Stuart O'Brien, Author at Energy Management Summit | Forum Events Ltd - Page 29 of 50

Energy Management Summit | Forum Events Ltd Energy Management Summit | Forum Events Ltd Energy Management Summit | Forum Events Ltd Energy Management Summit | Forum Events Ltd Energy Management Summit | Forum Events Ltd

Posts By :

Stuart O'Brien

Do you specialise in Utility Management? We want to hear from you!

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
By:

Each month on Energy Management Briefing we’re shining the spotlight on a different part of the market – and in December we’ll be focussing on Utility Management Solutions.

It’s all part of our ‘Recommended’ editorial feature, designed to help energy management buyers find the best products and services available today.

So, if you’re a supplier of Utility Management Solutions and would like to be included as part of this exciting new shop window, we’d love to hear from you – for more info, contact Lisa Rose on 01992 374077 / l.rose@forumevents.co.uk.

Our features list in full:

Dec – Utility Management
Jan – Energy Management Systems
Feb – Renewable Energy
Mar – Carbon Managemen
Apr – Metering & Monitoring
May – Water Management/Strategy
Jun – Energy Storage
Jul – Data Collection & Management
Aug- Waste Management
Sep – Solar PV
Oct – Lighting
Nov – Heating & Ventilation
Dec – Onsite Renewables

Reconnect, learn & engage at the Facilities Management Forum

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
By:

The Facilities Management Forum allows you to learn, engage, and connect with your industry, via a series of online meetings with solution providers and insightful webinars. 

This innovative digital concept is the most time effective way to meet suppliers whilst working from your home or office.

Date: 25th & 26th January 2021
Time: 09:00 – 13:05
Location: Virtual

It is completely flexible, you can attend for one or both half days – we create your bespoke itinerary around your diary!

Simply register your freepass via our short booking form and we will arrange valuable online meetings for you – condensing months of work into one day.

BESA & ESTA collaborate on joint energy efficiency group

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
By:

The Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) has teamed up the Energy Services Technology Association (ESTA) to promote energy efficiency in buildings to government and industry.

The Energy Efficiency in Buildings Group will include members from both associations, focused on promoting the economic benefits of energy demand reduction, energy efficiency and management to all demand-side users and professionals.

ESTA is the UK’s leading energy management industry association and has been active for over 30 years in energy management. ESTA has also established a number of standards and training courses for its sector.

Both BESA and ESTA are well known for promoting members’ interests in the UK, Europe and internationally. The joint Group will help to raise awareness of better energy management with government, business organisations and other relevant trade associations.

The two associations will retain their independence, but plans for the Energy Efficiency in Buildings Group include a combined newsletter and webinars to share information with a wider audience. The partners say the group will also enable the them to work together on areas such as the Youth Stem Summit and Young People in Engineering, where energy management is a link.

The Energy Efficiency in Buildings Group will meet quarterly and include a cross-section of ESTA and BESA members. A chair for the group will be announced shortly.

Jason Hemingway, BESA Membership Director, said: “Our goal in working with ESTA is to raise the energy consciousness of building owners and managers. Harnessing smart technology in the built environment will be vital for achieving the UK’s net-zero carbon target by 2050. It will also help to ensure that our sector can emerge stronger from 2020 and build for the future.”

Mervyn Pilley, Executive Director at ESTA, said: “The new joint Special Interest Group will allow us to share knowledge while making the most of the two associations’ government and industry contacts to amplify this important message.”

The future of offices

 420 280 Stuart O'Brien
By:

By ETS

The role of the office is changing. Over recent times, we’ve seen a rapid shift in how businesses across all sectors operate. Due to Covid-19, more people than ever are working from home, with many offices remaining empty or at least operating with heavily reduced capacity.

And the response to this has mostly been positive: employees have gained additional flexibility and are able to spend more time with their families, while, from a business side, reports from industry seem to suggest that there haven’t been any significant drop-offs in productivity. It’s probably safe to say that remote working is here to stay in one form or another, and is likely to make up a large chunk of people’s working weeks going forward.

