The right skills in the right place at the right time and in the right quantities are the heady objectives of the sector skills agreement for the industry launched by SummitSkills.

The costs and complexities of Type Testing of electrical panels are leading to it being avoided, which concerns Dave Holcroft.

Modern lighting equipment and lighting practice is far from wasteful in its use of energy — but still achieves aesthetically pleasing lighting installations, as the new low-carbon category of the Lighting Design Awards demonstrated.

Delivering to Code 6 of the Code for Sustainable Homes requires a fundamental and joined-up rethink of how homes are designed and built. One example was in evidence at the recent EcoBuild exhibition.

With Level 6 of the Code for Sustainable Homes, zero carbon, being the standard to be achieved by 2016, leading lights in the industry have been addressing the issue of how to achieve this requirement in an affordable manner.

An impressive example of how the code can be met was very prominent at the recent EcoBuild exhibition at Earls Court in London with what was promoted as ‘the UK’s first affordable and commercial viable Code 6 house’.

Tony Barnes shares his experience of the application of ground-source heat pumps for domestic heating and reducing carbon emissions.

Airedale International Air Conditioning has taken a major step forward in energy-efficient chilled-water air conditioning with the development of a range of chillers based on the Danfoss Turbocor compressor combined with a series of energy-efficiency features engineered by Airedale.

Nathan Hudson believes that the most obvious ways of saving money on electrical-distribution systems are usually not the best.

With the building-services industry continually faced with a chronic shortage of graduate engineers, CIBSE launched its student bursary scheme four years ago. It provides a means for companies and organisations in the industry to do their bit for the industry — including Modern Building Services, which supported a bursary last year, and we are continuing to do so this year.

What could be the largest such CHP installation in the UK, with an electrical output of 3.2 MW, is up and running in Milton Keynes.

With London South Bank University being a key centre for building-services engineering in the UK, it is appropriate that a major new development should seek to be a benchmark for sustainable future developments. Its designed emissions of carbon dioxide are little more than half of what are required by Building Regulations.

With the application of EC motors, fan-coil units are given the potential to become a much more efficient, and controllable, method of air conditioning. Peter Lowther explains.

With a heating/cooling capacity of 360 kW, the ground-source heat-pump system at the new Stockport Academy is the largest such system designed by Buro Happold. James Dickinson, David Bell and Elaine Bissell outline the scheme and associated plant.

Energy-efficient warm-air heating of large commercial and industrial buildings can be effectively achieved using recuperative plate heat exchangers within air-handling units. Andrew Patch explains.

The Code for Sustainable Homes will soon start to have more effect — as Robin Wood explains.

The Code for Sustainable Homes will soon start to have more effect — as Robin Wood explains.

The current Terracotta Army exhibition in the British Museum is the largest exhibition of this archaeological discovery outside of China itself — and necessitated the provision of a tightly controlled environment.

Air-conditioning equipment installed as recently as 10 years ago is an energy-guzzling monster compared with the latest equipment, and Mitsubishi Electric has addressed the issues of replacing such equipment to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions by more than half.

Warmafloor’s new headquarters substantially outperforms Building Regulations that came into force after it was designed. And managing director Mike Lamb wants to share his experiences with the setting up of a sustainable energy centre

Ron Bernstein foresees the future of building controls being driven by the evolution of the master systems integrator.

Cistermiser, which is widely known for its device for controlling automatic flushing cisterns, has been thinking more widely about improving the functionality and water use of washrooms.

Only proven technologies are used in a new commercial office building in Leeds, but the way they have been brought together sets a new landmark for energy efficiency in buildings.

While not directly a source of renewable energy, heat-pump technology provides a very effective way of harnessing renewable energy — and can also help meet the renewable-energy requirements for planning permission.

Doug Robins shares his views on how the potential benefits of building intelligence can be realised in our regular series of article contributed by the Building Controls Industry Association.

One of the UK’s largest building-services providers has launched its first sustainability report detailing its approach to social, economic and environmental sustainability.

Having become involved in a working project that was suffering co-ordination problems, Fulcro Engineering Services was able to use AutoCAD software to help put things right quickly.

Ron Bernstein reflects on what he perceives as the open-systems myth and provides a perspective on marketplace confusion in the quest for truly open systems.

Promoting and delivering sustainable buildings is a key role, even a responsibility, of building-services engineers. Dave Cheshire and Hywel Davies share their ideas on what they should be delivering — and how.

Peter Roege discusses a new approach to improving boiler fuel efficiency by 30%

As an energy-service company, Dalkia has been managing energy and saving money for clients for many years. The current concern with climate change and carbon emissions simply puts a new perspective on its work.

As an experienced energy manager, Darren Jones believes that too much faith is placed in the building-management system to achieve the efficient operation of building-services systems. He argues the need to get away from the central supervisor and find out what is actually happening in the building.

The UK has an ideal climate for solar heating, and consulting engineers are more involved than ever in harnessing this valuable natural resource, says Paul Jakeway.