policy and a nasty habit of veering off-course at short notice,’ he said.


‘The renewables market is


growing, but at a substantially slower pace than the government hoped and not nearly fast enough to plug our looming energy gap,’ added Pepper, who is managing director of Lochinvar and a former ICOM President. ‘We do need to be planning for the future and examining our product options, but that has to include the generation of highly efficient gas-fired boilers and water heaters we have already developed to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions.’


Green Deal makes ‘modest’ progress


Almost 19,000 Green Deal (GD) assessments were carried out between the launch of the energy efficiency scheme in January and the end of April – but just 942 organisations have signed up to carry out the installation work. Following the release of the latest statistics, Energy and Climate Change Minister, Greg Barker said: ‘The Green Deal market is showing healthy signs of growth … with 18,816 GD assessments carried out by the end of April. That’s more than double the number undertaken by the end of March. It’s still early days for this long-term initiative, but this is a clear sign of growing interest from consumers.’


By the end of April there were 55 authorised GD providers, 1,274 individuals registered to carry out assessments, and 942 organisations signed up to carry out installations. However, industry observers remain cautious. ‘It is not a bad start, but at this rate it will take about 100 years to assess 10 million properties and there are 26 million properties in the UK,’ said Paul Reeve, director of business services at the Electrical


Contractors’ Association (ECA). ‘The number of assessments is still modest in the context of the massive overall challenge.’


Reeve also questioned the lack of official figures covering the number of completed installations, which he said would be the definitive indicator of progress. ‘The government has made a big issue of the Green Deal – one would expect them to have their finger on the pulse already,’ said Reeve, speaking at the Building Controls Industry Association (BCIA) conference. He also questioned the wisdom of imposing such a high interest rate (6.9%) on GD repayments – pointing out that the German equivalent scheme only charges 3%. However, he encouraged mechanical and electrical contractors to prepare for ‘big opportunities in the commercial sector’ for GD-financed and other energy performance projects.


‘The business case for energy efficiency is increasingly compelling – with or without the Green Deal,’ said Reeve. ‘Although overall savings are not guaranteed, as energy prices rise, the GD will start to look more attractive.’


www.cibsejournal.com


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