Of course, this begs the question – what does this change in working dynamic mean for the concept of the company office, and businesses’ existing estates?

The Changing Role of Office Spaces 

It’s important to examine the function the office has traditionally played for businesses in order to work out how it might change in the future.

The office has always been a key social space for companies. Not only is it somewhere for existing colleagues to collaborate and connect, but it also acts as an essential hub for new employees, and a key part of the overall business ‘identity’. For staff – especially new recruits – the process of coming to the office, meeting your new colleagues and learning about the company culture has always been an essential step in employee onboarding. 

And it’s hard to see this changing drastically in the future. Businesses will always need that physical hub, even if it isn’t used in exactly the same way with the same level of frequency.

One shift we’re expecting to see is just how much office space businesses need. Many large companies structure their office portfolio through a ‘hub-and-spoke’ model. This means that, usually, they have one or a few large offices in the central business districts of key cities, such as a London or Manchester, and several smaller regional offices elsewhere.

With the majority of employees regularly working from home, these smaller offices could come to be seen as inessential, prompting companies to reduce their overall property footprint and instead focus on one or two central offices, which are served by good transport infrastructure – and with a potentially higher requirement on quality of space for these remaining key assets.

It is estimated that real estate roughly accounts from 8% of a company’s total operating costs on average, so cutting back on total occupied space could act as an effective way to protect company finances during these turbulent times. Any freed-up budget could be retained, funneled into R&D and service development, or be used to fund areas of the business that were traditionally supported by the office, such as company culture and staff collaboration.

Flexible Work Environments 

As businesses consolidate their portfolios and certain offices become unoccupied, demand will grow for increased flexibility in these assets, as property and portfolio managers look to adapt and reposition commercial space in the market and seek out new streams of revenue. We’re likely to see a shift in how these spaces are used, perhaps transforming into co-working areas or even seeing either partial or full transformation into alternative uses – such as retail or even residential.

With this increased need for offices to play multiple roles, there will be a greater need for flexibility and adaptability of space – likely to be facilitated through the adoption of a ‘Smart Buildings’ approach. 

Many offices aren’t currently equipped to function in a way that future demand may require them to, and with things changing quickly, its important that building managers pinpoint the changes that need to be made, the associated technical requirements, and then look to evaluate the current capability of the existing building services to facilitate such alteration.

Where office use is to be retained, businesses are likely to expect more from their space in the future – especially from a health and wellbeing perspective. In light of Covid-19, factors such as internal air quality are going to be more important than ever.

Additionally, energy efficiency and operational cost will also be key considerations. With many offices operating at reduced occupancy, the automation of lighting, heating and other systems will play an essential role in streamlining processes, and ‘right sizing’ consumption and cost.

Furthermore, with an ever increasing focus on sustainability performance – especially in the light of the huge recent traction around the Net Zero carbon agenda – the ability of building systems to adapt to the increased demand for space flexibility whilst maintaining robust control of consumption and cost, and to operate on a trajectory to Net Zero status, will require more consideration of how buildings are specified, managed, adapted and maintained than ever before to mitigate risk of building obsolescence and to protect capital and rental value.

In these changing times, it’s important to partner with the right technical advisor. ETS has a wealth of experience across all these areas, and can help you prepare your offices for the future. 

We will assist your business to find the optimum Smart Buildings solutions to enable building adaptation, futureproofing and occupant wellbeing, whilst keeping a firm grip on cost and driving down carbon emissions.

Our expert team are always here to help; you can contact us by calling 0117 205 0542 or drop us an email at enquiries@energy-ts.com.

www.energy-ts.com

Secure your virtual place at January’s Facilities Management Forum

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
By:

Register for your complimentary guest pass for the virtual Facilities Management Summit today! 

