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Conference reports Energy managementexperience Conference on Energy management experience, Construction Industry Conference Centre, Royal Institute of British Architects, London, 9-10 May 1985 Of the hundred or so participants at this conference, each will take away a different impression and a different message from the two days of packed and informative papers and discussions about the actual experience gained in energy management in buildings. The organizers are to be congratulated on bringing together 13 interesting papers, all well presented by their authors, and for providing a timetable which allowed ample time for questions and discussion - - a most important feature of the conference about 'experience', part of the feedback so vital in making research and demonstration projects useful to the industry. A major impression that I gained was a broadening acceptance by speakers and audience of the commercial incentives for energy conservation. Since the 'energy crises' of the early and mid-1970s there has been a body of opinion that humankind should strive to save energy for its own sake; to stretch out the reserves of non-renewable fuels and to maximize the use of renewables, regardless of the cost involved. The real world of industry has found this idealogical philosophy hard to accept, and yet has often not clearly come out in the open to say that money, rather than energy, is the commodity most precious to it. At this conference there was a clear recognition on the part of government, industrial and institutional energy users, and equipment manufacturers that the real incentive for 'conservation' is to save money, not to save energy as an end in itself. Bill MacIntyre, Director General of the Energy Efficiency Office (EEO) said that the EEO's objective is to get 'better value for money out of the use of energy'. The very name of his office
ENERGY POLICY October 1985
endorses this theme - - and it was not labelled the 'energy conservation office' for that reason. Keith Thomas from Barclays Bank indicated that in his organization the word 'conservation' often conjured up some form of deprivation, and policy was to use the expression 'energy management' instead - - a term which provides positive motivation to most staff. A common thread running through several papers was the successful use of energy consumption targets and goals - - industrial and commercial managers are used to the concept of meeting goals and once again, energy management, rather than conservation, becomes the motivating theme.
Arbitrary and variable A second major impression that I came away with was the growing appreciation of the need to involve the occupier of a building in the whole business of energy control, management and conservation. Gone are the days when a building operator could inflict arbitrary and variable standards of comfort - - or discomfort - - on the occupants, and gone are the days when he can afford to let the occupants have indiscriminate control of the heating, ventilation and cooling. The growing trend among energy managers to involve the occupants as part of the 'team' was quite discernable among several papers. In the keynote address, Minister Ian Gow said that it was the policy of his programme to assist in informing the building occupant about his energy use: 'get the occupant informed, interested and involved and he will help you to manage'. Bill MacIntyre endorsed this in stating that the major problems in con-
servation were lack of awareness, lack of interest, lack of technology, structural barriers between landlord and tenant and the problems faced by low-income households - - but the first two were absolutely crucial and were the priority issues at the EEO. G.J. Levermore, of the Polytechnic of the South Bank spoke about experiences in monitoring and motivating energy c o n s e r v a t i o n in several L o n d o n boroughs, and quoted, among many examples, the motto adopted by the polytechnic; 'knowing = s a v i n g s ' knowing how much energy is consumed by a building is often itself a motivator to saving; knowing how to conserve enables savings to be made; knowing how much has been saved by ones efforts or equipment is vital to progressive savings. John MacAdam of Orchard Partners described an analysis made of a district heating scheme serving 1300 dwellings, with the objective of selecting the best system for its refurbishment. Among several observations made was that if tentants are to be asked to pay for what they use, then they must be given control over energy use. Many conventional district heating systems rely on the landlord providing heat - - charged for within the rent as a standing charge and therefore uncontrolled in use. Experience has shown that the introduction of heat meters and a proper charging system typically results in up to 25% saving in energy use. Once again, 'knowing = saving'. Mervyn Perkins, of Hampsb!;e County Architects Department, in describing the low-energy school at Yateley indicated that teachers demanded control of their classroom environments, but tended to control them in an ineffective m a n n e r . Although they are intelligent and will try to save energy, they put education as first priority, and seem to think that filling the children's lungs with fresh air is a necessary prerequisite for good learning conditions. John Lawrence, of JEL Energy Conservation Services Ltd, reporting on experineces gained at a British Aerospace factory, stressed that his mission was to get across the message that 'energy use is a controllable cost,
489
Conference reports not a fixed overhead like the rent and rates'. This message was certainly carried forward by many of the other speakers who outlined experience of successful attempts to conserve, manage or control energy use in local authority buildings, retail stores, banks, small and large offices, factories, group heated and individually heated houses, schools and hospitals. Specific case histories on each of these were given and the details of the various 'success stories' may be found in the ample conference proceedings - - and 'success stories' they are - - as one might expect from the proud presenters of projects on which they have invested time and money.
