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May 11, proposes a “headline target” that halves the current limit on PM2.5 in England to 10 micrograms per cubic metre of air (µg/m3) by 2040. However, this is double the level recommended by the WHO which updated its guidance last year and set 5 µg/m3 as a maximum level to protect human health. Researchers from two leading London universities, King’s and Imperial, also claim that the target could be reached by 2030. “Numerous studies have shown that PM2.5 contributes to heart attacks and


strokes – and increases the risk of severe asthma attacks and lung cancer,” said Nathan Wood, chair of BESA’s Health & Well-being in Buildings Group. “We need to go further and faster. Surely, our targets should be aligned


with the WHO’s. Also, setting a goal 18 years into the future condemns another whole generation of children to impaired lung function and increasingly severe asthma attacks.” BESA also believes the government should set specifi c targets for IAQ so that buildings can become ‘safe havens’ that protect occupants from pollution while the longer-term work of cleaning up the external environment goes on. It has produced three pieces of free guidance* to support this aim, adding that the Environment Act would be the ideal vehicle to deliver legally binding performance standards including setting safe ventilation rates and threshold levels for specifi c pollutants.


Harmful


It also said air quality tests could become part of the planning process to ensure more homes are designed to protect occupants from both outdoor and indoor pollution. It also advised the government to use the Act to ensure a wider range of the most harmful particulates are measured and monitored in all buildings including PM10, PM2.5 and below; as well as CO2 levels; ozone; NOx; and VOCs. “The Environment Act could be a vehicle for setting a new standard for


health and well-being inside buildings for future generations,” said Wood. “People spend more than 90% of their time indoors and the government simply cannot aff ord to miss this opportunity to progress essential and readily available measures that can protect children’s health.” High profi le children’s health campaigner Rosamund Adoo Kissi-Debrah also told a recent BESA meeting that the fi gures for asthma cases were “going in the wrong direction”. She said it was vital that those designing, managing, and maintaining buildings focused on sources of indoor pollution and addressed the “terrible state of ventilation systems in schools”. “4.2 million people are dying worldwide from poor indoor air,” said Kissi-


Debrah, who is an WHO advocate for air quality and child health. “IAQ is also easier to control than external pollution and can be addressed much more quickly.” *BESA’s Beginner’s Guide to IAQ provided an overview of the problem and its Guide to Good Practice for IAQ focused on the importance of measuring and monitoring to deliver better health and well-being outcomes. The fi rst was developed in partnership with Mitsubishi Electric and has been downloaded for free more than 2,000 times. Last month it launched Buildings as Safe Havens – a practical guide, also in


partnership with Mitsubishi Electric. This provides a step-by-step approach to getting the most from working with IAQ specialists, so facilities managers and end users can select the right options for their buildings. (See pg 7) All three guides can be downloaded for free from: www.theBESA.com/iaq


I


Growing demand for heat pumps By Jonny Hancock, product manager at NIBE Energy Systems


f you’re a heating installer, chances are you have heard all about the Government’s ambitions to change the way homes are heated. A greater focus on climate change and the need to become energy independent in the UK has left us with no other option but to shift away from fossil fuels. But how much appetite is out there for low carbon heat amongst homeowners? This blog explores the impact of the recently closed Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (DHRI) and its eff ectiveness in increasing the uptake of low-carbon heating solutions like heat pumps, before looking ahead to the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS). The recent release of statistics for DRHI over its eight-year duration


provide us with confi dence that interest in heat pumps is ever-rising, with applications steadily increasing since it began in 2014. Applications saw a steady rise from 2018 onwards and peaked in the fi rst quarter of 2022. One thing this shows us is that demand for low carbon heating systems is


growing, giving us every reason to believe that uptake could keep on rising in the years ahead. This will however need to be aided by government support in the way of policy, funding and awareness building. Whilst eligible technologies under the scheme included both air source heat pumps (ASHP) and ground source heat pumps (GSHP), biomass and solar thermal, applications for ASHPs proved most popular year upon year. Applications for ASHPs steadily increased from 36% in 2014 when the scheme began to 82% in 2022 (Q1) when it closed. Other technologies instead experienced a steady decline during this time, with solar thermal actually falling from 21% in 2014 to 2% in 2022. Applications for GSHPs also declined, but to a lesser degree, from 16% in 2014 to 14% in 2022. Whilst the benefi ts of low carbon heating systems are widely understood,


so are the challenges with installing them at the scale required to meet UK climate targets. Whilst the high proportion of applications for heat pumps under DRHI has instilled more confi dence in the heat pump market and enabled the growth of MCS registered installers, applications under the scheme, in general, were still lower than anticipated. Part of the reason for this is the way in which the funding was delivered, with the payments being issued to households as back payments following the initial installation over a long period of time. The scheme was therefore of very little help to those without the upfront capital to purchase a low carbon heating system to begin with, despite being an attractive proposition to those with the available funds. Open to households and small non-domestic properties in England and


Wales, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) could see heat pumps installed in 90,000 homes by 2025. Whilst this is just a fraction of the 26 million homes that need to be decarbonised, there are hopes that the scheme will help to boost uptake of the technology in combination with other plans outlined by the Government – one of which is the Future Homes Standard which will see all new homes built ‘net zero ready’ from 2025. • Installers have been able to create an account on the BUS platform since 11th April and are encouraged to do so as soon as possible • Installer Guidance will be issued on 2nd May 2022 • An Installer launch event focussed on scheme application will take place week commencing 16th May 2022 • The scheme opens for grant applications for installations, including those that have been commissioned from 1st April, on 23rd May 2022 www.nibe.eu/en-gb/installer/bus-boiler-upgrade-scheme-installer


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