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It’s already May! Can you believe it? May! And that means just one thing for me – AIA 2012 is right around the corner.

The IES Team will be manning booth 2121 this year – and I’m very excited for what we have in store. We’ll be showcasing some of the great new updates to our software. Architects, engineers and designers will get an in-depth look at the new ways to visualize solar shading, solar arc and solar analysis with VE-Gaia and VE-Pro.

As we prepare for this year’s show, I’ve been thinking about IES’ role in architecture and how it has adapted and changed based on the trends of the industry. Energy modeling has changed the way many architects think about sustainable design. The ability to test architectural hypotheses for energy efficiency before ever laying the first brick brings a lot to the table, and more and more architects are seeing the advantages of simulation as they tackle new projects. But, just as IES adapts to a changing industry, architects do as well.

So just what is the architect’s role in energy analysis in 2012? Well, that’s what we’d like to know from you! We’re running a competition at AIA this year, and the winner will receive a free one-year license for VE-Gaia, one of the most comprehensive architectural analysis tools available. In addition, the winner will get free access to the VE-Navigator for LEED, as well as associated training.

Want to win? Just answer the question.

What do you view as the Architect’s role in Energy Analysis?

You can enter your response online at http://www.iesve.com/AIA2012Comp. To see other entries and for updates on the competition, follow the official hashtag – #IESCompAIA –on Twitter.

We’re looking forward to seeing everyone at the show! Let the countdown begin…

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Tags:Add new tag, AIA, Architects, architecture, competition, design, energy, IES, industry, Modeling, Sustainability, Twitter, VE-Gaia, VE-Pro

Some are calling it a debacle; others are calling it a massive u-turn on the Governments behalf. Whatever way you label it, the general consensus in the green industry is that any plans to scrap the “consequential improvements” policy would be a massive mismanagement of the UK’s long term low carbon objectives.

The “consequential improvements” scheme would require home owners that wish to carry out extensions or loft conversions to make additional energy saving improvements to their building. The home owner will not bear the brunt of these costs as funding will be provided by the Green Deal. If the energy savings do not at least match the extra costs involved, then the owner can refuse to carry them out.

So we make our homes more energy efficient, take a step closer to a low carbon Britain, create new jobs, and all at no cost to the home owner?  Where did the u-turn come from?

Well Kevin McCloud puts it down to “scaremongering” in the press, who have labelled the proposal as a “conservatory tax”. Kevin said “Government’s plans to require homeowners to improve the energy efficiency of their home when they build an extension are about as sensible as sensible gets, especially when the homeowner doesn’t have to pay for those improvements. Reading the recent coverage I began to wonder if there was a secret anti-insulation lobby rabidly bent on increasing our domestic fuel bills.”

Paul King, CEO of the UKGBC, continued to lay the blame on the doorstep of the press, saying “Government has a responsibility to look beyond the ludicrous media headlines. This policy would have helped protect ordinary people from soaring energy costs, as well as reduce carbon emissions to meet its own supposedly legally binding carbon budgets.”

So what do you think? Could this be a major blow to our carbon emission reduction targets? Would a potential u-turn on this policy show a lack of commitment by the Government to an energy efficient UK?

Answers on postcards, or the comment section below…

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Tags:carbon reduction, energy, Green, Green Deal, industry, Kevin McCloud, UK, UKGBC

Yes, green buildings are more energy efficient. And yes, they are even healthier for occupants. But safer and more durable than traditional buildings? A joint report by the USGBC and the University of Michigan says you can add this benefit to the list.

The report, highlighted in GreenBiz.com, goes as far as saying that the added resilience of green buildings could even be a major selling point and boost the market for green structures. While the news is great for the industry, I actually don’t find it that surprising. Tighter seals on doors and windows, more efficient ventilation and improved insulation protect buildings from the elements. So it makes sense that they are safer.

“…some of the most costly, serious damage is done when wind and water infiltrate a building, sending water deep into hidden cavities. A small opening – whether a missing shingle or a poorly sealed window – can set off a domino effect of damage,” GreenBiz points out.

This domino effect has not gone unnoticed. Organizations such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) know the damage that wind and water are capable of all too well. It’s even prompted the agency to look into green building as way to improve safety during natural disasters. The high quality and detail that goes hand-in-hand with green building could keep roofs intact and windows in place during hurricanes.

“[Craig Fugate, FEMA administrator,] called on leaders from major corporations, government, academia, the scientific community and civil society to help advance green building as a complementary strategy to address pre- and post-emergency-management situations, ultimately forging more resilient communities.”

