Carbon 60CIBSE is respected within the industry for its guidance and advice on making buildings more energy efficient, and on the role of the building services engineer in this task.
It is therefore important that we practice what we preach and make our own efforts to ensure the carbon footprint of CIBSE HQ is reduced. This led to the decision to hold a competition to encourage innovative ideas to reduce the CIBSE HQ’s emissions by 60% by the end of 2009.
Run by CIBSE’s ‘Carbon Task Force’, a group of leading figures in low carbon in buildings, the competition was won by Fulcrum Consulting who continue to be involved in the implementation. The competition process opened up the initiative to the wider industry and provides a model for others to replicate.
With a working building that has been adapted significantly over time and a yearly budget, the changes must be phased in. We began with planning and establishing baselines to work from including an occupancy survey to benchmark the continuing comfort of staff and building users. This will be repeated so that we can ensure comfort levels are improving
Phase One of the implementation is coming to an end - we now have new boilers, new water tanks in the roof and effective loft insulation. Controls have been fitted to enable staff members to control the radiators directly when the heating is on. The heating will be switched on centrally and will also respond automatically to the outside conditions but it was felt that the ability to control the indoor environment is important to the comfort of individuals. Longer term, information collected automatically about building use and heating requirements will also be used to provide our heating so we will have a modern and energy efficient heating system.
CIBSE is committed to promoting renewable energy and for this reason we are looking at the possibility of heat recovery, energy generation on site from renewable sources and passive measures such as solar water heating and summer shading.
One of the key objectives of this project has been to demonstrate how companies can make improvements based on targets and how they can balance quick wins with measures that may need investment and have a longer term payback. Although CIBSE has been supported by business benefactors, eager to support the project, our phased implementation is being documented to demonstrate the real costs so that others, who may not have benefited from donations of time and equipment have something to base their decisions on.
With a working building that has been adapted significantly over time and a yearly budget, the changes must be phased in. We began with planning and establishing baselines to work from including an occupancy survey to benchmark the continuing comfort of staff and building users. This will be repeated so that we can ensure comfort levels are improving
Phase One of the implementation is coming to an end - we now have new boilers, new water tanks in the roof and effective loft insulation. Controls have been fitted to enable staff members to control the radiators directly when the heating is on. The heating will be switched on centrally and will also respond automatically to the outside conditions but it was felt that the ability to control the indoor environment is important to the comfort of individuals. Longer term, information collected automatically about building use and heating requirements will also be used to provide our heating so we will have a modern and energy efficient heating system.
CIBSE is committed to promoting renewable energy and for this reason we are looking at the possibility of heat recovery, energy generation on site from renewable sources and passive measures such as solar water heating and summer shading.
One of the key objectives of this project has been to demonstrate how companies can make improvements based on targets and how they can balance quick wins with measures that may need investment and have a longer term payback. Although CIBSE has been supported by business benefactors, eager to support the project, our phased implementation is being documented to demonstrate the real costs so that others, who may not have benefited from donations of time and equipment have something to base their decisions on.
Many businesses occupy similar premises to CIBSE – converted dwellings or older buildings that have been adapted over time and it is this existing building stock, not built for current use that has great potential. Improvement of these buildings ticks al the boxes – comfort of the workforce, reduction of energy bills and reduction of carbon emissions. The CIBSE Carbon 60 initiative will show that companies can tackle reducing their own carbon emissions in a market situation based on achievable targets
The Great Refurbishment Event took place last month, highlighting the issues that arise from starting out on a refurbishment project, with a high number of delegates attending, including 100 participants from the 100 days of carbon clean up campaign. CIBSE events always aim to provide guidance and up to date information on timely issues, so the success of the refurbishment event confirmed that more and more organisations are becoming aware of the need to make existing, not just new, buildings more energy efficient and that refurbishment can be a ‘green opportunity’.
The Great Refurbishment Event took place last month, highlighting the issues that arise from starting out on a refurbishment project, with a high number of delegates attending, including 100 participants from the 100 days of carbon clean up campaign. CIBSE events always aim to provide guidance and up to date information on timely issues, so the success of the refurbishment event confirmed that more and more organisations are becoming aware of the need to make existing, not just new, buildings more energy efficient and that refurbishment can be a ‘green opportunity’.
I look forward to keeping you updated on the progress of our ‘green opportunity’ and will hopefully be able to provide some before and after photos to show the results in action.
Stephen Matthews
Chief Executive
Stephen Matthews
Chief Executive
