Mitsubishi Electric
gathered together a panel of industry experts to discuss why the entrenched
views and traditions of the house building market needs to go through its own
revolution to bring about real, sustainable change.
The conference, Transforming the housing technology mindset, saw
talks from TV presenter and architect, George Clarke, Nick Whitehouse, founder
of Buildoffsite and Mitsubishi
Electric’s own experts.
The panel discussed
how the traditional building technologies and processes have fundamentally
remained the same for centuries and while so many other industries have gone
through radical change, the domestic construction market has been stymied by
inaction, government apathy and indecision. It was discussed how a need for new
solutions and new thinking is required to radically change the current status
quo.
Ecodan ambassador
George Clarke said “When you look at almost all other aspects of our life, the
pace of change and revolution has been exceptional. A government report
released in 1997 recommended sweeping changes to the way homes are built and
heated. When you consider this report was released a year before Google was
founded, you only need to look at the technological revolution that followed
for this to see how far behind the housing industry really is. Unfortunately,
the housing technology market has made very little progress since 1997. We need
systematic change at a global, national, local and personal level to get houses
to a standard they should be. It’s time for the housing revolution.”
Innovations
discussed by the panellists included the need for more modular built homes that
can be manufactured indoors to increase build quality, lower costs by 33%,
increase delivery speeds by 50% and halve carbon emissions. For home heating,
renewable energy sources were widely praised as the best solution to lift those
in fuel poverty out and help reduce carbon emissions. Among the renewable
solutions discussed were the further education and widespread adoption of heat
pumps within the housing market.
“Demand for heat in
the UK accounts for a third of all our carbon emissions and half of all
greenhouse gases. This represents a huge opportunity and is an area that needs
to change if we are to ever cut our own carbon emissions, and it’s an area that
can change quite quickly if we apply the technology” said Martin Fahey, Head of
Sustainability, Mitsubishi Electric. “Heating is one way in which we can take a
step towards making a difference. We need a mix of low carbon heating solutions
and better thermal efficiency of buildings. Embracing innovative and renewable
heat sources, like air source heat pumps, we can become prosumers – both
producers and consumers of energy.”
The packed-out event
brought together architects, specifiers, housing associations and heating
engineers and showcased the need for increased building standards and more use
of renewable technologies. A video of the talk from George Clarke can be found here.
To discuss how
Mitsubishi Electric can help achieve the ideal renewable solution for almost
any project, please visit http://heating.mitsubishielectric.co.uk
