IES Blog

The news about this is out in the industry but spreading slowly!!  Please pass it on…

It was confirmed by the Government the other week that although Part L 2010 will come into force on 1st October 2010 as planned; the related EPC section has been delayed until 27th March 2011.

Obviously this has implications for all Energy Assessors – both domestic and non-domestic. 

As mentioned, this deferment will not affect implementation of Part L 2010 for Building Regulation purposes on 1st October 2010, or the transitional provisions already laid before parliament.  The main complication comes when an application is submitted after 1st October 2010 and the project completed before 27th March 2011, therefore requiring an EPC. 

Calculations for building regulations DER/TER (both at design and completion stage), will be to Part L 2010, but the EPC will have to be done to Part L 2006 methodologies.  In many case this will mean extra work for the EA with no additional return.  For example, if using iSBEM separate models will need to be built in different versions of the software; one for Building Regulations compliance and the other to calculate the EPC!

Though it is not expected that this will affect many developments, as most will not be in a position to lodge an EPC within the delayed period, what has been overlooked is the need for design professional to understand the relative difference between EPC ratings – which will be one of the main questions asked by their clients!

Lack of clarity on exactly what the changes to EPCs calculations will be will hamper understanding, and ultimately reduce clients and designers opportunity future-proof buildings.

Designers who need to go back to a previous software version for final Part L ‘as built’ compliance will also face many of the same issues and its therefore essential that any software user who wants the flexibility to switch between 2006 and 2010 versions for whatever reason makes sure that their software will enable this without doubling their effort.

As a consequence, we’re in the process of adding a new feature to our software allowing designers to easily switch between our VE Compliance 2010 and 2006 modules.  This previously unavailable backwards compatibility (of the VE Compliance model) will enable IES users to avoid double input of data resulting from the delay in the new EPCs.  While this will provide a useful facility for projects during the transition between the 2006 and 2010 regulation frameworks, it will also aid in allowing users to easily go back to Part L (2006) if required for old projects.

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Tags:Energy Assessors, EPCs, IES, Part L, Part L 2010, ve-compliance

Today marks the first day of the 2nd annual World Green Building Week. The World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) highlights current and future happenings of the world’s green building industry by hosting meetings and events in countries around the world.  This week is the result of a very successful World Green Building Day on September 23rd last year, which was a series of events hosted by Green Building Council’s around the world, including the official launch of the Asia-Pacific Regional Network.

This year some of the highlights are expected to include the launch of  the WorldGBC Special Report “Tackling Global Climate Change - Meeting Local Priorities” and once again a series of synchronized green building events hosted by Green Building Councils from around the World. These scheduled conferences, galas, festivals, lectures and business meetings will address the importance of green buildings and the role of architecture in promoting environmentally sustainable lifestyles.

Several countries are participating in this year’s events including the United Kingdom, Colombia, Indonesia, Morocco, Philippines, Poland, Russia, and Singapore. To find out what is happening in your country or for more information, visit the World Green Building Council’s World Green Building Week website. How will you participate in this year’s festivities?

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Tags:GBC, World Green Building Council, World Green Building Week

Eco-friendly living can come in many shapes and forms - from recycling paper and aluminum to placing solar panels on your home, to the more extreme option of living in an eco-village.  An eco-village focuses on organic farming, green building, communal spaces and many other aspects of sustainability.  For those that remember the communes of the 1960s and 1970s, eco-villages do have some similar characteristics as they both center around sharing and using the land to farm and eat but the main difference is they aren’t solely for hippies anymore.  From Sweden to Missouri and everywhere in between, these new settlements are popping up and prospering.

“The future of housing, in general, is sustainable communities,” Laura Mamo, a sociology professor at the University of Maryland and co-author of Living Green, tells Green House. She argues that single-family homes on large suburban lots have failed society, because they’ve created social isolation, dependence on personal cars and intolerably hefty mortgages for homeowners. 

Each village differs - but for the most part, residents own the home but not the land it sits on, helping to significantly reduce the taxes. Residents of these communities are usually responsible to help out by cooking communal dinners, tending to the wood-burning furnace that heats all the homes or maintaining the surrounding gardens.  Each eco-village or community has its own set rules and way of life but they all share the same principles of living a more simplified life and reducing their overall carbon footprint for a better tomorrow.

If living in an eco-village isn’t for you, then try looking at some of the unique ways these residents live and try adapting them to your neighborhood. Why not unite with your neighbors and try growing a few items in each of your yards and sharing the crop? Or set up a monthly volunteer day to plant new trees or flowers in your neighborhood parks? These are small ways to make an impact in your own community and make your own pseudo-eco-village!

