Following the publication of Guide B early in July Matt Snowden, Communications Executive of CIBSE , explores the new Guide's Part 0, the rationale behind it, and how it could affect the industry as a whole. To use a tired old metaphor, writing CIBSE guidance is a bit like painting the Forth Bridge. Or it would be, if engineers hadn’t solved that problem too by using a pioneering new glass flake epoxy paint to ensure the famous crossing doesn’t need another coat until 2031. It’s this same constant engineering innovation that necessitates revision of CIBSE Guides to ensure they always stay as up to date as possible with the latest changes in technology and legislation. Such is the case with Guide B which, until it was launched earlier this month , hadn’t been totally replaced since 2001. Obviously a lot has changed since then, and even since its last update in 2005 there have been fundamental changes in the industry – the European Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD)

A year after CIBSE installed a micro CHP system in its Balham headquarters, we look at a report by   Dr. Alem Tesfai, Fuel Cell Systems Research Associate, Dr. Anastasia Mylona, CIBSE Research Manager, and Professor of Chemistry at the University of St Andrews Prof. John Irvine to see  how it's been performing and what we've learned about the technology, in this week's blog. With recent advances in currently avaliable SOFC micro-CHP technology, the use of fuel cell micro-CHP systems has the potential to be an efficient and reliable way to provide heat and power in office buildings. In early 2015, CIBSE acquired and installed a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) micro CHP system at its headquarters in Balham, London; a converted and recently renovated Victorian town house. The increasing demand for industrial energy due to economic growth in developing countries, as well as increasingly energy-intensive domestic lifestyles, is posing a serious environmental challenge as well

Welcome to the second #Build2Perform, the CIBSE podcast. Last week we discussed Green Sky Thinking Week and the future of sustainability - this month, we're talking about women in engineering and National Women in Engineering Day, organised by the Women's Engineering Society. Join Matt Snowden, Sara Kassam, Juliet Rennie and Susie Diamond , and check out some of the resources below Remember, you can also find the podcast on the iTunes app so you can download it and listen on your commute, and you can find news and discussion of the topics covered by looking up @CIBSE on Twitter or searching #Build2Perform In the second #Build2Perform podcast we discussed women in building services engineering and women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics - where women make up just 12.5% of the active workforce. Some useful resources: The Women's Engineering Society is a charity and a professional network of women engineers, scientists and technologists of

May's launch of the Surface Water Source Heat Pumps code of practice by CIBSE, and produced in association with the Heat Pump Association (HPA) and the Ground Source Heat Pump Association (GSHPA), marks the second such code released by the Institution in a new venture. To explain the logic behind the launch Phil Jones, Chair of the CIBSE Energy Performance Group , writes on the current situation . The UK is under huge pressure in the coming years to solve its energy dilemma. As prices rise, security falls – and the effects are being felt in homes and businesses alike: a quarter of the UK’s energy is used by homes, and the majority of that goes on heating them. But rubbing up against this problem is sustainability: the traditional energy sources of oil, gas and coal are great polluters, and the UK Government is rightly attempting to cut its use of these to combat climate change. Here, the UK has an underutilised secret weapon – its network of rivers, streams, lakes, canals, an