Comment
LEADER
New year means times for a change
In keeping with much of the industry, there seems little sense of finality with the end of the year. From our perspective, this is mainly due to the many and varied initiatives we are planning in the New Year, combined with diary appointments being made up to next March.
YOUR VIEWS
GDSA single point of contact for Green Deal skills
I was delighted to see the launch of the Green Deal Skills Alliance (GDSA) featured so prominently on the front page of the 25 January edition of H&V News. In bringing together SummitSkills, Asset Skills and ConstructionSkills to provide the skills infrastructure to support implementation of the Green Deal, the GDSA is an important development for the building services engineering sector.
How many young engineers have heard of DSEAR?
I have read with interest the points raised regarding the application of DSEAR in gas installations (H&V News 11 January, p28) and generally of peoples’ total non-awareness of these regulations with regard to gas in this instance. I suspect, from fairly recent previous experience, that most young engineers have never even heard of the DSEAR Regs.
20 year payback for PV installations
Regarding your article page 3 in the 16 November issue, you refer to the government reference to a 30% reduction in the cost of solar panels. As there is no time period on this, it has no meaning.
Lack of RHPP uptake
Of the £12m allocated by the UK government for its Renewable Heat Premium Payment scheme, (RHPP), it seems that to date only £2.5m has been claimed by end users, and the initiative ends in March 2012.
Plea to reconsider FiT date
At Mitsubishi Electric, we are urging the Government to reconsider the new cut-off date when the Photovoltaic Feed In Tariff will be halved.
MCS accreditation 'still vital'
In response to the news item published in H&V News on 19 October (Last minute delay to RHI launch ‘very embarrassing’ for DECC, page 7), Daikin UK believes that MCS accreditation is still vital, despite the RHI delays.
RHI delay cause of industry embarrassment
As a result of the RHI payments delay debacle, we as Consultants also feel the embarrassment of the issues surrounding the RHI.
Fighting the cowboy element
Having heard of a number of instances of bad practice in the last week, I would like to raise this subject with readers in an attempt to determine how wide spread this is within the HVAC sector.
Taxing times for HVAC sector
The combined message from our front page story and the forthcoming Which? Report (see page 4 of this Wednesday’s issue) this week shows that the industry has a number of urgent issues to address.
Increasing uptake of renewable energy systems
I read with interest the article ‘Industry cool on renewable scheme’ in the 10th August 2011 issue of H&V News. Whilst I found the article to be of interest, there are a few comments I feel I must respond to.
Protect the Feed-in Tariff
Plumb Center is urging the government to protect Feed-in Tariffs (FiTs), which give homeowners cash incentives to choose renewable solutions to their energy needs.
Condensing boiler myth
Have we all been led into a fool’s paradise of cost saving, energy saving and carbon reduction with the introduction of condensing boilers?
Data misuse response
Under a licensing agreement, licensees are able to use the CORGI brand name, and are given legal access to the CSL database.
Energy message not getting through
If you add your front page story (H&V News 18 May) to that of Cal Bailey of NG Bailey (page 3) to your own editorial (page 2), the answers are more or less encapsulated.
Renewables stimulus required
Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne has presented the UK’s fourth carbon budget, which sets the challenging goal of cutting CO2 emissions by 50 percent on 1990 levels by 2027, en route to emissions cuts of at least 80 percent by 2050.
VAT on heating systems
Dear Sir,I refer to a news item on page 4 of the April 20th issue under the headline “Trade bodies issue warning to industry over VAT rate”.
Raising the legionella agenda
Dear Sir,The important article on safety concerning the growing menace of legionnaires’ disease (H&V News 23 march) is accompanied by numerous discussions on increasing efficiency of many renewable technologies by reducing water temperatures.
More detail required on air source heat pumps
With reference to your article “Back to school on air source heat pumps” in H&V News 23 February issue there are some points that need clarifying.
The use of CSCS SmartCards
Further to the letter from David Woodcock (H&V News 23 February) regarding the requirement for CSCS cards on sites I would like to clarify the situation. As David rightly points out many main contractors have required all workers to have CSCS cards to gain access to their sites for some time.
Manufacturer responds to customer service criticism
In the 23 February issue of H&V News, I was disappointed to read two letters discussing the loss of faith in heating manufacturers.
