Many countries, including the UK, are looking to replicate NABERS because
it is a commercially driven model that incentivises whole-life performance and, therefore, drives down the lifecycle carbon. Retrofi tting existing buildings to make them more sustainable could cost
developers about £200 per square foot compared with £300 per foot to build from scratch – further strengthening the case to renovate rather than demolish. And building services plant is one of the biggest energy consumers in commercial property so investors will be looking at our equipment in a diff erent light. Minimum Energy Effi ciency Standards (MEES) could also be transformational
for commercial buildings in the UK and will be a key mechanism in the government’s Net Zero strategy.
Stranding
Currently, MEES rules require a minimum EPC (Energy Performance Certifi cate) rating for a commercial building of E. A commercial landlord cannot lease a property that only achieves an F or G, but this minimum is due to be raised to a C or B. The real estate management fi rm Colliers believes that MEES will put as much as 10% of London offi ce buildings are under threat of ‘stranding’. Wyatt told the BESA webinar that more clients now recognised they needed to spend up to 15% more at the design and construction stage to ensure their building would stay on a net zero trajectory throughout its operational life. “We are now carrying out more Net Zero audits that put building services on a Net
Zero trajectory to avoid buildings getting into stranding periods…so more clients are making this part of their investment strategies to maintain value,” he said. RICS has also updated its modules to improve the methodology for calculating
carbon at each stage of the design. CIBSE’s TM54 provides a method for evaluating operational energy performance, which sets a gold standard for the design of systems, and the Passivhaus approach is widely hailed. All of these are excellent tools for predicting operational energy and will become part of our armoury. Sadly, the government’s recently unveiled Heat & Buildings put all the country’s eggs into the heat pump basket. It, therefore, missed the opportunity to improve prospects for wider use of direct electric heating, for example, which has far less embodied carbon than alternative approaches, but is more expensive to run so depends on better insulation and low heat losses from the fabric. This all-round approach chimes with the experience of the refrigeration and air conditioning sector where Total Equivalent Warming Impact (TEWI) has been something of a ‘Holy Grail’. This measure considers not just the direct global warming potential (GWP) impact of a refrigerant gas, but also its energy effi ciency and consumption over the life cycle of the plant and provides a more meaningful assessment of its environmental credentials – or otherwise. This methodology was unpopular with environmental lobbyists for many
years because it highlighted the ineffi ciency of many of the so-called ‘green’ refrigerants that were emerging to replace CFCs and HCFCs. As a result, the conversation became largely about phasing down global warming gases – not about the overall effi ciency of a cooling technology or approach. Now, TEWI is back on the table as an example of how better awareness is shifting the argument towards ‘true’ effi ciency and of evaluating the building as a complete system – as opposed to the current approach of cherry-picking favourite technologies and ticking regulatory boxes. Ultimately, this shift to lifetime carbon performance will be driven by the
market with investors only backing buildings on a Net Zero trajectory and rejecting those likely to become ‘stranded’ as the world pivots towards better performing assets.
www.theBESA.com
ViewPoint A
s renewable technologies become more common and are actively promoted by governments globally, it is clear that the reign of fossil fuel heating has
come to an end. Heat pumps have been recognised by the UK Government as the most viable alternative to fossil fuel boilers within homes, as made evident by the Electrifi cation of Heat demonstration project’s fi ndings that ‘there is no property type or architectural era that is unsuitable for a heat pump’. As a consequence, their nationwide deployment has been a focus of the Government’s recent strategies and consultations. Last year, an offi cial target of 600,000 heat pump installations every year by 2028 was revealed as one of the Government’s key measures for tackling heat decarbonisation. Likewise, gas boilers will be banned from new housing in 2025, and households will no longer be able to buy gas boilers from 2035. It is inevitable, therefore, that installers will have to adapt to this changing, and highly regulated, landscape, and shift their attention towards low carbon systems. This can feel like an overwhelming prospect for those who have been installing fossil fuel systems for 30 or 40 years. Even those of us with less experience can fi nd the transition tricky, as few other markets have seen such a transformation within the last couple of decades. Yet, the route to becoming a certifi ed renewable heating installer is no longer the complicated maze it was - the renewable heat landscape, for both training and technology, has become more accessible than ever. I have seen this transformation towards an accessible renewable heat
market throughout my career. The beginning of my working life focused on the fossil fuel heating market. This was the clearest route to follow at the time, and certainly the most fi nancially viable one. It wasn’t until just over a decade ago that I encountered heat pumps properly as part of the NIBE team and worked on their specifi cation. Heat pumps, in comparison to fossil fuel boilers, are more sensitive to their design, which upon fi rst impression makes it slightly more diffi cult to master their installation. Yet, I have witnessed the products undergo physical changes to make them easier to install, as accessibility becomes a key factor of consideration. Leading manufacturers, NIBE included, have come to prioritise the installer experience, as they recognise that having a large pool of skilled and passionate installers is key to achieving Government’s deployment targets. Indeed, the provision of training has also become a key focus for manufacturers. There wasn’t a clear pathway before for installers to make the green transition – now, standardised training is emerging with organisations like the Heat Pump Association (HPA) and the Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineers, driving consistency. I would advise a fossil fuel heating installer to, do research on reputable manufacturers; fi nd out about the training courses they off er and get expert advice from their technical teams and trainers; get signed up and complete the right course for you like the newly created HPA training course, which is a recognised qualifi cation demonstrating competency for MCS certifi cation; and start to talk to your customers about the various green options available to them – you’ll be amazed by the interest. You can receive quality training and support through our partnership scheme, NIBE Pro. It is a streamlined, personalised route for plumbing and heating installers to become an MCS Certifi ed heat pump installer. Costs are fully redeemable through the NIBE Pro cashback voucher scheme.
https://www.nibe.eu/en-gb/nibe-pro-installers
DOWNLOAD THE HVR APP NOW February 2022 9
Why renewable training makes sense by Neil Hope, head of technical services at NIBE Energy Systems
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