Horror stories But one is left to wonder how many 'horror stories' are also lurking in the archives. One or two examples of problems and failures did emerge during the discussions - - problems with ill designed equipment, ignorance on the part of the installer, or just bad luck: optimum-start programmers that were not self powered so that the time clocks went wrong after a power cut; automatic energy controllers that provided greater occupant comfort, but in doing so used more energy than before; badly placed sensors that caused sophisticated control equipment to respond incorrectly. Because one can learn a lot from the genuine mistakes made by others, will anyone dare to organize a conference on energy management failures? And if so, would anyone be brave enough to offer papers? In summing up his opening paper, Bill MacIntyre unknowingly summed up the entire conference. He said, 'The rewards are there for the taking, the needed technology is there and proven, and it is now up to us to persuade people to save energy'. The conference succeeded in demonstrating the first two comments to be true, and showed us that those who had been persuaded to try had, by and large succeeded.
Derek P. Gregory Director, Building Services Research and Information "Association Bracknell, UK
490
Conference programme
W.I. Maclntyre, 'Energy efficiency in buildings - - the economic case'. Richard Waller, 'Finance for energy conservation'. G.J. Levermore, 'Monitoring and targetting - - motivation and training'. R.A. Harrison and D.R. Kelly, 'Energy saving opportunities in retail stores'. Keith Thomas, 'Energy efficiency in offices - - small branches and large offices'. Vilnis Vesma, 'Simple measures and energy saved in a leased office building'. J.E. Lawrence, MBE and S.G. Frost, 'Energy management in a British aerospace factory'. J.A. Macadam, 'Refurbishment of a large group-heated housing estate in the north west'.
Mervyn Perkins, 'Yateley Newlands primary school - - a user orientated approach to energy design.' C. Astley, 'An energy code for strategic promotion of energy efficiency in the health service'. Dr V.H.C. Crisp, 'Lessons from the BRE low energy office'. James L. Miekle, 'Costs and costeffectiveness of energy conservation techniques in housing'. S.C. Fuller, 'Philosophy and planning of Milton Keynes Energy Park'.
Preprints of the papers are published by the Construction Industry Conference Centre Ltd, PO Box 31, Welwyn AL60XA, UK who will produce a full proceedings, including the discussion, at a future date.
Electricity supply debate Conference on The pressurized water reactor and the UK, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK, 22-23 April 1985; Conference on The future of the electricity supply industry, Polytechnic of the South Bank, London, 25-27 June 1985
These were two very different conferences linked by a common theme, the future of electricity supply in the UK. The first conference was the second such event to be held at the University of Birmingham. Things had changed since the first PWR seminar held three years earlier. To start with the Public Inquiry into the CEGB's proposal to build Sizewell B was over. The Inspector's report is still awaited but for the vast majority of the two hundred or so delegates, drawn largely from the nuclear industry, the outcome seems to be in little doubt. The mood was very much one of 'Sizewell is going to be built so let's make sure we make a success of it'. It was this prevailing attitude which helped explain a second difference between this conference and its predecessor. This time the CEGB, which fielded what was undoubtedly a very strong 'first team' for the conference, came to tell the many and diverse companies who will be responsible for supplying components for the UK's first PWR, should it be approved, just what was required. The message was simple - - the quality must be high, the
cost must be low, and delivery must be to time. This should not imply any element of self congratulation among the UK nuclear community or give the impression that the conference was a relaxed affair. On the contrary, the CEGB chairman, Sir Walter (now Lord) Marshall took the opportunity on a number of occasions to ask probing questions of speakers following presentations in which technical difficulties had been glossed over. A telling example of this came not in the conference lecture theatre itself but at the conference dinner at which Sir W a l t e r , d u r i n g his a f t e r - d i n n e r speech, observed that both he and his wife were agreed that the manufacturer of the steam generators for Sizewell still did not know how they were going to make one crucial and difficult weld! Many of the papers were of a technical nature ranging from a status review of the PWR design by the CEGB's Brian George to details of the manufacture of fuel, and the design and fabrication of steam generators, pipework, primary circuit components and turbine generators from
ENERGY
POLICY October 1985
ENERGY POLICY October 1985
endorses this theme - - and it was not labelled the 'energy conservation office' for that reason. Keith Thomas from Barclays Bank indicated that in his organization the word 'conservation' often conjured up some form of deprivation, and policy was to use the expression 'energy management' instead - - a term which provides positive motivation to most staff. A common thread running through several papers was the successful use of energy consumption targets and goals - - industrial and commercial managers are used to the concept of meeting goals and once again, energy management, rather than conservation, becomes the motivating theme.