Construction materials have come a long way in just the last few years. Technology has advanced drywall and windows beyond what many of us thought possible. I’m amazed every time I walk a tradeshow floor. My most recent favorite discovery was insulation made out of recycled blue jeans. Genius! As products continue to become better and better, buildings are getting more efficient, less costly to maintain, healthier…

And now we can add one more reason to the list of why green building practices should be incorporated into every project. Safety.

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Tags:Building, construction, energy, Green, industry, recycle, safety, USGBC

It’s that time of year again – the construction industry gets ready to flock to London for a three day event dedicated to creating a sustainable built environment.

Last year’s event attracted over 50,000 visitors, more than 13,000 exhibitors and 750 speakers. This year’s show promises to be even bigger! And just as Ecobuild is growing every year; so does IES and our presence at the event.  This time around our Ecobuild activity will be spread across 2 stands and the Innovation Zone. That’s right, you can run, but you can’t hide…

But why would you want to hide? We have loads of exciting news and updates to fill you in on…

• At our main stand (N224) we’ll be launching IES TaP, which is a new online tracking tool for managing the evidence gathering process for BREEAM and Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH) assessments. We’ll also be presenting a range of commercial partnerships with Daikin, Monodraught and Plancal and showcasing the new innovations that have come from these alliances. Find out more here.
• Over on stand N221 we’ll be exhibiting our ground–breaking research projects. With approximately a third of our turnover going into research and development, this is an interesting part of what we have on show at Ecobuild. Drop by the stand to speak with our research experts and to find out about our latest research projects: OPTIMISE, VE-SCAN, IMPACT, THERM, VERYSCHOOL, LESSONS and EASEE. Find out more here.
• We’ve been selected to present our new VE-Scan project at the Innovation Zone (N530). VE-SCAN is a state of the art tool from IES R&D that goes beyond the traditional use of building simulation at the design stage. It uses building simulation to substantially improve the operational performance of a building. Learn more about VE-SCAN here and cast your vote for your favourite innovation at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/innovationzone2012

We’re also looking forward to once again getting involved in the live Ecobuild tweeting and meet ups over the course of the three days. So much so that we’ve even come up with an exclusive special offer for our twitter followers. With our Twitter Loyalty Offer you will be able to get 25% off a package that includes our architectural analysis tool, VE-Gaia, and the VE-Navigator for BREEAM new customer package.  To qualify for this offer you will need to do the following…

1. Follow us on twitter – www.twitter.com/IESVE
2. Watch out for our daily Special Offer tweet during Ecobuild.
3. Retweet our Special Offer tweet.
4. Bring proof of the retweet to our stand and talk to one of our experts about VE-Gaia and the VE-Navigator for BREEAM.
5. Fill out our special offer form which gives you until the end of April 2012 to claim this fantastic promotion.

And finally, we realise we’ve been tweeting a lot of you over the last year without actually knowing what you look like. So if you are taking a photo of your team or something that has caught your eye at Ecobuild, remember to use our special photo hashtag - #ShowUsYourEcoFace

We’ll be sure to get the ball rolling on Tuesday…

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Tags:BREEAM, Building, construction, ecobuild, Environment, event, IES, industry, research, special offer, Sustainability, Twitter, VE-Gaia

If you think NFL teams are competitive on the field, that’s only the beginning! There’s another competition going on, but this one doesn’t require pads, players or even a football. This one involves the stadiums themselves.

If you haven’t seen the Philadelphia Eagles’ plans for Lincoln Financial Field yet, an article in GreenBiz.com will give you a good backgrounder. Notorious for immense amounts of energy consumption, stadium overhead has long taken a huge cut out of the bottom line for team owners. But that may be a thing of the past.

The [Eagles] Friday announced a partnership with wholesale-power-generation giant NRG (NYSE: NRG), which will install and operate 11,000 solar panels and 14 micro wind turbines at the stadium…The Lincoln Field renewable-energy system, which is expected to generate about six times the electricity consumed during all Eagles home games annually, will make Lincoln Financial Field one of the greenest stadiums in the world when it’s completed in December.

And I think that’s quite an accomplishment. Especially considering the Dallas Cowboys reportedly spend a mind-boggling $200,000 in electricity each month. Yes, that’s FIVE zeros!

It’s good to see the Eagles push for a more energy-efficient stadium. This could be the start of something big for NFL stadiums. After all, the NFL is competitive bunch. So we can expect before too long that another team will try to make their stadium even more energy-efficient than the Eagles. And then another, and another. (You get the idea.) Here’s to competition and a more eco-conscious stadium experience!

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Tags:energy, Green, NFL, stadiums, Sustainability, USA

Today, 52 percent of the world’s population lives in cities. By 2050, estimates push that number up to 70 percent. If that’s not incentive enough to make our cities smarter, we aren’t sure what is!

