Archive for July, 2006
Top 150 Global Design Firms
ENR (Engineering News Record) have issued the top 150 global design firms on 24 July 2006.
Companies are ranked according to total revenue for design
services performed in their home country and abroad during
2004 in $ millions.
Note the 2 new contenders in the top 50 are from (no surprise), China. Whilst the full data set tends [...]
100 Days of Carbon Clean Up
Photo from Flickr
CIBSE have been promoting the 100 Days of Carbon Clean-up, due to finish mid-September. I’ve just spotted that the BBC are following Fulcrum’s efforts on the news website - and they appear to be struggling with natural ventilation vs. a workable temperature in the heatwave too:
We’re too hot! Productivity in the office [...]
Comfort is a green issue
image from FlickrAs I have discussed before acceptable ambient temperatures in offices have a key role in carbon consumption. Whilst letting temperatures drift beyond say, 28ºC for more than 5% of occupied time in summer can be detrimental to performance, limiting temperatures to 20ºC in summer and 24ºC in winter is overkill, as CIBSE [...]
Are your employees brains melting?
I’ve been waiting for months for the chance to use one of Hugh McLeod’s cartoons and finally this one is apt:
I’ve made the point already this summer about how peak temperatures can affect performance, but a comment from my dentist this morning (who noted that in the hot weather people made irrational decisions - I’m [...]
On-line CPD for Part L
via BSEE:
Professional Specifiers can now take on-line CPD-accredited courses on Part L from the comfort of their own workstations – thanks to innovative heating specialist Creda – one of the first UK HVAC companies to de-mystify Part L in this way.
“Our aim is to provide surveyors, M&E consultants and Specifiers with facts and practical skills [...]
Productivity and the heat
Today is the hottest July day on record in the UK with temperatures reaching 36.3 degrees celcius at Gatwick and 33 degrees at my desk (the thermometer had been in the shade - I moved it into the light to get a better picture)
This was with outside air temperatures at 29 degrees in Leeds. Of [...]
Syllabus for Low Carbon Consultants
The LCC syllabus has been released. For designers the key documents and tools are:
The CIBSE Code of Practice (code of conduct?)
CIBSE Sustainability Policy
CIBSE Guide F: Energy efficiency in Buildings
TM38 Climate change and the indoor environment: impacts and adaptations
London Renewables toolkit
GPG 306 Energy Management Priorities
Part L2A & L2B
SBEM
The course is 2 days with an exam on [...]
Part L1A & L1B - updates to SAP
The approved list of software for SAP (standard assessment procedure) was updated on 7th July - the big software players (Hevacomp, IES, Cymap/TAS) are still not there. I hear their software is by and large ready - the approval and testing process just hasn’t happened yet.
Hevacomp is now Part L2 accredited according to their ad [...]
Waiting for the energy review
image
©copyright 2004 UKAgriculture.com
The government’s energy review will be published next week. The Independent has the following comment on the proposed proportions of renewable energy sources:
They (Adas, analysts from Wolverhampton) have calculated that 3 per cent of all land in Britain, almost
7,000 sq km, will have to be filled with wind farms, and about [...]
In the news
A nice piece in the Independent today by Stephen Tindale, Exec Director of Greenpeace, urging us to cut waste of energy.
In response, I can proudly say I have eventually bought a ‘one click’ power strip for my computer peripherals, saving oodles of energy and also stopping the hum when I’ve closed down for the night. [...]