Arbitrary and variable A second major impression that I came away with was the growing appreciation of the need to involve the occupier of a building in the whole business of energy control, management and conservation. Gone are the days when a building operator could inflict arbitrary and variable standards of comfort - - or discomfort - - on the occupants, and gone are the days when he can afford to let the occupants have indiscriminate control of the heating, ventilation and cooling. The growing trend among energy managers to involve the occupants as part of the 'team' was quite discernable among several papers. In the keynote address, Minister Ian Gow said that it was the policy of his programme to assist in informing the building occupant about his energy use: 'get the occupant informed, interested and involved and he will help you to manage'. Bill MacIntyre endorsed this in stating that the major problems in con-
servation were lack of awareness, lack of interest, lack of technology, structural barriers between landlord and tenant and the problems faced by low-income households - - but the first two were absolutely crucial and were the priority issues at the EEO. G.J. Levermore, of the Polytechnic of the South Bank spoke about experiences in monitoring and motivating energy c o n s e r v a t i o n in several L o n d o n boroughs, and quoted, among many examples, the motto adopted by the polytechnic; 'knowing = s a v i n g s ' knowing how much energy is consumed by a building is often itself a motivator to saving; knowing how to conserve enables savings to be made; knowing how much has been saved by ones efforts or equipment is vital to progressive savings. John MacAdam of Orchard Partners described an analysis made of a district heating scheme serving 1300 dwellings, with the objective of selecting the best system for its refurbishment. Among several observations made was that if tentants are to be asked to pay for what they use, then they must be given control over energy use. Many conventional district heating systems rely on the landlord providing heat - - charged for within the rent as a standing charge and therefore uncontrolled in use. Experience has shown that the introduction of heat meters and a proper charging system typically results in up to 25% saving in energy use. Once again, 'knowing = saving'. Mervyn Perkins, of Hampsb!;e County Architects Department, in describing the low-energy school at Yateley indicated that teachers demanded control of their classroom environments, but tended to control them in an ineffective m a n n e r . Although they are intelligent and will try to save energy, they put education as first priority, and seem to think that filling the children's lungs with fresh air is a necessary prerequisite for good learning conditions. John Lawrence, of JEL Energy Conservation Services Ltd, reporting on experineces gained at a British Aerospace factory, stressed that his mission was to get across the message that 'energy use is a controllable cost,
489
Conference reports not a fixed overhead like the rent and rates'. This message was certainly carried forward by many of the other speakers who outlined experience of successful attempts to conserve, manage or control energy use in local authority buildings, retail stores, banks, small and large offices, factories, group heated and individually heated houses, schools and hospitals. Specific case histories on each of these were given and the details of the various 'success stories' may be found in the ample conference proceedings - - and 'success stories' they are - - as one might expect from the proud presenters of projects on which they have invested time and money.
