Elemental

These are my links for May 3rd through May 6th:

• CIBSE publishes new guidance on LTHW heating systems – Modern Building Services – Legislation has forced designers to improve the efficiency of their heating systems, so a designer now has far more options than before. The new CIBSE Application Manual 14 ‘Non-domestic hot water heating systems’ provides guidance on the design, installation and commissioning of water based heating systems.* It is CIBSE’s first new guide on this topic for 20 years.
• Fishing with Strawberries: on Tim O’Reilly « Scott Berkun – Love this (you might need to read the whole article for context): "To only make strawberries makes you an artist. And to only make worms makes you a capitalist. To make both at the same time, or some of one now and then some of the other later, perhaps makes a successful artist. Or an artistic capitalist. Or in Tim’s case, it means you’re having a successful life that has helped people like me make successful lives, and perhaps that’s the best kind of fishing of all: fishing that helps other people learn to fish."
• Current Issues Note 24: Reviewing the evidence on carbon emissions from rail and air travel | Greater London Authority – "This paper analyses the existing literature on calculating the carbon emissions from high-speed rail and short-haul aviation."
• Interactive: National carbon calculator – can you cut UK emissions? | Environment | guardian.co.uk – A great tool – try reading David McKay's Hot Air with this at your side. Is 80% reduction possible? This highlights how hard it will be – no 'business as usual': "Play UK prime minister and set the policy on energy, transport and other sectors and measure the carbon emissions generated."

admin News advice, aviation, business, calculator, carbon, CIBSE, emissions, GLA, rail, UK

These are my links for January 3rd through January 7th:

• She Just Walks Around With It: What I Would Tell Any Recent College Graduate – Wise words from Kristy: "That is NOT the same as liking what a company does, seeing a company that has lots of potential and potentially cool jobs, and just not liking some aspects of your current job there. Every job — especially in the beginning, good lord — comes with some "sh*t work": dumb things that just have to get done, and that you just have to do.
  Oh, I could write a manual about Success in the Workplace at the Entry-to-Mid Level.
  My point, really, is that every corporate job is going to suck to some degree. If it sucks and you totally can't see any reason to stay except for the paycheck, look for something else. If aspects of it suck but the long-term (1-3 year) potential is evident, don't screw up a good thing by focusing on the stupid."
• House 2.0: On Housing Benefit – Mark's B&W view of housing: "The problem is essentially that we have created a two-tier housing market. There is the private sector, which is expensive and insecure (esp. for renters), and the social/council sector which is cheap and very secure. And subsidised to the tune of £20billion a year…. It doesn’t strike at the root of the problem, which is that there are two different markets operating and cheap and secure housing is always going to be preferable to expensive and insecure, even more so now as windfall profits from owning private housing have been put on hold.
  A more logical solution would be to have just one housing market. To do that, you have two options. One would be to privatise the social/council house sector, and remove all housing benefit, instead supporting the poor by some other method – for instance, giving them money and letting them decide how to spend it. Alternatively, you could nationalise all housing and have it all rented out by the state."
• The enduring influence of architect Christopher Alexander, author of A Pattern Language. – By Witold Rybczynski – Slate Magazine – Most people discover Alexander through his classic, A Pattern Language, which appeared in 1977. Small and fat (more than 1,000 pages), printed on fine paper, and bound in a plain maroon cover embossed with a gold escutcheon, it resembles a Latin breviary. Its author's ambitious goal was nothing less than to catalog the entire built environment—from towns to bedrooms—as a collection of discrete "patterns," 253 of them. Each pattern was explained, supported by research, and illustrated by sketches and photographs. The patterns were linked to one another, showing which ones worked well together, and arranged hierarchically from large to small. "Neighborhood Boundaries," for example, suggests that strong neighborhoods require clear edges and restricted access. At the other end of the scale, "Ceiling Height Variety" observes that buildings with uniform ceilings are uncomfortable and recommends varying ceiling heights between large and small rooms to create different degrees of intimacy.
• CIBSE > About Building Services > Ken Dale Travel Bursary – The Ken Dale Travel Bursary makes awards available of between £1,500 and £4,000 to CIBSE members in the developmental stage of their career who wish to spend three to four weeks outside their own country researching aspects connected to their field of work and which will benefit CIBSE, their employer, their clients and the profession. CIBSE is especially keen to encourage applicants to take-up the award for research that articulates CIBSE's concern for the environment.