An article published on GreenBiz.com points out that this percentage is going to put more demand on our buildings and infrastructure than ever before – demands that far outweigh anything our cities are currently capable of. With this in mind, it’s more important than ever that sustainable building technology and energy modeling software continue to advance with the changing urban landscape.

According to the article – “Technology will play a central role in determining whether future cities are harmonious, vibrant and sustainable or discontented, wasteful and unsustainable,” says a recent report from Lux Research. “Efficient future cities will integrate technologies to reduce their environmental impacts while sustainably coping with growing populations.”

The good news is that there are already cities that are paving the way for future urban living. The Lux report highlights eight cities that are heading in the right direction and laying the groundwork for future city life. Among them are Singapore, Amsterdam, Stockholm and Masdar. All of these cities, while seemingly extremely different, have one thing in common: technology.

With technology being key to the success of tomorrow’s cities, “technology companies need to understand the variety of models under which future cities develop so they can tap the widest channel to market in each case, and should understand the pros and cons of each model to find their fit in this daunting and confusing space,” wrote Lux Research Analyst Ryan Castilloux, the report’s lead author.

That’s where IES comes in. With the ability to see how an urban building will perform before ever laying the foundation, designers can push the envelope and test energy-saving theories that will be the standard 40 years from now.

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Tags:IES, Smart Cities, technology

A 40 percent energy efficiency target by 2050 - that’s the goal a recent report says the European Parliament needs to strive for. Is it lofty? Perhaps. But one of the great things about setting high goals is that others tend to strive for them as well.

An article in Greenwise highlights some of the more intricate details of the report, backed by various local authorities and universities across five European countries. One of the report’s major focuses is commercial building.

“Buildings are responsible for 40 per cent of Europe’s energy-related greenhouse gas emissions, so overhauling their energy efficiency represents the greatest opportunity for energy saving and greenhouse gas reduction,” said Dr Bruce Tofield of the University of East Anglia (UEA) and joint author of the report, ‘Refurbishing Europe: An EU Strategy for Energy Efficiency and Climate Action led by Building Refurbishment’. “A long-term target of 40 per cent would galvanize the near-term action on energy efficiency that is essential if action to tackle potentially dangerous climate change is to succeed.”

Whether the European Parliament will vote to approve the goal is uncertain, but the report might push other countries, including the U.S., to implement stricter regulations. The result would be a tremendous boost to the green commercial building sector as commercial buildings are a major contributor to greenhouse gases and energy consumption in the U.S. as well.

Currently, the European Union has a goal of reducing energy demand by 20 percent. It’s worth noting, though, that estimates place it on track to achieve only half of this, according to the Greenwise article. Given this information, it will be interesting to see if the U.S. decides to take small steps or giant leaps toward energy efficiency in the commercial sector.

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Tags:Energy Efficiency, EU, Europe, Green Building, Sustainability

Firstly, we would like to thank you for your response to our original blog in our campaign against the DCLG’s proposed software validation charges – “Don’t let DCLG charges damage our industry”

Since then there has been significant development that we would like to bring you up to date on. On Friday 18th February, IES met with DCLG and a number of our industry peers to discuss EPBD, Green Deal and validation charges. This meeting exposed some serious inaccuracies in the charges put forward by Landmark, the company who will be responsible for software validation on behalf of the DCLG. BRE have pointed out that the figures actually tendered by them were much lower than the industry is being charged.

It also brought to light further proof that this tax would clearly lead to an unlevel playing field in our industry. The impression at the meeting was that the costs being imposed on software providers were in part contributing to the costs of developing iSBEM and other Government free tools.  We think this should be investigated to see where the money from the proposed charges is going to be spent.
A summary of the main issues that arose from the meeting are:

•    It is unfair that charges are being levied on the industry when the high scale cannot be justified on the basis of the work involved.  By involving a middle man (i.e. Landmark) DCLG is creating unnecessary costs and time delays that could be avoided.  On DCLG’s website the amount spent on External Consultants was £13.4M in 2010/11 out of a total staff bill of £95M. http://www.communities.gov.uk/corporate/foi/disclosure-log/disclosurelog2011/may2011/externalconsultants/

•    DCLG is holding a monopoly position with free tools such as iSBEM competing in a commercial market.  Free commercial software is already available and the competition from publically funded software is distorting the market

•    We are fearful that we could end up with duplicate charges for software linked to the Green Deal and the likely heavy impact of these charges on smaller organisations, some of which might not be able to bear all the additional costs.

