CIBSE President's Blog

I'd like to kick off 2014 looking at the role and importance of Facilities Management, particularly in dealing with the impacts of climate change. So I'm sharing an extract of an article I wrote on the subject, which originally appeared in FM Magazine We'd love to hear your thoughts on the subject, please do comment whether here or on LinkedIn. There's been fantastic debate taking place on social media in response to the blog subjects, thank you all for contributing. The built environment is hugely important to UK business and to our social requirements. Equally so are the essential reductions in carbon emissions required by the Government’s target of 80% within the next 36 years. Buildings affect people’s health, security, productivity and overall lifestyles. As they become increasingly complex and modern systems and operators become more focused on in-use performance levels, then building services engineers must play an important part in ensuring their efficient ...

In recent weeks I met with RIBA on behalf of CIBSE and this has opened up the pathway to working together on strategic issues for the built environment. In my discussions with new RIBA president Stephen Hodder, important areas for development were identified as collaboration, sustainability and the cities challenge. In this blog I challenge how we put this into action. A few weeks ago I was walking with my wife in my beloved home city of London. We were on our way to a marvellous Rumford Club evening function at the House of Lords and as I passed through Parliament Square I was reminded of the awesome sustainability of the fabulous historic buildings. This led me to ponder the fact that the surrounding spectacular buildings have been there for hundreds of years and will be for hundreds more, won't they? The very same thought came to mind as I read the latest copy of National Geographic where I see, in graphic detail, the maps of the world demonstrating the change in coast line...

President George Adams wonders whether lawmakers are doing their bit in responding to and mitigating the consequences of climate change. He points out the law, both national and international gives permission to governments, organisations and investors to take from the earth's resources but does not have a provision to create a balance that prevents the potential worst effects of climate change. This led me to think of the part building services engineers can play; we aren't lawmakers but how we can best contribute to achieving this balance and how we should best try to influence legislation? Clearly building services engineers play an important part contributing to achieving this balance by designing services installations that minimise energy use. However we usually think of minimising emissions as simply improving the operational efficiency with the ultimate goal of “Zero Energy Buildings”, i.e. zero net energy consumption and zero carbon emissions annually. The zero net e...

The way in which the global population consumes energy is not sustainable, both in terms of quantity and efficiency. However, it must be considered that future population growth and consequently energy demand will come largely from developing nations. These developing nations will suffer the most from the climate change caused mainly by developed countries, which have previously taken full advantage of excessive and unrestrained consumption of fossil fuels. Perhaps, rather than imposing an international law, which may hinder the already unstable economic development of least developed countries, it could be proposed that improvement of the CDM mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol and guidance on country specific regional subsidiaries in relation to renewable energy and sustainable government frameworks could enhance the carbon reduction strategies in time to meet the growing energy demand of these developing nations. However, providing better access to renewable energy is not the ...

Firstly I would like to thank our guest bloggers for July, Susie Diamond, Ant Wilson and the team at the University of Sheffield who contributed to the Energy Engineering Conscience topic. Some really interesting thoughts and experiences were shared that helped stimulate a great deal of discussion on the CIBSE LinkedIn group and on Twitter . Thank you also to the CIBSE staff who assist in managing the blog and supporting activities. Continuing my theme on cities, the next thought is about international Law and whether its doing its part in this increasing world of climate change; which is resulting in serious risks to our cities, organisations and people throughout this precious earth on which we totally depend upon. The law both national and international, gives permission to governments, organisations and investors to take as much from the earth's resources on which all life depends as they want, with little or no relation to the impact on the climate. The same legal system ...

At the University of Sheffield we are exploiting the opportunity to reconnect people to their resource use . Climate change science is slowly being increasingly accepted, but it has to be used in the right way. Rewards and incentives get our staff and students into good habits, not scare tactics. It means we can develop staff and graduates who understand and are prepared for the future’s challenges. In the process, we get them more involved in our University’s work, taking students out of the “student bubble” and showing everyone their potential impact. The following three case studies of behaviour change campaigns, all focused on switching off, taught us valuable lessons: The Arts Tower Blackout proved the potential impact of behaviour change. The iconic Arts Tower, visible for miles, was refurbished only 2 years ago with new energy efficient technology. We, with 26 staff and student volunteers, recorded which office equipment was unnecessarily left on one weekend and switched it...

I certainly believe in the value of positive debate and I am sure we all have a conscience that can drive us to create and enhance a better world. There is a saying that for evil to prosper all that is needed is for good people to say nothing and it must be time for us to start speaking up. The rate of change in the world is accelerating and so are the harmful greenhouse gases we emit and the global carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere. We have seen the 400ppm level exceeded in measurement in both Hawaii and the Arctic in the last year. With these levels of greenhouse gases, it is no surprise that we experience greater extremes of climate change. George Adams stated in his president’s blog that climate change is occurring even more quickly than predicted and that we must respond accordingly. One way is to learn how to do “More with Less”, I am currently working on a project for WRAP and CIBSE on resource efficient building services . It is no good saying we want or need ...