黑洞社区

Jim O鈥橬eil has been in the m&e industry for more years than he probably cares to admit. He spent the early part of his career working for GEC on a variety of turnkey engineering projects around the world, before spending almost 10 years in building services consultancy and the past 15 years on a variety of technical engineering roles in the building services contracting environment.

During this time Jim has led his technical engineering teams on some of the most complex projects in the UK. For the past six years he has also chaired the ECA Technical Committee.

All that experience has proved invaluable since he took up the chairmanship of M&E Sustainability, the joint venture between the ECA and the HVCA, in 2008.

This initiative started in a blaze of publicity in 2007 when the two association directors signed a memorandum of understanding. This embraced a shared vision that, in order to survive, m&e firms would have to adapt their working practices in line with demands from clients for sustainable building projects.

There followed a period when many ECA and HVCA member firms struggled to properly understand what sustainable design actually meant to them and their customers. However, 2009 has seen a clearing of the fog, at least partially.

鈥淲e recognised right away that there was no point being sentimental and sandal-wearing about all this,鈥� says O鈥橬eil. 鈥淲e were always focused on the business benefits to contractors of the sustainability agenda because we couldn鈥檛 see how else it would fly. It was just hard, in the early days, to see exactly how our members were going to profit.鈥�

The agenda is so wide and deep that it is easy to see why some observers might have felt the initiative was going nowhere fast. However, there is renewed confidence that M&E Sustainability is finding its niche.

鈥淚f you try to do everything, you can end up achieving nothing. So we have focused on a small number of key areas that are central to delivering the low-carbon targets the government keeps telling us it wants to achieve, but that will also help m&e firms find new business at an extremely tough time,鈥� says O鈥橬eil.

M&E Sustainability is delivering specific guidance on energy efficiency, and renewable and microgeneration technologies for m&e firms, and it is supporting training courses designed to help them add the new skills that will be needed as the demand for these technologies increases.

However, it is also channelling much of its combined expertise into key business areas, namely: waste/resource management; the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC, see page 19); the review of Part L of the 黑洞社区 Regulations; the roll-out of smart meters; and the expanding influence of building energy certificates.

M&E Sustainability has just produced guidance on waste management strategies and points out that winning an extra 拢5000 of business at 5% profit margin will deliver a benefit to your bottom line of just 拢250. Finding that new business in the current economic environment is not going to be easy, but shaving 拢250 from your costs by targeting material waste is a realistic aim.

鈥淲e also want to focus our members and their clients on water use and rainwater harvesting,鈥� he explains. 鈥淲aste of all kinds is central to the sustainability agenda 鈥� it is not just about energy efficiency and low-carbon targets.鈥�

Government agency Envirowise estimates that UK businesses altogether are wasting up to 拢10 million a day by failing to monitor their water use. Two-thirds of respondents to a survey on the subject said they do not measure their water consumption, and 85% do not have water reduction targets. M&E firms can advise them on how to put that right and install the kit to make it happen 鈥� that is the opportunity, according to O鈥橬eil.

Of course, energy is a major focus for m&e firms, particularly as 44% of all carbon emissions are created by buildings. O鈥橬eil thinks the government should put far more effort into energy efficiency as a first step before committing to building vast amounts of expensive renewable energy sources.

鈥淲e must drastically reduce consumption,鈥� says O鈥橬eil. 鈥淭his has to be the first step and it was good to see that this penny may finally have dropped at Westminster if the measures outlined in the new Low-Carbon Transition strategy are to be believed. However, the government still seems to put far too much faith in massive amounts of wind power 鈥� at huge expense to the taxpayer and future generations of electricity consumers.鈥�

He believes we can do a lot better than wasting 40% of all the energy created by power stations in heat rejected via cooling towers from the generation process.

鈥淏y increasing our use of microgeneration to produce electricity close to the point of use and recycling the heat for use in our buildings, we can make a huge difference to that figure,鈥� he says.

鈥淲ithin M&E Sustainability we are encouraging the wider uptake of microgeneration technologies such as combined heat and power [CHP], and we are working with contractors to ensure that such technologies are deployed appropriately.鈥�

The government also plans to put a 鈥榮mart meter鈥� in every home by 2020, and the wider use of this technology will make microgeneration more financially viable as consumers will be able to sell electricity back to the Grid.

