The government has worked itself into a veritable blur over the past couple of months, driving forward its Kyoto commitment with a variety of initiatives, programmes and consultation teams.
Brian Wilson has been one of the busiest ministers. He announced changes to the new trading arrangements, grants for wind power – and still found time to tell the UK that we can't all rest on our laurels because in spite of our efforts so far, CO2 emissions are still rising. The man deserves a break.

At an emissions trading workshop hosted by the Institution of Civil Engineers, but at which services engineers were well represented, it was clear that there's so much going on many in the industry have been left a bit dazed.

Nevertheless, there is great interest among engineers about how they can present these new ideas to clients. "I want to know how I can encourage clients to get involved in the emissions trading scheme," said one services engineer. And others are forging ahead into the new territory. Whitby Bird launched its Carbon Club initiative after persuading government to change its rules on entry to the UK's pilot Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).

It's great to see engineers taking the lead in these fields, and having the willingness to see themselves as the educators of clients.

But we also have to educate government. The ETS is a good example of this. The current pilot version seems to work well for large organisations such as BP and Shell; or for those with big property portfolios. However, it's clear that for individual projects with carbon-reduction potential, entry to the ETS isn't quite so clear cut.

The government has set a number of criteria for entry, and also some time periods for monitoring reductions. Anyone who works in the built environment knows that things may look straightforward on paper, but they're just not that easy on the ground.

The important factor is that government is willing, indeed eager, to listen. They don't really want to have to do something twice, or have a scheme that doesn't work on their hands. The UK is the first country to try an ETS, and it's as much a government showcase to the rest of the world, as a carbon-reduction programme.

So next time you get an e-mail about a DTI or DEFRA consultation paper, don't delete it straight away. Take a look and remember that if engineers don't offer advice, and give sensible suggestions then we're going to end up with schemes that just don't work. And then it'll be no good complaining. We must take every opportunity to speak up.

Source

Building Sustainable Design