The capabilities of advanced building-simulation software are enormous, as explained by

Dr Alan Jones to Ken Sharpe for various types of air-conditioning system.

Former US president John F. Kennedy said the one unchangeable certainty is that nothing is unchangeable or certain. An ability to manage unavoidable change is at the heart of every successful business, says Mike Jenkins.

As rainwater harvesting enjoys increasing popularity, building-services professionals should

look more closely at the subject than they have done previously, says Darren Crane.

The industry has only 40 years left to reduce carbon emissions by 80%. Rob Manning, CIBSE’s new president, has been thinking deeply about how to deliver.

Cash flow is the lifeblood of every business and that is why companies need to recover any debts they incur quickly and effectively. Mike Jenkins explains how.

How a building is used affects its pattern of energy consumption — which is acknowledged in the latest Building Regulations for new non-domestic buildings. David Ross explains.

James Callcut looks at how the recession has hastened the specification of comprehensive lighting control systems.

While politicians have been setting deadlines for new buildings in the UK to be zero carbon, it is engineers that have the task of delivering. They have been looking deeply into the issues, as was very evident at a CIBSE event.

Justin Maeers outlines some of the issues surrounding the misrepresentation of the efficacy of luminaires using light-emitting diodes.

The building services sector has eagerly embraced sustainability as a powerful weapon in the battle to conquer climate change. But, asks Mike Jenkins, how many people understand what sustainable development really means and appreciate its full commercial potential?

Paul Sands describes an approach to producing domestic hot water using solar energy that sidesteps the problems of storage.

With the increasingly demanding requirements for the energy performance of buildings comes the need for growth in the discipline of building engineering physics — opening up major new opportunities for building-services engineers.

The last 20 years have seen significant changes on the technology of LTHW heating systems for commercial buildings — so new guidance from CIBSE will be very welcome.

The heat rejected from air-conditioning systems can be used to generate domestic hot water and reduce carbon emissions. Philip Ord describes a real installation.

The last recession proved it is dangerous, and sometimes suicidal, for businesses to make deep cuts in marketing expenditure, as Mike Jenkins of HVCA Business Plus explains.

Marking out Advanced Air’s EPIC fan-coil units from others is the use of a centrifugal 
fan with an electronically commutated motor to achieve very low specific fan power.

Heat pumps are a very effective way of using renewable energy in commercial buildings, leading Mitsubishi Electric to develop a new product range.

Mike Jenkins discusses the importance of construction contracts during this post-recession recovery period.

Companies with a skilled workforce will be the strongest contenders for new business when the economy emerges from recession, as Mike Jenkins explains.

Non-domestic buildings emit about the same amount of carbon today as they did in 1990, hence the importance of a new report from the Carbon Trust on reducing emissions from such buildings.

The performance of aluminium busbar trunking systems has so improved over the last few years that they have many advantages over copper — as John Clarke explains

Sources of renewable energy that can be used in buildings to reduce carbon emissions and comply with planning-permissions requirements for onsite renewable energy are limited. What’s more, they tend to have rather high capital costs and can pose other planning-permission issues — especially wind turbines.

Reports that the recession is over doesn’t mean we are out of the woods yet. Businesses need to hunker down and maintain good relations for the long haul recovery, as Mike Jenkins explains.

Fossil fuels play no part in servicing a new building at Lambeth College. Instead the project advances the application of ground-source heat pumps to a new dimension by combining the ground loops with the structural piles.

There are a lot of Daikin VRV air-conditioning systems out there using R22 which looked to have a short-term future with the phasing out of virgin R22. Now the company has come up with an upgrade strategy.

Counting the pennies to take care of the pounds has never been more vital than during a recession, as Mike Jenkins, business development manager of Welplan and group co-ordinator of HVCA Business Plus, explains.