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Tags:Building, communications, housing, recycle, reduce, Sustainability, Sweden

Football season kicks off in the US this month, and the Big Apple has a brand new green home for its two teams.

2010 is the first season for the New Meadowlands Stadium, the new 82,000-seat home of the Giants and the Jets, in East Rutherford, NJ, just a few miles west of New York City.  The $1.6 billion venue was constructed right next to its now-demolished predecessor, Giants Stadium.  It has twice the square footage, holds more people, and boasts many more amenities than the old stadium.

Its builders say it’s “one of the greenest stadiums in America.”  Last year, the EPA signed an agreement with its owners to “incorporate eco-friendly materials and standards into [its] construction and operation.”

But did it apply for LEED certification?  No.

According to Sports Business Journal, the stadium would have been “one or two points shy” of the total needed to be LEED certified because of the glass used to enclose its 200 luxury suites.  The mullions that seal the insulated glass that they could have installed would have obstructed fans’ view of the field, so the stadium’s management chose less-insulated (and less energy-efficient) glass, and elected not to pursue LEED certification because they knew they would have come up short.

Still, there are plenty of features that would have given the New Meadowlands Stadium plenty of LEED points, including:

- The stadium is on a brownfield site in the New Jersey Meadowlands

- It was built with 60,000 tons of recycled steel, including some from old Giants Stadium

- The seats are made of recycled plastic and scrap iron

- A new rail service takes fans to and from the stadium, cutting down on auto traffic

- The men’s rooms have waterless urinals

The stadium has gotten plenty of positive publicity in the green community, and rightfully so.  Its builders went above and beyond to make it as green as possible, despite its lack of LEED certification.  But still, it’s a shame that windows are the obstacle preventing the new crown jewel of America’s favorite sport from really leading the way.

Besides, aren’t you supposed to watch the game outside anyway?

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Tags:communications, LEED, LEED Certification, recycle, recycling

Earlier this year, I attended & was proud to present at The 10th REHVA World Congress – Clima 2010 in Antalya, Turkey. There were over 1,000 attendees from 56 countries at the HVAC congress. Attendees included two former ASHRAE presidents, one former CIBSE president - OBE, the current IBPSA president and the chairman of CIBSE Guide- A Steering Committee. There were 460 papers presented orally & 180 posters took place. Needless to say it was a huge success.

If you are unaware, REHVA is the Federation of European HVAC Associations and represents over 100,000 engineers from 28 European countries.

A feature of the biannual REHVA World Congress is the International student competition. Having graduated with my MSc. from Brunel University in 2009, I was asked to enter the competition. The European association I was representing was CIBSE, which I know is not specific to any one European country, but a collective nomination from the UK & Ireland nevertheless.

Apart from commending the success of the event, I wanted to blog about a fascinating project of the student competition, by Geert Filippini of Royal Haskoning in The Netherlands. Geert went on to win the competition, and deservedly so. Geert’s research work on a low energy micro-climate was very impressive. I’ve attached an image below of his built prototype which was tested in a climate chamber in the Eindhoven University of Technology.

The fresh air is being supplied directly into the microclimate of the occupant so the he/she is given a psychological feeling of being in control of his/her own environment. The radiant panel is a low energy feature (14% less energy), again because the local heating & cooling is taking place in the occupant’s working environment. A very clever idea!

I’ve analysed the concept using <VE> – MicroFlo for a typical day and the CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) analyses does also seem to certainly prove the concept.�
Please see the latest edition of the REHVA Journal & I hope to see you at the next annual conference In Tallinn in May 2011.

Liam

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Tags:ASHRAE, CIBSE, climate, Engineers, Environment, REHVA World Congress

Last month, we put out the call for questions for our new monthly series, Questions and AEC. And the responses came pouring in. So without further ado, here we go!

Twitter follower @xinyiwho asked:

@IESVE yes, can we trust the default SPF in Apache system?

Cormac Glynn, Project Consultant based in Dublin, answered:

I wouldn’t take the default value for SFP. The default specific fan power is 3 but the limiting value for Part L is 2. Therefore on a new building, if you took the default value you would fail. The reason for this is that the user is forced to consider the SFP and not just take the default value without realizing and achieve a pass. It is up to the user to decide on inputs to the model.

Does that answer your question, @xinyiwho?

And do you, dear reader, have a question that you need an answer to? Feel free to leave a comment below with your question. Or follow us on Twitter and send us a question using the hashtag is #IESVEQuestions. Or you can find us on Facebook and LinkedIn.

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Tags:aec, Apache, Building, consultants, Facebook, free, Twitter