•    At the moment the frequency of validation is still unclear as there has been no consultation process or impact analysis involving the industry.  For instance DCLG persist in stating that ‘there is no need’ for revalidation of existing software this year, but this doesn’t answer the question about validation triggered by updates BRE or by the software providers themselves who are all continually improving their products.

Our objective remains the same – we want the DCLG to withdraw their proposed cost structure for these charges and work with the industry to agree a more reasonable way forward. Adding your voice to the cause remains an essential part of making this happen. What are your views on the charges and how do you feel you could be affected by them? Let us know by commenting below or emailing us at DCLGcharges@iesve.com. All the feedback provided will be brought forward to our next meeting with the DCLG on Friday, 24th February.

We will keep you posted on any progress made!

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Tags:construction, DCLG, energy, IES, industry news, software, UK

The 2012 Olympic Games are almost upon us, and once again sustainable building is being woven into this year’s host city. During the 2010 Winter Games, we highlighted the LEED certified Olympic Village and the redesigned, eco-friendly Olympic medals. And it looks like we’ll see more of the same in London this year!

An article published on CNN.com highlights how London plans to cut back on energy consumption, even when it comes to iconic landmarks. Take Tower Bridge, for example. One of the city’s most famous structures is being retrofitted with an LED lighting system that will reduce energy use by 40 percent. The goal? Host the most environmentally-friendly Olympic Games ever.

As the director of policy at the UK Green Building Council points out, these types of projects can really help shape the sustainable building industry as a whole.

“These high profile projects can highlight the importance of retrofitting and cause people to think about installing renewable energy systems on the micro level,” says John Alker. “Relatively speaking, Tower Bridge will save a small amount of energy but this could translate into a quite significant proportion if people can be persuaded to follow.”

While much of the spotlight will be on the athletes and the competition this summer, the Olympics might very well give the green building market a boost as a result. Increased sustainability exposure for the millions that tune in will definitely prove beneficial.

What London 2012 sustainable initiative has caught your eye?

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Tags:Add new tag, energy, Green Building, London 2012, Olympics, Sustainability

As you may or may not know, in the past the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) have provided a non-domestic software validation service for UK building regulations. They issued a statement on 13th January 2012 proposing to withdraw this service and instead make it a so-called “self-funding” operation where they will charge software suppliers a fee each time their software requires validation. These proposed fees include an Initial validation fee of up to £16,000 and then a re-validation fee of up to £10,000 thereafter.

We believe that these proposed charges are unreasonable and potentially unlawful.  They will not only have a serious negative impact on the UK construction industry but the entire UK economy and the Governments Carbon Reduction objectives will suffer as well.

Some of the most concerning issues are:
•    The charges will discourage new entrants to the market, and will cause existing software vendors to withdraw products due to cost of development and validation.
•    There will be fewer products, less competition, poorer quality software, and a climate in which vendors take a very conservative attitude to innovation.
•    Charges cannot be justified in terms of the work involved in the validation exercise.
•    It is unreasonable to impose a blanket fee for re-validation since the size of this task varies enormously depending on what needs to be done. In our experience this had ranged from a check on a table of numbers to a full examination of every aspect of the analysis.
•    The number of job losses will increase because companies will no longer be able to provide free or low cost products due to the cost of validation which will impact on many of the smaller service based businesses that rely on this software to be competitive in the mass market.
•    There will be no charges for iSBEM and ORCalc software which are both provided by the government. Why should the government be spending taxpayers’ money to compete in an established commercial market with a number of established vendors whilst at the same time imposing punitive, excessive, unjustified and arbitrary charges only on competing commercial products?
•    The proposals are not practically workable and will fundamentally damage an industry which plays a vital role in tackling the UK’s carbon reduction objectives.
•    IES have been a strong supporter of the Governments low energy drive and invested heavily in making Part L effective. We also provide free tools (SBEM interface and DEC software) and free support for these tools to the industry. There are thousands of small companies that rely on these tools that become untenable if we have to pay the proposed charges.

These are just a selection of the reasons why the DCLG must reconsider their statement. A full list can be found in this news item on our website.

We would like to appeal for your support and assistance on this matter. If you agree with any of the points above please take a moment to email Peter Matthews {Peter.Matthew@communities.gsi.gov.uk} and DCLG minister Andrew Stunnel {enquiries@andrewstunell.org.uk} to register your opposition to these charges. Failure to do so could lead to long lasting damage to our industry and will make the UK’s carbon reduction objectives far more difficult to achieve. We reasonably request that the DCLG’s current statement on software validation is withdrawn pending discussions and agreement on a more practical way forward.

Thank you for your time.

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Tags:construction, DCLG, energy, IES, software, UK, UK Government