Achieving energy efficiency in buildings
Delivering energy-efficient buildings that are also operated efficiently demands team effort, says CIBSE’s Hywel Davies.
Buildings are for life and not just a construction project. They are built to be occupied and operated and to be improved or refurbished over their life. We should be looking at buildings that last longer because they have had input from design, construction and from research.
We need to make our solutions for buildings more efficient and more affordable, based on a combination of research and practical engineering experience. It is difficult to cut costs unless efficiency throughout the supply chain is increased.
We need to work with facilities managers so that they can work with and manage a system that can ultimately be improved on, so that a building is a ‘living form’.
And we need to measure the performance of real buildings and learn from that. This is where Display Energy Certificates can be a very useful tool.
With the UK Government recognising the importance of energy efficiency through the creation of the Energy Efficiency Deployment Office (EEDO) and with many of CIBSE’s members working with clients who have now reached the ceiling on their energy budget, the need for energy efficient systems is taking centre stage.
The latest edition of ‘CIBSE Guide F: Energy efficiency in buildings’, which has just been published, is a timely tool to help deliver energy efficient buildings in practice. Guide F shows how energy bills can be cut by 20 to 30% by good engineering and informed, effective facilities and energy management. The Guide comprises three core parts.
• Designing the building energy design checklist.
• Operating and upgrading the building — why buildings fail on energy.
• Benchmarks.
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| Advice on reducing energy bills by 20 to 30% — CIBSE’s latest guide on energy efficiency in buildings. |
Since the previous 2004 edition of CIBSE Guide F, the UK Government has set a legally binding target to reduce national greenhouse-gas emissions, and the latest Carbon Plan sets specific targets for improving the energy efficiency in new and existing buildings.
There have also been significant regulatory changes over the last eight years, with two revisions to Part L of the Building Regulations and transposition of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive into UK legislation. The next two revisions of Part L are expected to push for further improvements in energy efficiency to progress towards the Government’s aspiration for all new buildings to be zero carbon by 2019.
Energy management has also moved up the corporate agenda, due to implementation of the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme. The second part of Guide F (covering the operation of the building) has been updated to include more information about carbon management and the need for improved metering and monitoring.
CIBSE Guide F 2012 edition includes a new section on developing an energy strategy. This reflects the changes to planning policy, which now include targets for reducing carbon-dioxide emissions from new developments and the need to submit a detailed energy-strategy report as part of the planning application. Whilst this may be aimed initially at those working under UK planning rules, it is still relevant outside the UK as it encourages a systematic planned approach to energy use.
In addition, the section on energy-efficient refurbishment has been expanded, recognising the urgent need to upgrade existing buildings and the opportunities to improve performance.
The adoption of Building Information Modelling (BIM) will bring challenges and opportunities. We foresee BIM changing the way we all work, driving greater collaboration and co-operation. Energy-efficient buildings demand an integrated supply chain, and Government clients will be focusing more and more on the delivery of the information they need to manage their buildings effectively as a result of the Government’s BIM strategy.
This needs ongoing support, so that when the building is handed over we need to ensure that the operational engineers are involved. They need to understand the design intent, how the building is intended to work and how to operate and run it effectively. It is vital the designer and construction team be engaged for an appropriate period to advise the end user and/or operator about how the building and its systems were intended to operate, as well as leaving a usable and practical building operation manual (and not just an O&M manual or an H&S file).
Leaving an end user/operator with nothing more than an operating and maintenance manual is not good enough, and the designer and contractor should be engaged to visit at intervals after handover to monitor the energy performance of the building and its systems and advise where it differs from expectation and how the end user might improve performance.
At a time of energy prices rising to pay for new generating infrastructure, when companies are making plans to meet their Carbon Reduction Commitments and when the UK, for the first time in its history, is a net importer of its energy, focusing on energy efficiency is essential for owners of new and existing buildings. Successful collaborative working is key to achieving a low-energy and low-carbon future for the industry.
Hywel Davies is technical director of CIBSE.