Monday 25th January 2021

The Forum allows senior FM professionals to share forward-thinking ideas, meet new partners and discover new ways to underpin their strategies.

Your bespoke place is entirely free and includes benefits such as;

  • Prepare for every eventuality – We can build you a bespoke 1-2-1 itinerary of meetings with innovative and budget savings suppliers who match your requirements.
  • Gaining industry insight – Enjoy a series of topical webinars led by industry thought leaders.
  • Flexibility – Your attendance is flexible, you can either attend for half a day or the full day.
  • Save time – We will handle everything for you, saving you time and money by arranging all the meetings for you based on your requirements.

Click here to secure your virtual place. 

Here is some feedback from the last FM Forum:

“The Facilities management Forum was delivered to a high standard in these testing times. The benefits were still there in the meeting of suppliers as if it was done in person.” – MOD

“Albeit ‘virtual’ some great connections made, once again, during a Forum event” – Park Lane School

You can register for your place via our short booking form or if you have any questions, please get in touch

SSE focuses on Cleaner air for UK & Irish buildings with ionair

 1024 682 Stuart O'Brien
By:

SSE Enterprise’s distributed energy business is targeting improved internal air quality in mechanically ventilated buildings with the help of a proven technology that utilises the principle of bipolar ionisation. 

Independent studies have highlighted that bipolar ionisation can markedly decrease the concentration of contaminants in indoor air, lowering the risk of respiratory infections and creating a far healthier breathing experience.

As we enter a difficult winter period and economies are looking forward to a post-pandemic recovery, SSE says the need to reassure workers of a safer working environment is crucial, particularly at a time when flu outbreaks may become common. 

SSE Enterprise’s distributed energy business has secured an exclusivity deal covering the UK and Ireland to sell and install the product range offered by Swiss company, ionair, into buildings, such as offices, airports, shopping malls, care homes, hotels, sports facilities and more. 

Poor internal air quality (IAQ) is strongly correlated with low productivity, allergies and general illness. More seriously, chronic exposure to airborne pollutants is linked to respiratory diseases like flu, asthma and lung cancer. Furthermore, evidence is emerging that persistently low air quality is associated with increased risk of dementia. 

Kostas Papadopoulos, Head of Smart Cities Solutions Development at SSE Enterprise, said: “We have decided to back this tried and tested technology, working with a high quality manufacturer, not only because we truly believe that it is superior to all other air purification options currently on offer, but also because the pilot installation in one of our offices in England has demonstrated a dramatic improvement across several air quality metrics.”

“We are approaching that time of year where coughs and colds begin to surface, so we want to help our customers reduce the risk of infection in their buildings. It is important that any return to work is as safe as possible. We want this technology to provide reassurance to businesses and their employees that they are working in a healthier indoor environment, known to improve well-being, productivity and comfort.”

ionair’s air quality system has shown to reduce odours by around 50%, germs, bacteria, fungi and pollen by more than 95%, fine particles by 30% to 50%, and several other airborne pathogens by more than 90%. 

It can be retrofitted into a building’s existing air handling unit, continuously monitoring and improving air quality. SSE says it is also cost-effective, requiring very low maintenance. Complementing SSE’s Mayflower Smart City Platform, SSE can offer a fully funded solution which can combine significant air quality improvements with a suite of smart building options.

5 Minutes With… David Kipling, Onsite Energy Projects Ltd

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
By:

In the latest instalment of our energy management industry executive interview series, we spoke to OnSite Energy‘s David Kipling (pictured) about the company, the pathway to Net Zero, the impact of COVID-19 and innovation in the sector…

Tell us about your company, products and services.

DK: The inspiration for OEP came from my previous role where I led a team addressing energy in over 100 manufacturing plants globally. We saw the value of data-led energy analysis but also experienced the ‘glass ceiling’ of payback. My team came up with lots of solutions, but could only execute those with a short payback. With the pressure now on achieving carbon neutral and sustainability, companies are going to have to find a way of doing the longer payback measures that until now sit on the shelf.   That’s what OEP is about – we both identify measures with a data-led approach, but also implement them as a zero capex ‘off-balance sheet’ supply agreement.  This way we can help companies embrace net zero much faster.