  The Bursary also offers the candidate the opportunity to experience technical, economic, environmental, social and political conditions in another country and to examine how these factors impact the practice of building services engineering.

• David Barrie: A New Deal for urban regeneration – Via Phil Clark on twitter, a great new blog find and a great post too: "Economic productivity today is increasingly linked with social welfare – and there's an ever-increasing recognition of a feedback loop between welfare, natural resources and economic development.
  In other words, sustainability is slowly but surely coming to mean not just environmental justice and intergenerational value but intra-generational value and equity"
• Blog | Yudelson Associates | Australian Efficient Building Scheme Allows Buildings to Trade Carbon Reductions – “An Efficient Building Scheme is identical to an emissions trading scheme except that it recognizes energy efficiency improvements in non-residential buildings, rather than emissions avoided. Simply put, it treats one ton of greenhouse gas emissions that is not emitted because energy is not used, in the same way that a conventional Emissions Trading Scheme treats one ton of CO2 that is not emitted due to a change in energy generation methods.” In other words, it’s far better to reduce demand than to fiddle with what the power plant has to emit to meet the (higher) demand of a building that wasn’t upgraded in terms of energy requirements.
• Anna Minton’s blog: Boris’ ‘Manifesto’ to keep public space public – "Surprised and pleased to see Boris Johnson call for public space to remain genuinely public. In his ‘Manifesto for Public Space’, which goes under the heading, ‘London’s Great Outdoors’, Boris writes that “there is a growing trend towards the private management of publicly accessible space” and that where this “corporatisation” occurs, “Londoners can feel themselves excluded from parts of their own city”. But he makes clear “this need not be the case” pointing to the Kings Cross development where it has been agreed that the local authority will retain control of the streets and public areas – ‘adopt’ the streets to use the jargon. He explicitly states: “This has established an important principle which should be negotiated in all similar schemes.”"
• BBC News – No central heating in new homes – Reading this, it screams of Passivhaus, yet isn't mentioned at all?: "The properties will be made air-tight and will be fitted with triple-glazed windows.
  They will also contain a "whole house ventilation" system which will recover at least 80% of the heat from stale air in the home and redistribute it into a supply of fresh filtered air.
  The executive director of Habitat for Humanity in Northern Ireland, Peter Farquharson, said the ambitious plan would "fundamentally change how people view new homes" and have a "far-reaching impact for the community and the sector"."
• Future Friendly Homes » The Passive House Solution | Certified Passive House Consultant | How Passive House works and why it matters – Passivhaus taking over the world? A good overview from an accredited practicioner stateside: "It is now available in the US. Consultants, projects or building components that have obtained the right to carry the logo have committed themselves to design excellence and the Passive House energy performance criteria. I am a Certified Passive House Consultant, one of 200 in the US and the first in the state of CT to provide this service."

admin News advice, Architecture, book, bursary, career, christopher_alexander, CIBSE, designpatterns, Economics, graduate, Housing, NI, passivhaus, regeneration, social_housing, Sustainability, US

I’ve been geeking out over my gorgeous faux leather hard bound copy of the 2009 Ashrae Handbook – Fundamentals (SI units) which recently arrived in the post. One of  the perks of ASHRAE membership is an updated copy every year of one of the handbooks on a rolling schedule (something CIBSE have started to do too in recent years).

Anyway, in this year’s tome is a new chapter – Chapter 35 SUSTAINABILITY. Under ‘Characteristics of Sustainability’ is a clarifying few paragraphs on the difference between green and sustainable buildings. For reference:

Sustainability Addresses the Future

Sustainability is focused on the distant future (e.g., 30 to 50 years). Any actions taken under the name of sustainability must address the impact of present actions on conditions likely to prevail in that future time frame.

In designing the built environment, the emphasis has often been on the present or the near future, usually in the form of capital- or first-cost impact. As is apparent when life-cycle costing analysis is applied, capital cost assumes less importance the longer the future period under consideration.

