Modern Building Services

28 MODERN BUILDING SERVICES DECEMBER 2022/JANUARY 2023 M any of the numbers surrounding global heating are, ironically, extremely chilling. Here are just a few: the Earth’s average temperature has increased by 1.1°C since 1880 and continues to rise by around 0.15°C every decade. As a consequence, the last eight years have been the hottest on record. The top 10 warmest years for the UK since 1884 have occurred since 2002. In contrast, none of the coldest years have been recorded this century. Average global land temperatures have risen by more than 1°C since the Industrial Revolution. Southeast England has seen some of the most spectacular climate change, with warm spells increasing from around six days a year during the period between 1961 and 1990 to more than 18 days per annum between 2008 and 2017. The highest temperature ever recorded in the UK – a sweltering 40.3°C – was set in Coningsby, Lincolnshire in July 2022. But this record is likely to be broken soon as the planet suffers further effects of global warming. The World Mete- orological Organisation 1 warns that there’s a 93% chance that a year between now and 2026 will be the hottest on record. Meanwhile, from fewer than 100 fires between 2011 and 2017, the UK suffered 79 fires larger than 25 hectares in 2018 and a whopping 137 fires in 2019, according to the European Forest Fire Information System. And, the UK Health Security Agency 2 says, around 1,600 people died in the UK because of heatwaves in 2021 and about 2,500 in 2020. But the number of heat-related deaths in the UK is expected to rocket to approach 7,000 a year by 2050 3 without sufficient adaptation. These and other jaw-dropping figures build a compelling case for trusting that the global environmental emergency is real and is causing even the staunchest climate sceptics quite literally to feel the heat. Indeed, a recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 4 confirms that “It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land”. Temperature control We can’t control the weather, but there are features that influence it over which we do have control. For example, measures to fight climate change include passive building construction, a technique that improves a structure’s energy efficiency through better weatherisation, enhanced windows, improved airflow and so on, all while taking account of the local climate. Climate Action Pathway: Net-Ze- ro Coolings 5 – a recently published report by an influential group that includes the Carbon Trust and the University of Oxford - points out: “Cooling is critical for health, prosperity, and the environment. It keeps our vaccines safe and food fresh, ensures we have comfort- able buildings to live and work in, and is central to our industrial and transport infrastructure. “However, cooling is typically energy intensive and highly polluting due to the emissions from the electricity that powers this equipment (generated mostly from carbon intensive sources) and the refrigerants and insulation foam gas used in it (especially if not properly recovered and recycled).” One of the report’s solutions to the energy intensive and polluting nature of temperature control is passive cooling, which it predicts will feature in every building by 2050: “Passive cooling measures will range from shading, glazing, thermal mass and cool roofs to ventilation, green walls, and roofs, and evaporative and radiative cooling. These measures will be optimised and integrated within the design phase of any building or urban plan in order to avoid or reduce the need for mechanical cooling.” ➜ High temperatures are increasingly common in the UK with four of the five hottest summers on record having happened since 2003. TimMitchell , Sales Director at Klima-Therm, examines the likelihood of future heatwaves and discusses the implications for the cooling industry. Keeping buildings cool in a Net Zero future FEATURE NET ZERO