Orkney Islands Council has been installing heat pumps in schools and public buildings for more than 15 years in a bid to decarbonise heating and end reliance on oil. Andy Pearson looks at the lessons learnt and how a smart electric grid could soon take advantage of the relentless winds that batter the Islands
Author: Alex Smith
Podcast: The challenge and opportunities associated with delivering heat networks
Glen Miller and Kim Hansen from Grundfos Pumps look at best practice in the design of district energy networks and the role pumps can play in ensuring system efficiency
Perfecting Passivhaus: Max Fordham’s experience of the fabric-first building method
Max Fordham has been designing Passivhaus projects for nine years, including two very different housing projects that won the residential CIBSE Building Performance Award in consecutive years. Gwilym Still chronicles the development of Passivhaus at the practice, and explains why it is integral to Max Fordham’s net zero strategy
Dark matters: SLL’s Guide to protecting the night time environment
The SLL has published its first, full-blown lighting guide on illumination and the night-time environment. Co-author Benedict Cadbury summarises the new LG 21: Guide to protecting the night-time environment, following a summary by Jill Entwistle
Specifying fan coil units in a post-Covid environment
Why HDR’s Adrian Gray believes infectious disease transmission must be embedded in ventilation regulations
Triple crown: Young Engineers Awards winners revealed
The winners of the CIBSE Young Engineers Awards demonstrated that the building services industry has the talent and drive to deliver the safe and sustainable buildings necessary to meet the challenge of climate change. Alex Smith report
CIBSE and COP26
With the COP26 Glasgow conference fast approaching, CIBSE’s Julie Godefroy outlines the associated events and activities in which the Institution is taking part and supporting, as well as its upcoming guidance
Embodied energy: the whole picture
New CIBSE research shows that embodied energy in heating and hot-water systems accounts for up to 25% of a dwelling’s whole-life embodied carbon. Elementa Consulting’s Yara Machnouk reports on the study that will form the basis of CIBSE guidance TM65.1
Striking the right note
Engineers at London’s Grade I-listed Royal Albert Hall had the challenge of designing a near-silent cooling system in one of the UK’s most important Victorian buildings. Andy Pearson listens in
Unlocking the potential of heat networks
The rollout of heat networks are a key plank of the government’s Heat and Buildings Strategy. To identify the urban areas most suitable for networks, the government has published a new document on zoning, as Andy Pearson reports