Horror stories But one is left to wonder how many 'horror stories' are also lurking in the archives. One or two examples of problems and failures did emerge during the discussions - - problems with ill designed equipment, ignorance on the part of the installer, or just bad luck: optimum-start programmers that were not self powered so that the time clocks went wrong after a power cut; automatic energy controllers that provided greater occupant comfort, but in doing so used more energy than before; badly placed sensors that caused sophisticated control equipment to respond incorrectly. Because one can learn a lot from the genuine mistakes made by others, will anyone dare to organize a conference on energy management failures? And if so, would anyone be brave enough to offer papers? In summing up his opening paper, Bill MacIntyre unknowingly summed up the entire conference. He said, 'The rewards are there for the taking, the needed technology is there and proven, and it is now up to us to persuade people to save energy'. The conference succeeded in demonstrating the first two comments to be true, and showed us that those who had been persuaded to try had, by and large succeeded.
Derek P. Gregory Director, Building Services Research and Information "Association Bracknell, UK
490
Conference programme
W.I. Maclntyre, 'Energy efficiency in buildings - - the economic case'. Richard Waller, 'Finance for energy conservation'. G.J. Levermore, 'Monitoring and targetting - - motivation and training'. R.A. Harrison and D.R. Kelly, 'Energy saving opportunities in retail stores'. Keith Thomas, 'Energy efficiency in offices - - small branches and large offices'. Vilnis Vesma, 'Simple measures and energy saved in a leased office building'. J.E. Lawrence, MBE and S.G. Frost, 'Energy management in a British aerospace factory'. J.A. Macadam, 'Refurbishment of a large group-heated housing estate in the north west'.
Mervyn Perkins, 'Yateley Newlands primary school - - a user orientated approach to energy design.' C. Astley, 'An energy code for strategic promotion of energy efficiency in the health service'. Dr V.H.C. Crisp, 'Lessons from the BRE low energy office'. James L. Miekle, 'Costs and costeffectiveness of energy conservation techniques in housing'. S.C. Fuller, 'Philosophy and planning of Milton Keynes Energy Park'.
Preprints of the papers are published by the Construction Industry Conference Centre Ltd, PO Box 31, Welwyn AL60XA, UK who will produce a full proceedings, including the discussion, at a future date.
Electricity supply debate Conference on The pressurized water reactor and the UK, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK, 22-23 April 1985; Conference on The future of the electricity supply industry, Polytechnic of the South Bank, London, 25-27 June 1985
These were two very different conferences linked by a common theme, the future of electricity supply in the UK. The first conference was the second such event to be held at the University of Birmingham. Things had changed since the first PWR seminar held three years earlier. To start with the Public Inquiry into the CEGB's proposal to build Sizewell B was over. The Inspector's report is still awaited but for the vast majority of the two hundred or so delegates, drawn largely from the nuclear industry, the outcome seems to be in little doubt. The mood was very much one of 'Sizewell is going to be built so let's make sure we make a success of it'. It was this prevailing attitude which helped explain a second difference between this conference and its predecessor. This time the CEGB, which fielded what was undoubtedly a very strong 'first team' for the conference, came to tell the many and diverse companies who will be responsible for supplying components for the UK's first PWR, should it be approved, just what was required. The message was simple - - the quality must be high, the
cost must be low, and delivery must be to time. This should not imply any element of self congratulation among the UK nuclear community or give the impression that the conference was a relaxed affair. On the contrary, the CEGB chairman, Sir Walter (now Lord) Marshall took the opportunity on a number of occasions to ask probing questions of speakers following presentations in which technical difficulties had been glossed over. A telling example of this came not in the conference lecture theatre itself but at the conference dinner at which Sir W a l t e r , d u r i n g his a f t e r - d i n n e r speech, observed that both he and his wife were agreed that the manufacturer of the steam generators for Sizewell still did not know how they were going to make one crucial and difficult weld! Many of the papers were of a technical nature ranging from a status review of the PWR design by the CEGB's Brian George to details of the manufacture of fuel, and the design and fabrication of steam generators, pipework, primary circuit components and turbine generators from
ENERGY
POLICY October 1985