Technical
Choosing between direct and indirect HIUs: a practical comparison
Heat Interface Units (HIUs) are essential components in district heating systems, and are broadly categorised into direct…
March 2026
Enhancing air source heat pump system performance – The naturally Strebel way
Latest range of heat pumps use vapour injection technology to help boost heating output, efficiency, and system…
March 2026
Case study: Cambridge Central Mosque
Cambridge’s elegant new mosque has comfort and sustainability at its heart thanks to the involvement of the environmental engineer at the project’s inception. Andy Pearson…
July 2019
Plymouth’s 5th-generation heating network
When Plymouth City Council looked at heating and cooling buildings more efficiently, it found the area’s geology offered a source of energy that enabled it…
July 2019
The scale of the problem – water quality issues in heat networks
A recent study found 15% of heat networks had suffered failures as a result of issues around water quality. Jon Greaves, of Hydro-X Water Treatment,…
July 2019
Opening the loop – CP3 guide
Open-loop groundwater source heat pumps are poorly understood and little used in the UK. A new code of practice, CP3, aims to raise standards, say…
July 2019
Threads of responsibility: ensuring fire safety during a building’s whole life
Government proposals to improve building safety call for a golden thread of information to be passed between accountable people at every stage. Alex Smith looks…
June 2019
Electrocaloric cooling – making a difference
Electrocaloric cooling works by applying an electric field to change temperatures and requires no refrigerants. Metkel Yebiyo and Professor Andy Ford look at the benefits…
June 2019
Life safety support: CIBSE Guide E: Fire Safety Engineering
Grenfell put fire safety in building design under greater scrutiny. Martin Kealy introduces the new CIBSE guide to fire safety engineering, which – in its…
June 2019
Hot off the press: research on overheating in homes
The latest research on assessing and mitigating overheating in buildings is the focus of a Building Services and Engineering Research and Technology Journal special edition.…
June 2019
In plane sight: ultra-high-resolution thermal imaging
Ultra-high-resolution thermal imaging technology is giving researchers much more detail on how cities are affected by high temperatures. James Richards explains how a land-temperature sensing…
June 2019
Plants as a building service
Plants are proven to remove pollutants and improve air quality, but which species should be considered? Researchers from the University of Birmingham and the RHS…
May 2019
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