Modern Building Services

FEATURE HEATING MODERN BUILDING SERVICES MAY 2022 15 “We will also reverse the EU’s decision to take wind and water turbines out of scope and zero rate them as well. And we will abolish all the red tape imposed on us by the EU.” The Chancellor is also doubling the size of the Household Support Fund to £1bn, which he said could be used by local authorities to provide more financial support to fuel poor households. However, it would have been good to see the government following these positive moves up with more support for energy efficiency in the Energy Security Strategy it published in April. This did not include any new money to help homeowners improve insulation even though most existing housing was built before 1973 – the year when insulation standards were improved. The government has opted instead for a consumer-led approach, in the belief that the Chancellor’s incentives – like the zeroVATrate on energy savingmaterials and the £450mboiler upgrade scheme, which is designed to encourage people to install heat pumps –will drive demand.With household budgets under intense pressure thatmight be a forlorn hope. “On aesthetics, upgrades can retain and enhance building’s character withmeasures being easy to install and beautiful in design,” the Strategy states. “On choice, this is not being imposed on people and is a gradual transition following the grain of behaviour. The British people are no-nonsense pragmatists who canmake decisions based on the information.” BESA believes the government will eventually be forced to go further and that retrofitting millions of homes and thousands of commercial buildings will be essential to improve energy security in the long run. Progressive “These progressive tax moves are a good start towards a more ambitious national programme that will be needed to tackle lifecycle carbon emissions and set us properly on the path to net zero,” said Fox. “But they are just a start.” He also urged the government to consult with the industries directly involved in the decarbonisation of heat, including building services engineering, to fully understand the implications of its policy proposals not least on the need for investment in training and skills. “The new incentives will increase demand for competent companies and skilled individuals able to work with these technologies to ensure installations achieve their maximum potential,” said Fox. “We must, therefore, work together to develop a national training programme for low carbon heating to ensure we have the skills to deliver solutions on a scale that can both help tackle climate change and give consumers protection from rising bills.” Gathering actual energy consumption data – rather than projected or estimated statistics – will also be increasingly important. Greater take up of smart metering and open-source data sharing would provide buildingmanagers with a clearer picture of where they canmake the biggest savings and could be linked to specific technical improvements. This could, therefore, inform investment choices. “Gathering data and then turning it into something useful around which building operators can build an energy and carbon reduction strategy could unlock millions of pounds in savings every year,” said Fox. “It would also move us relatively quickly and cheaply towards the government’s longer-term goals. “There is a very strong case for getting back to engineering fundamentals here. Poor energy performance of a building is usually an indicator of wider problems with its overall design and operation so there are comfort and safety implications as well.” BESA continues to stress the importance of approaching a building as a “complete system” rather than as a series of loosely connected components. Encouraging a more joined up approach with control systems driven by real- time energy data would be key to delivering the government’s carbon reduction goals – including making meaningful inroads into lifecycle and embodied carbon. More information can be found at www.theBESA.com “The new incentives will increase demand for competent companies and skilled individuals able to work with these technologies to ensure installations achieve their maximum potential,”