We work with energy intensive manufacturing in the main, and cover a wide range of technologies including efficiency measures, onsite generation and heat recovery.  We think its important to identify the most appropriate measures and which will have most impact, so we keep an open mind on what we recommend and are instead guided by the data.  

What have been the biggest challenges the Energy Management industry has faced over the past 12 months?

DK:  Mis-selling. I see a lot of incorrect sizing and false expectations raised by single technology solution companies pushing solutions that aren’t appropriate, are wrongly sized or which just suit them without considering the long term impact on the customer or the career path of the person making the capex recommendation to their management. The proverbial ‘hit and run’. It makes a bad name for the industry when savings aren’t achieved.

And what have been the biggest opportunities?

DK:  COVID-19 (!) and Net Zero. Every significant business now has a sustainability strategy with goals for achieving carbon neutral, but a lot have also had capex cut for at least the next few years because of COVID-19. So the pressure is building for change, and the main obstacles are capex and sometimes innovation. We can help with both of these with our zero capex approach, and enable companies to stay on track or even accelerate their plans.

What is the biggest priority for the Energy Management industry in 2020?

DK: There isn’t much left of 2020 now, but looking to 2021, I would say its going to be  decarbonisation. Companies are realising the values of decarbonising – often because savings can also be achieved in the process.  

The biggest challenge will be decarbonisation of heat – in other words planning to switch from gas to electricity. This will be a massive change for gas hungry businesses. I think this will be the priority in 2-4 years from now. For a lot of businesses that will mean significant additional cost unless they develop a comprehensive approach and plan.

What are the main trends you are expecting to see in the market in 2021?

DK:  Higher focus on energy efficiency. The EU announced energy efficiency as a core priority and I think the UK will too. A lot of companies have bought green tariffs or offsets as a first step to becoming ‘green’ but haven’t addressed consumption within their sites.  With SECR reporting moving to its second year, comparisons and improvements will become more transparent and increase the pressure to act. Also for some climate change agreement targets are starting to be missed, which will lead to higher CCL costs if they don’t act.

What technology is going to have the biggest impact on the market this year?

DK:  Several contenders… much better heat recovery technology is with us enabling waste heat to be used to produce anything from -40oC to +140oC. This can transform the benefits from CHP, which until now has been thought of only for making hot water.  Also I think heat recovery to electricity.  Also I think there will be some innovative applications from artificial intelligence systems starting to make ground.  

In 2025 we’ll all be talking about…?

DK:  Artificial intelligence. That’s not us pretending we know something !  Its software which learns how to improve performance of a building or process by itself. This will take BMS to the next level, and I think you will see applications in compressed air, process management etc.  

Which person in, or associated with, the Energy Management industry would you most like to meet?

DK:  Lisa Rose of Forum Events! Lisa’s enthusiast and is great at making people talk. We need more Lisas! We also need to get back to some face to face networking but that might be a little while off.

What’s the most surprising thing you’ve learnt about the Energy Management sector?

DK:  I think people enjoy learning about new technologies. It’s an exciting space which is innovating fast.  It also has a meaningful impact on both business profits and on climate change and sustainability, so the people in the Energy Management space are often driven by the benefits they can deliver.

You go to the bar at the Energy Management Summit – what’s your tipple of choice?

DK:  Mine’s a pint!

What’s the most exciting thing about your job?

DK: Delivering new insights and levels of savings not thought possible.

And what’s the most challenging?

DK:  Countering the “we’ve seen it before” and NIMBYs. Reality is if they saw it previously it has either changed massively or it wasn’t approached in the way we would use it. It doesn’t hurt to take 15 minutes to see if you can learn something.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

DK:  Don’t worry about a “no”, there is someone more deserving coming along!

