Windmills or Windscale?

One of the driving visions of the founders of the Construction Industry Council (CIC), was of a body that would help the industry to provide a more united front on the key issues facing the industry.

The current Energy Review is certainly one such issue. As well as the headline focus on generation of electricity, there are very significant issues about how we use energy in buildings. And CIC is making a significant contribution. At the February CIC Council meeting, Nick Raynsford (who will become chairman in May) said that CIC members have a great opportunity to ensure that we offer the whole spectrum of advice from our various areas of expertise. This will be important to avoid media attempts to make it a "for or against" nuclear story. Recent coverage of the Sustainable Development Commission report on energy was encouraging in this respect, focusing as it did on the importance of energy efficiency and conservation.

Donald Leeper, CIBSE president, shared with the Council his vision of five presidents standing with Nick Raynsford to give a "joined-up response". This theme was picked up by Gordon Masterton (ICE President) and representatives of the RIBA, RICS and IstructE. There is a strong desire for CIC to seize the moment on this issue, and to deliver a co-ordinated view from the industry. There is a very real understanding that if we do not get hold of this problem now, future generations will not forgive us.

On the same day, the "G15" group of the leading engineering institutions met and the energy review was, understandably, on the agenda. CIBSE has proposed that this group, too, should speak with one voice to government, emphasising the importance of energy conservation and efficiency measures. Energy efficiency has the potential to be the uniting issue that underpins all four elements of the government's energy strategy by cutting emissions, supporting competition in supply, contributing to the elimination of fuel poverty and contributing to the security of supply. Insulation and other energy efficiency measures are not dependent on imports from unstable regimes that can be turned off on a whim!

The trouble with energy efficiency is that it's not racy enough for the media, or perhaps for government. The challenge is to give the subject more "bite", to attract government attention and media interest. Perhaps some fiscal inducement, such as zero rating of VAT for energy conservation works, might be proposed. This is not a new idea. Again, this offers a splendid opportunity to work with others to provide a joined up view.

CIBSE, as an engineering institution firmly engaged in construction, with expertise in engineering for a sustainable built environment, is ideally placed to bridge the two sectors, and to provide a serious input to the energy debate. In doing so we have the ability, the knowledge and the vision to raise debate above being a contest between competing forms of supply, to a far more serious engagement about how much energy we need, how we use it efficiently, and how we generate for our real needs.

At the same time CIBSE members are ideally placed to show that energy conservation is a realistic option, by designing buildings and their services which perform considerably better than the requirements of the 2006 version of Part L of the Building Regulations. A number of CIBSE initiatives are under way to help you achieve this, including a Low-Carbon Consultants' Register, and a range of new and revised publications to support Part L which will appear over the coming weeks.