Get Sust Issue 37 UK, Feature - Are we there yet? CIBSE Conferenc review

Get Sust! issue 37

FEATURE

Are we nearly there yet?
Get Sust! reviews the recent CIBSE Conference

As the summer holiday season approaches, the chorus of “Are we there yet?” is the sound that sets parents (and fellow sufferers on long plane/train journeys) quaking. But despite CIBSE’s optimistically titled annual conference “Sustainability - Niche to Norm”, if you ask that question in the context of sustainable construction the answer must still be “Sorry, a bit further to go...”

As we’ve mentioned with increasing frequency in Get Sust!, everybody is ‘green’ these days, and it’s hard to pass a day without being lectured on the benefits of “efficiency” in various guises by all and sundry. But the truth is there’s a lot of hot air blowing around, and still in sufficient evidence that all the green posturing is backed up by firm action.

I can’t tell you how ‘hot’ the air was at this year’s CIBSE conference (unlike last year, see http://www.get-sust.com/newsletters/issue29/29_feature.html) because I didn’t make it in person. Instead I watched the keynote presentations right here at my desk via an excellent ‘webcast’ system - a great idea, though not as ‘interactive’ as being there in person.

Despite an array of excellent case studies of sustainable construction (for example, from the John Lewis Partnership), it was clear that (contrary to popular wisdom) there is still a battle for ‘hearts and minds’, and in any case, ‘sustainability’ in terms of standards and regulations is a moveable feast.

Standards and regulations

For instance, Ted King from the Department for Communities and Local Government, gave an excellent run-down of current government thinking on all things sustainable. The Planning Policy Statement on climate change (December 07), says King, urges local authorities to adopt a flexible approach to the renewable technologies that may be needed for forthcoming low- and zero-carbon developments; but draft guidance on “Merton Plus” suggests that there may be room for a more flexible approach to zero-carbon developments. After all, the definition of ‘zero-carbon’ is still up for grabs.

Part L of the Building Regulations is scheduled for amendment in 2010, and could mean a 25% improvement on current standards for new dwellings and other buildings; and the government’s “ambition” is to have a Code for Sustainable Non-domestic Buildings (comparable to the Code for Sustainable Homes) championing net zero buildings by 2018 - which is not as far off as it sounds.

Meanwhile, the industry is just getting to grips with Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs), but that particular party’s not over yet either. Once they are embedded in the buying/selling/letting process, the next step would be to place an obligation on the property owners to actually implement at least some of the ‘Recommendations’ that are currently just supplied as an add-on to the actual ‘Certificate’. This makes perfect sense - how else can the EPC regime drive forward sufficient improvements in the existing stock? And yet, it’s clear to everyone that this will be a political hot potato.

But there is a strong whiff of realism from CLG when it comes to compliance. “Everyone complains about Building Control,” says King. That attitude needs to change. “We don’t want a ‘police state’. What we really want is more buildings complying for more of the time.” If only it were so simple...

ASHRAE pushes the boundaries

Kent Peterson, President of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) gave a thorough run-down of his organisation’s response to the challenge of climate change and - particular pertinent to the US market - increasing fuel costs.

ASHRAE has recently published a new Standard for high performance green buildings (189 IP); is working on another, for water conservation; and is updating its popular Green Guide because, says Peterson “...the goal-posts keep moving”. It has also launched a free digital publication - HPB Magazine - devoted to showcasing best practice in energy-efficient design and operation.

Peterson was also clearly please to report to CIBSE members that there’s a great deal of positive action on sustainable construction in the US, despite national government policies. Some 600 city mayors have pledged to beat Kyoto energy-efficiency targets, for instance; while the recently passed US Energy Independence and Security Act 2007 calls for cuts in the energy use at all Federal buildings, and sets goals of net zero emissions for all new commercial buildings by 2030, with existing buildings to reach this goal by 2050.

Water - the Cinderella resource?

Of all the other excellent presentations available on the CIBSE conference website, the most memorable was from Professor John Swaffield of Heriot-Watt University, who took to the rostrum with the clear air of a man who’s time has surely come.

“I’ve been working on water for 25 years,” he told the conference. The 1980s were the UN’s ‘Decade of Water’, but that had little impact here in the West. Recent events, coupled with highly respected future climate predictions are clearly demonstrating that water - both too much and too little - needs to float to the top of the sustainability agenda.

Professor Swaffield sees three key challenges, which are particularly pertinent to building services engineers: how to limit the effects of drought; sustainable urban drainage; and heavier system usage.

Defra’s response to water issues is “Future Water; the government’s water strategy for England 2008”, but Swaffield is concerned this might not go far enough: “I don’t believe you can change people’s attitudes to water [conservation]. They just don’t do it.” He suggests that a better approach might be to provide ‘aspirational appliances’ that save water ‘invisibly” - in other words, hard-wire water conservation into properties by supplying, say, dish-washers and showers that deliver the performance people expect but using less water than conventional systems.

As well as discussing green roofs, and ‘syphonic water systems’ such as those used at Stanstead airport, and the Olympic Stadium in Sydney, Professor Swaffield stressed the crucial role that water engineering plays in securing public health.

For example, his team was called in to investigate an outbreak of SARS in a block of flats in Hong Kong. They modelled both the waste water drainage system and the ventilation system and discovered that the existing set-up had induced a trade-off which meant that the bathrooms were “breathing in and out” with the drainage system - resulting in the spread of infection. Another example was last summer’s Foot-and-Mouth outbreak in Surrey.

“Water conservation and a better understanding of building drainage have been niche building services interests in UK,” said Swaffield. “The need to address water conservation and beyond that, the implications of increased precipitation and severity of storm events, move these concerns centre stage... What has been a niche activity will certainly become the norm.”

Learn more:

	•	Many of the conference presentations are available to view via www.cibse.org/conference2008 (PC users only) and presenters’ slides can also be downloaded.
	•	ASHRAE links: www.ashrae.org, www.HPBmagazine.org and www.engineeringforsustainability.org.