Peaky Blinders or Stranger Things?

DK:   My TV watching is limited to repeats of Top Gear.

Germany ‘goes aggressive’ on renewables

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
By:

The more rigid targets brought around by the latest revision to Germany’s renewable energy act (EEG) in June aims for the country to achieve 65%, instead of the originally targeted 50%, of its electricity consumption comes from renewable sources by 2030.

Such stricter targets would mean that, during 2021-2030, the country’s solar photovoltaic (PV) and onshore wind would need over 2GW and 3GW of annual installations, respectively – a highly optimistic target in such an uncertain scenario.

Making the targets more stringent may be in line with the broader EU green deal agenda and sustainability objectives, but such a call – made a year before elections – may be fuelled by a political motivation rather than be an achievable goal, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company. 

Somik Das, Senior Power Analyst at GlobalData, said: “For all of the nation’s renewable sectors to be GHG neutral by 2050, the electricity industry needs to evolve at a much faster pace than has been seen in recent years. Solar PV is now aimed to see a deployment of 18.8GW of capacity from 2021 to 2028, with planned capacity at increments of 1.9-2.8GW. However, with respect to the country’s capacity mix in 2019, Germany would need to add around 4.6GW annually to meet the target. In reality, the average solar PV annual installations are likely be around 1.4-1.5GW, according to GlobalData estimations.”

While annual solar PV installations in Germany have picked up in the last few years, onshore wind installations seemed to be on the back foot and so the faster pace required is even more questionable. 

Das added: “In order to achieve the new target, 16.7GW of onshore wind capacity is planned to be auctioned by 2025. Therefore, to meet the 2025 target, the country would need to conduct more than 4GW of annual onshore wind installations. This is a considerable stretch, as it would mean that the already slumped segment would need to install more than the 3.1GW average seen annually during 2015-19.

“Overall, GlobalData expects, with the current endeavors, generation from renewable energy (RE) is set to shape up to around 50-60% of the overall generation by the conclusion of the decade.”

There’s still time to register for January’s VIRTUAL Facilities Management Forum

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
By:

The first Facilities Management Forum of 2021 will be held as a virtual event – make sure you register your place as demand is extremely high!

Facilities Management Forum – January 25th 2021

The event will bring the industry’s leading buyers and suppliers together for business collaboration.

Your bespoke place is entirely free and includes benefits such as;

Prepare for every eventuality – We can build you a bespoke 1-2-1 itinerary of meetings with innovative and budget savings suppliers who match your requirements.
Gaining industry insight – Enjoy a series of topical webinars led by industry thought leaders.
Flexibility – Your attendance is flexible, you can either attend for half a day or the whole duration.
Save time – We will handle everything for you, saving you time and money by arranging all the meetings for you based on your requirements.

Click here to secure your FM Forum free pass.

Don’t miss out – the event has extremely limited places remaining.

Do you specialise in Heating & Ventilation solutions? We want to hear from you!

 960 640 Stuart O'Brien
By:

Each month on Energy Management Briefing we’re shining the spotlight on a different part of the market – and in November we’ll be focussing on Heating & Ventilation Solutions.

It’s all part of our ‘Recommended’ editorial feature, designed to help energy management buyers find the best products and services available today.

So, if you’re a supplier of Heating & Ventilation Solutions and would like to be included as part of this exciting new shop window, we’d love to hear from you – for more info, contact Lisa Rose on 01992 374077 / l.rose@forumevents.co.uk.

Our features list in full:

Nov Heating & Ventilation
Dec – Utility Management
Jan – Energy Management Systems
Feb – Renewable Energy
Mar – Carbon Managemen
Apr – Metering & Monitoring
May – Water Management/Strategy
Jun – Energy Storage
Jul – Data Collection & Management
Aug- Waste Management
Sep – Solar PV
Oct – Lighting
Nov – Heating & Ventilation
Dec – Onsite Renewables