There is an opportunity now for m&e contractors to inform
their clients [on the new Carbon Reduction Commitment] and
put themselves in pole position to provide expertise

Jim O'Neil

Smart meters also show consumers exactly how much energy they are consuming and how much it is costing in 鈥榬eal time鈥� so they can take appropriate action.

鈥淎t the moment, gas and electricity meters are hidden away under stairs and in cupboards and only register units of consumption 鈥� information that is more or less meaningless to members of the public if they notice it at all,鈥� says O鈥橬eil.

鈥淎lso, a large proportion of utility bills are estimated so we have a very poor grasp of actual consumption, which is the fundamental starting point for any energy-efficiency programme.

鈥淎nd who is going to provide the expertise to deploy 鈥榮mart鈥� technology?

M&E contractors, of course,鈥� O鈥橬eil points out, warmly.

They will also install the improved heating and lighting controls that allow building users to make good use of the extra energy consumption information they will receive from their smart meter.

Legislation is another area where the two associations are able to provide useful guidance and support to their members via M&E Sustainability. For example, 5,000 organisations are expected to be included in the CRC mandatory carbon trading scheme when it starts next April. All of these are potential clients of m&e firms as they seek to reduce their carbon emissions, primarily through energy efficiency and the use of renewables, to reclaim the money they will be forced to spend on carbon credits.

This initiative marks a big step change as it captures medium-sized energy users like supermarkets, hotels, schools and public bodies. It places a direct financial incentive and penalty on carbon emissions.

鈥淐urrently, confusion reigns with some clients as they are unaware of the implications of their potential actions. There is an opportunity now for m&e contractors to inform their clients and put themselves in pole position to provide expertise,鈥� says O鈥橬eil.

Also, with a new version of the 黑洞社区 Regulations Part L due to come into force next year, there is a scramble on to make sure the industry knows what is going on. M&E contractors will be expected to implement the measures contained in the draft regulations, which will raise energy-efficiency performance by 25%, compared with the 2006 version.

鈥淐ommissioning will be a key consideration because design teams will be instructed to submit commissioning plans at the same time as their initial designs,鈥� says O鈥橬eil. 鈥淭his will serve to place commissioning at the heart of the process and should mean more time is allowed for this essential activity, as well as making it easier to keep buildings operating as designed.鈥�

M&E Sustainability is publishing regular updates on the new Part L so that members are prepared for working to much tougher targets.

鈥淲e will also continue to encourage members to join competent person schemes so they are able to self-certificate that their work complies with the regulations. This is a significant selling point to clients as it reassures them that their project will comply without them having to jump through various bureaucratic hoops,鈥� explains O鈥橬eil.

He also believes that Energy Performance Certificates and Display Energy Certificates (EPCs and DECs) will prove increasingly influential. Around 80,000 EPCs have already been issued for commercial buildings, and about 3,000 are issued every week for homes.

鈥淭here is considerable disquiet about the quality of some of the certificates that have been issued so far because some estate agents are offering them for free. This has prompted the government to launch a review, which should result in new quality benchmarks being set. Ideally, this will mean that only properly-qualified firms with trained engineers will be able to deliver the certificates in the future,鈥� adds O鈥橬eil.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 us again.鈥�

The key element for M&E Sustainability is that the certificates are accompanied by a report outlining potential energy efficiency improvements the building owner can make to improve his rating. The property sector has woken up to the possible financial benefits of this in the shape of reduced running costs and better marketability of their built assets.

鈥満诙瓷缜� owners are actively seeking expert advice and support and our sector must be in a position to deliver,鈥� says O鈥橬eil. 鈥淎s one property professional told our website recently, 鈥楴obody wants to move into a G-rated building.鈥� It will be our sector鈥檚 job to make sure they don鈥檛 have to.鈥�

Spending an hour in Jim O鈥橬eil鈥檚 company should be enough to persuade any sceptical m&e professional that there is more than enough business out there for anyone with the right experience and skills who makes the effort to see the full sustainability picture.