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NEWS UPDATE In Brief


Evaporative coolers partnership


CPA Engineered Solutions has announced an exclusive partnership with Seeley International for the national distribution of Breezair evaporative coolers in the UK. Designed for cooling commercial and industrial spaces, the products are manufactured in Australia and are claimed to deliver reliability, durability, and premium features that ensure optimal temperatures and enhanced indoor air quality. Fabio Marioni, UK and


Need for a more technology-agnostic approach


The Sustainable Energy Association (SEA) has issued a report calling for the government to take a more technology- agnostic approach to its heat in buildings policy.


The wide-ranging analysis looks at the UK government’s current approach to decarbonising heating and improving energy efficiency in buildings and raises


concerns that current policies risk failing to deliver the technologies that achieve the best overall outcomes in a truly holistic way. The SEA is calling for a long- term, coordinated national strategy focusing on outcomes rather than specific technologies. It wants to see independent consumer advice, skills training programmes to install a variety


of solutions, and reforms to things like energy performance certificates to properly account for innovative options. Among the report’s other


recommendations, it stresses the need for policy cost adjustments, streamlined certification of new technologies, and ensuring energy taxes don’t favour any single approach.


Waste conversion NEW NET ZERO OFFICES Government department on the move


Poor energy efficiency ratings have forced the government’s net zero department to move from its headquarters to more eco-friendly premises. The Department of Energy Security and Net Zero’s original base at 1 Victoria Street in central London had an energy performance certificate rating of E, meaning fuel bills cost far more than those with a higher rating. These offices still used three gas


boilers, but not a single heat pump had been installed, ignoring the Department’s own recommendations. It is despite the government launching a £150 million-a-year scheme to install heat pumps in buildings last year. Critics say the technology takes longer to warm homes, may break noise limits, and will cost households


EIBI | FEBRUARY 2024


thousands of pounds despite a hefty subsidy.


The Liberal Democrats said the department’s substandard environmental credentials reflected the chaotic nature of the Prime Minister’s policy on net zero. Wera Hobhouse, the party’s climate and energy spokesman, said: “This Conservative government cannot even get their own house in order when it comes to our clean energy transition. This latest debacle is just another in a long line of muddled policy commitments and a failure to tackle the greatest challenge to face us all.


“If the government were


serious about meeting our climate commitments, they would not be


cowering away from them and surrendering our chance to be leaders in the industries of tomorrow.” The net zero department has now


moved to 3-8 Whitehall Place and 55 Whitehall. These were formally the HQ of the old Department of Energy & Climate Change, disbanded in 2016. These are said to be ‘energy- efficient offices’ that have an A energy rating. A spokesperson added: “The building is linked to the Whitehall District Heating System and has energy-efficient LED lighting contributing to our net zero goals.” However, currently neither building is displaying its energy rating in its reception area, despite being required by law to place them ‘in a prominent position’.


Veolia has completed a trial where waste collection trucks have been used as a flexible energy source through vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology. The first stage of the trial enabled 110kW of energy to be charged and discharged from two specially designed bi-directional vehicles, enough to supply power to 110 households for over two hours during peak evening hours. The waste collection fleet


operator plans to electrify all of its 1800 refuse collection vehicles in the country by 2040. This transformation will enable the company to provide to the grid around 200 MW of flexible power capacity daily, an equivalent of the evening peak energy demand of over 150,000 homes. Veolia now plans to expand the trial and test it out on the streets, using Westminster council collection vehicles to pilot the innovation.


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Ireland sales manager at Seeley International, comments: “CPA is a solid, long-standing company with a capable, trained technical and sales team covering the entire country. This key appointment will expand our presence in the UK, ensuring improved support, timely product supply, and spare parts availability.”


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