This emphasis on the distant future can differentiate sustainable design from green design. Whereas green design addresses many of the same characteristics as sustainable design, it may also emphasise near-term impacts such as indoor environmental quality, operation and maintenance features, and meeting current client needs. This, green design may focus more on the immediate future (i.e. starting when the building is first constructed and then occupied). Sustainable design is of paramount importance to the global environment in the long-term while still incorporating features of green design that focus on the present and near future.

An interesting way to slice the problem, and makes me realise (by this definition, at least), most of the stuff that I am most interested in is green design, rather than sustainable design, occupant comfort being my raison d’etre. The chapter goes on to point out that HVAC&R engineers cannot by themselves create global sustainability (however, we all need to do our bit and encourage as many others as possible), and that sustainability has many contributors, is comprehensive and that technology plays only a partial role.

As green building rating systems continue to converge (BREEAM and LEED), I find a growing interest in keeping up to date with ASHRAE, which I have always found more ‘engineery’ than CIBSE (in that their technical guidance seems to have many more equations than CIBSE).

Given ASHRAE’s definition, which rating system is more sustainable (rather than green) – LEED or BREEAM? Something I’ll poder a while longer…

admin Opinion ashrae, BREEAM, CIBSE, green, LEED, Sustainable

These are my links for August 30th through September 1st:

• Coal verses Nuclear (Jonathon Porritt) – I've not made much comment on George Monbiot's comments on nuclear – mainly because I agree with his qualifications. JP explains here why the green movement are in a kerfuffle about it by explaining: "a communicator as astute and clever as George should (and surely does) know the difference between a 'Yes … If' position and a 'No … Unless' position." JP's a "No…Unless" man…
• Rod Sheard leads MBO at HOK Sport – Building – After a long period of consolidation and M&A are we due for increased fragmentation and MBO's? The current economic climate would suggest not, but HOK Sport are going for it…
• Deadlines provide an opportunity – BSEE – Building Services and Environmental Engineer – BESCA's new accreditation scheme is the only one that certifies assessors to inspect both Level 1 (simple, packaged or VRV) and Level 2 (complex, central-cooled air or water) air-conditioning systems.
• Mission Creep | Neil Williams » Blog Archive » How to be an interesting civil service blogger (and not get fired) – via Tom Watson, a guide to blogging if you're a civil servant. Private sector bloggers can learn from this too – a good summary of things as they stand.
• CIBSE RESET tool (Excel spreadsheet download) – Further to TM38, this tool is intended to provide guidance to those responsible for the design, installation, commissioning, operation and maintenance of building services. It is not intended to be exhaustive or definitive and it will be necessary for users of the guidance given and results produced to exercise their own professional judgement when deciding whether to abide by or depart from it.

mel starrs News Blogging, business, calculators, certification, CIBSE, debate, EPBD, George_Monbiot, green, guide, m&a, MBO, nuclear, part_L, renewables, spreadsheet, TM38, UK

These are my links for August 21st through August 23rd:

• Widgetbox › CIBSE Search Widget – A widget you can add to your website to search for LCEA's.
• Freelance Jobs & Freelancers – iFreelance.com – via Paul Miller – a website posting freelance opportunities and freelancers. Considering for my blog redesign in the future…
• ISO – News – ISO establishes sustainability principles for building construction sector worldwide – "The building and construction sector is a key sector in national economies and the built environment is a major element in determining quality of life, as well as contributing to cultural identity and heritage. Addressing sustainability in buildings and other construction works includes the interpretation and consideration of sustainable development in terms of its three primary aspects while meeting the requirements for technical and functional performance.The principles take into account that while the challenge of sustainable development is global, the strategies for addressing sustainability in building construction are essentially local and differ in context and content from region to region. The social environment includes social equity, culture, traditions, heritage, health and comfort, social infrastructure and safe and healthy environments. It may, in addition, particularly in developing countries, include poverty reduction and job creation."
• ISO 15392:2008 – Sustainability in building construction — General principles – "ISO 15392:2008 identifies and establishes general principles for sustainability in buiding construction. It is based on the concept of sustainable development as it applies to the life cycle of buildings and other construction works, from their inception to the end of life.
  ISO 15392:2008 is applicable to buildings and other construction works individually and collectively, as well as to the materials, products, services and processes related to the life cycle of buildings and other construction works.
  ISO 15392:2008 does not provide levels (benchmarks) that can serve as the basis for sustainability claims."
• 20 Eco-Structures that defy conventions! – Whilst the pictures are pretty, the green credentials of some of these projects are slightly dubious (rotating tower, for one). A nice summary, though, and some I hadn't seen before.

