Newsletter #36
Mitsubishi Electric Living Environmental Systems UK
Cooling, Heating, Ventilation and Controls
Welcome to the 36th edition of our Sustainability & Construction newsletter!
In this edition, we delve into the latest trends, innovations, and industry developments shaping the future of sustainability in construction. Bringing you a comprehensive overview of the latest news and insights from Mitsubishi Electric and beyond.
Explore industry acronyms and accessibility, Mitsubishi Electric's journey towards Net Zero, and trends in renewable energy, retrofitting, and AI's transformative impact on carbon footprints.
Stay informed with the latest updates from the construction industry, including the launch of pioneering standards by RICS and the implications of the UK Energy Act on building energy performance.
Join the conversation on Net Zero buildings with edie's upcoming webinar and gain foresight into future developments with RIBA Horizons 2034.
Dive into our newsletter to stay informed, inspired, and empowered to drive positive change in the industry!
Latest Mitsubishi Electric News
Dan Smith Smith discusses the use of jargon in the construction industry. He argues that the industry uses many acronyms that can be confusing for outsiders. Mitsubishi Electric has created a free downloadable "Sustainability Jargon Buster" guide, which can be found?in the article's link to the digital document library.
Public awareness of air source heat pumps has grown significantly. Russell Jones saw a steady flow of people interested in heat pumps at the Ideal Home Show, a positive sign for the future.
Rachel Lekman visited the Retrofit 24 exhibition in London, sponsored by Mitsubishi Electric. This exhibition focuses on improving the energy efficiency of existing buildings, particularly commercial ones, to help meet Net Zero targets. The goal is to reduce the carbon footprint of buildings and make them more sustainable.
Renewable energy sources like solar and wind power are critical to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve energy security. Kirsty Hammond highlights new innovations like wooden wind turbines and wearable biofilms that generate electricity from sweat, emphasising that creativity and technology are the way forward.
We recently held our first customer conference since the pandemic, where we gathered over 350 of our key strategic Partners together to talk about the challenges and opportunities of Net Zero.
Latest Industry news
As with many other cities across the world, the City of London Corporation has adopted ambitious climate goals, with a Climate Action Strategy to achieve Net Zero in the City by 2040.
Building managers are increasingly quantifying aspects of building performance, particularly thermal performance, airtightness and air quality, and occupant feedback. But there are still opportunities for this understanding to inform technical retrofit decisions, optimise occupants’ experience, health and wellbeing, and generate financial gains.
The report is the culmination of a series of evidence roundtables and written evidence submissions that has been gathered by the Network. The Network represents some of the UK’s leading construction specialists, including RT HON Chris Skidmore OBE, who have a dedicated interest in delivering on Net Zero commitments.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS ), have launched a new Residential Retrofit Standard following an extensive eight week-long consultation period. This new standard has been developed by a team of experts as a response to a demand for high quality, residential retrofit advice, spurred on by increasingly high energy prices and UK government Net Zero targets.
The UK Energy Act may have escaped your notice last year, but it's going to have a huge impact on the energy performance of buildings in the UK. Around the construction sector, there are always going to be headline-grabbing developments in legislation or government prevarications over grants and deadlines for Net Zero technologies.
The organisational path to Net Zero carbon requires an array of measures across many fronts. Carbon emissions from a building's operational energy alone are around 25% of global carbon emissions and the construction sector as a whole is estimated to be 38% of global emissions.
Proptech venture capital firm Pi Labs has launched ‘Sustainably Intelligent: AI for a Greener Built World’, a new research report that looks at the potential transformative impact that artificial intelligence could have on reducing carbon impact in the real estate industry and built environment.
Anna Highfield speaks to architects welcoming the biodiversity rule changes – and those eyeing the potential barrage of pitfalls and challenges. As of last month (12 February), the government’s biodiversity net gain (BNG) legislation has been mandatory under the Environment Act.
Registration is now open for edie's next free-to-attend online event, which will cover retrofitting, renovating and building from the ground up to accelerate the transition to Net Zero carbon buildings.
Providing a ten-year view, the RIBA Horizons 2034 horizon-scanning programme imparts valuable foresight into significant developments that are emerging internationally.
Real estate investors already battered by high interest rates now face the prospect of significant writedowns triggered by new European regulations. Property owners across the region will need to invest vast sums in renovations to ensure their buildings aren’t emitting illegal levels of carbon dioxide or consuming excessive amounts of energy, according to lawyers advising the sector.
Construction Voices
Here, we invite industry leaders to share their valuable insights and expertise on creating a sustainable built environment. This week we include comments by Russell Dean Residential Product Group Director at Mitsubishi Electric on the National Audit Office (NAO) report.
Russell Dean, reiterates that now, more than ever, we must overcome the biggest barrier to large scale heat pump deployment, which is high energy costs. This is essential for us to reach the government’s heat pump installation targets by 2028.
“Rebalancing the cost of electricity and gas and removing levies from electricity bills will result in immediate savings for households looking to make the switch as the rising cost of living places an increasing strain on families across the UK. Failing to do so will be hugely damaging to the decarbonisation of home heating – which accounts for 14% of the country’s current emissions – and the country’s progress towards Net Zero.
“With over 70% of consumers knowing little to nothing about how heat pump technology works, educating consumers on the importance of heat pump technology will also be crucial to encouraging wider uptake. This will ultimately accelerate adoption, decarbonise home heating and help us hit the all-important Net Zero goal.”
We hope you've found the content of this newsletter useful and relevant. In each edition, we'll focus on bringing you the latest news and topics around sustainability and construction. If there are any news articles you would like us to feature, or if you would like to be a guest contributor for Construction Voices, please get in touch with us .
Find out more about our new Sustainability and Construction team here .