On the 16 November the Architecture Centre held a keynote
lecture to support the launch of its most recent City Ideas Studio residency:
Energy. With contributions from renewables consultants, Solarsense, and
engineers specialising in sustainability, Max Fordham, the talk addressed the
subject of renewables and how Bristol might increase investment in solar across
the city.
First to talk was David Snape from
Solarsense. He gave an overview of the history of the company and offered examples
of the broad range of solar installations they’ve completed over the years. A
particular example, which is featured in the City Ideas Studio: Energy
exhibition, is a solar power installation fitted on to the roof the science
centre, At-Bristol, which was completed in just four weeks. He explained how
solar technology has gradually become a more viable option, for both businesses
and home owners, for reasons relating to innovations in the technology used,
which makes it both cheaper and more efficient.
Next up was Richard Lowe, Investment Programme Manager at
Bristol City Council. He outlined the aims and achievements so far of some of
their current programmes. These include ‘Warm Up Bristol’, a scheme designed to
ensure that Bristol’s homes are as energy efficient as they can be, by maximising the performance of the building fabric itself. He
also spoke about the Heat Network that the council is developing in the city. A
network of underground pipes supply heat to a number of buildings from a local
energy centre, which ultimately provide more efficient and lower-cost heat to
the surrounding area.
The third speaker was David Saunders from Bristol Energy Network. He spoke about the role of the community in shaping and developing
sustainable resources. The Bristol Energy Network has recently launched Energy Champions, which aims to offer every person in Bristol someone to turn to for energy
advice and who will champion energy saving in the local community.
The final talk was from the keynote speaker Hareth Pochee,
physicist and engineer at Max Fordham. He explained that a significant
percentage of the total of the United Kingdom’s energy demand and CO2 emissions
comes from heating buildings. He outlined the technical, economic and social
details of government proposals to reduce this percentage which include CHP (combined heat and power),
district heating, heat pumps and insulation and presented a number of
alternatives to these proposals. These included hydrogen infrastructure and
radical retrofit. In both instances deep energy saving methods are incorporated
with other architectural design features to yield additional benefits. Keynsham Civic Centre, a case study featured in the current City Ideas Studio
exhibition, offers an example of where these measures have had an immensely
positive effect on the building's energy performance and the surrounding area.
Haresh ended by outlining the huge potential for these measures to drastically
reduce the energy demands of the UK’s buildings, as well as drastically change
the appearance of our streets.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable and informative evening – a great
way to kickstart the City Ideas Studio: Energy exhibition.
A video of the evenings talks will be available to view on
the Architecture Centre’s website in the new year.
The City Ideas Studio: Energy residency
is on until 24 January, open 11-5 Wednesday-Friday and 12-5 Saturday-Sunday. Please note the Architecture Centre gallery is closed for the festive period from 21 December, reopening on Wed 6 January 2016.