mel starrs News buildings, CIBSE, construction, freelance, green, international, LCEA, lists, standards, Sustainable, tall_buildings

What I’ve been reading about:

• Zero carbon targets debated at AECB conference – Discussions on renewables and greenwash
• Models of whole life costing – Building Services Journal – Book review by Hywel Davies of Whole Life-cycle Costing: Risk and risk responses
• BSRIA Infonet: Whole-Life Costing Analysis, Churcher D : Books & Downloads – Publications for the building services industry – Single and site licence software – Free publications – Try before you buy – Presents a simple process in five sequential steps for the practical calculation of whole-life costs for the construction and operation of buildings.
• Assessors in demand as deadline looms – Building Services Journal – CIBSE Certification has accredited over two thirds of all the energy assessors and CIBSE Low Carbon Energy Assessors (LCEAs) to produce Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) and Display Energy Certificates (DECs).
• Carbon targets impossible without post occupancy overhaul – Building Services Journal – BSRIA propose a "Soft Landings" framework
• BD+C’s Top 150 Building Team LEED APs- 7/2/2008 12:31:00 PM – Building Design & Construction – Perkins+Will have over 50% of staff LEED accredited, more than anyone else.

mel starrs News books, BSRIA, CIBSE, costing, DEC, EPC, greenwash, LCEA, LEED, life, POE, publications, renewables, statistics, whole, WLC

The guys over at HBR green have an interesting article on how business is evolving:

The once unassailable notion that corporations exist solely to maximize their shareholders’ returns is crumbling. Without a doubt, the dramatic scale and scope of the challenges presented by climate change will require the next generation of business leaders to adopt a more socially oriented professional identity.

Of course, there are leaders in this already – Google’s “Do no evil” springs to mind, but that’s on a company basis, rather than industry.

I know that either CIBSE or the engineering council have a clause in their membership which covers some of what HBR are talking about, but I can’t find it at the minute.  Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Unrelated, but I found a CIBSE blog whilst looking – the CIBSE membership blog by Fiona and Bobby can be found here.

mel starrs Opinion Bobby, CIBSE, Fiona, Google

Doing some research and I came across the wonderfully voyeuristic Business Week Company Insight Centre.

After the news of Zaha Hadid awarding herself £725,000 on a turnover of just over £10m I thought I’d see what the rest of the industry was up to.

I was surprised to learn to learn that WSP CEO Chris Cole is a Fellow of CIBSE.  Last year’s pay was £604,000 with further stock options bringing him up to greater than Zaha proportions of £736,000.  Turnover for WSP for 2006 (the year the pay is for) was £416.7m, some 40 times more than Zaha.  This year (2007 results) their press release announced “outstanding financial results” with profit increasing 43%!  Of course, this is the fun one can have with statistics.  In actual fact, profit margin increased from 6.8% to 7.8% – an increase of 0.8%.  Still good news and good figures for the industry, but not nowhere near as dramatic as 43%.

So, does anyone know of any other CEO’s of multi-disciplinary consultancies who are CIBSE and who get paid more?  I’ll keep poking around Business Week and see what I can come up with…

mel starrs Uncategorized Business Week Company Insight Centre, Chris Cole, CIBSE, GBP, pay, WSP, zaha Hadid

Now I know I am probably the only person out of the 17,000+ CIBSE members who uses RSS and I have complained in the past about the lack of feeds for the news area of the CIBSE site.  But never let it be said that I complain without seeking solutions.  To the right of the screen, approximately where the Jobs section used to be is the RSS feed for the CIBSE news page.

Being the persistent nuisance that I am, I went to the very useful website, FeedYes.  I added the news page from the CIBSE website, imported it into my Google Reader and then used the public sharing function to add the clip to my sidebar.  Consider it a public service. I might do the same for BSJ if that isn’t violating any copyright issues (Phil?).

mel starrs Uncategorized CIBSE, Google, News

CIBSE’s website has had a facelift.  But still no RSS feeds for the news page or the discussion forum. sigh. 

mel starrs Uncategorized CIBSE