Battery storage capacity is set to soar as prices tumble and renewable fuel plays an increasingly important part of the energy mix. Andrew Brister examines developments in the technology and looks at innovative applications
Category: General
Hive of activity – agile working design
Agile workplaces that allow staff to choose where they work are making inroads in offices. Liza Young finds out how such spaces will work alongside wellbeing principles
Women making a landmark contribution
Exemplar projects with key roles for females help improve engineering’s gender bias. Ahead of International Women in Engineering Day, Andrew Brister talks to three women who are helping deliver a new ‘statement’ building for the London School of Economics
A Chicago thriller – chiller replacement
Replacing a district cooling system with chillers required a helicopter to lift new plant into a tiny room 200 metres above Chicago. Cyclone Energy Group’s Benjamin Skelton describes the challenge
Making the case for evaporative cooling
Evaporative cooling can save energy when used in the right climate. AEI’s James Falconer looks at the technology in Hong Kong, Las Vegas and London, and explains why the cooling method is making a comeback
Beijing’s burning issue – reducing boiler NOx emissions
Tough limits on boiler NOx emissions have been introduced to tackle Beijing’s smog. Dr Gregory Zdaniuk, Joël Moreau and Lu Liu look at one retrofit’s use of water vapour
Emergency lighting standards
Revised emergency lighting standards now include sections on emergency safety and standby lighting. Atkins’ David Mooney highlights what this means for designers
Heat network pipework: Burying an investment, not a problem
The design and installation of pipework is often overlooked in the delivery of heat networks, with potentially catastrophic consequences for performance, says Colin Taylor of Eneteq Services
Cold case – the future of refrigerant gas
Short of reinventing the laws of chemistry, refrigerant gas choices in the future will be severely restricted, says Ewen Rose
Interview with Paul Flatt – why engineers must add value
Building services consultants risk obsolescence unless they use their engineering expertise to extract value for clients, warns Hurley Palmer Flatt’s CEO, Paul Flatt. He tells Alex Smith that employee training programmes are key to creating the calibre of engineer necessary for his firm to succeed in an increasingly competitive market