December 2006
Dave takes the challenge!
It isn’t every day that you get hand picked to help Anneka Rice rebuild and equip a maternity clinic, rebuild a child friendly play centre and renovate and equip a community cricket pavilion, especially when you only have five days to complete the project and it’s set in an area devastated by the 2004 Boxing day Tsunami in Sri Lanka. This was the challenge taken up by Dave Woodcock, Area-Coordinator and member of the Institute of Plumbing & Heating Engineering.
Dave, a qualified and experienced plumber, beat stiff opposition to gain a place on the once in a lifetime trip. Because of the sheer scale of the project, the Challenge Anneka team needed to find a highly skilled team to take to Sri Lanka. He said, “No-one should believe that these makeover programs are an easy pre-setup thing with a bit of MDF and some glue. The project wasn’t a quick refurb job, it was a total rebuild, some of it from the ground up. We had 12 British builders and around 30 Sri Lankan workers to rebuild a maternity clinic, a cricket pavillion with cricket pitch and practice nets, and a children’s centre with playground, plus gardens. We also had the privilege of the help from four of the British survivors of the Tsunami in 2004.”
The challenge involved starting on site at 6.30am and working all day until 6pm, with half an hour for lunch. Volunteers had to work in 38° C heat at 85% humidity. Dave commented that it was “possibly the hardest thing I have ever done” but added that “it was an unforgettable experience and one I wouldn’t have missed for the world. The Sri Lankans are a wonderful people.”
Tune into ITV at 8pm on Boxing Day to see Dave and the rest of the Challege Anneka team in action.
ENDS (309 WORDS)
DECEMBER 2006
Low Heat - High Praise
The inaugural National Energy Efficiency Awards Ceremony, run by UK CEED, took place on the evening of 6th December at the Science Museum in London.
The evening’s key-note speaker was Ian Pearson MP - Minister for Environment and Climate Change.
The Awards highlight the importance of energy efficiency in combating climate change and seek to increase the take up of energy efficiency measures amongst business, government and consumers. It is hoped that the awards will aim to encourage other organisations to follow the outstanding examples set by the awards finalists by rising to the climate challenge.
There were over 170 entries for the Awards, which were supported by DEFRA and the Independent newspaper. Over all first place went to B Sky B, but the Low Heat project, led by IPHE in partnership with Pera Innovations, was Highly Commended and came second in the Research and Development category. Low Heat is an intelligent network management system of heat recovery devices for the purpose of recovering the waste heat from water in commercial and domestic situations.
Dale Courtman, Low Heat Project leader and IPHE Technical Director said: “The 12 consortium partners from six different countries across Europe should rightly be proud of what we have achieved. To be honoured as a finalist and to be commended by the judging panel is a fitting reward for all the hard work that has taken place over the last two years.
ENDS (236 WORDS)
DECEMBER 2006
Good news for the environment, says IPHE
Blane Judd, chief executive of The Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering (IPHE) has praised Chancellor Gordon Brown for his pre-budget report in respect of rewarding home-owners for tackling carbon emissions.
Mr Brown said that the recently published Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change has highlighted how long global prosperity will be undermined if early and coordinated international action is not taken. With this in mind he announced his ambition for all new homes to be zero carbon within a decade, with a time-limited stamp duty exemption for the vast majority of new zero-carbon homes that meet this standard.
“This is certainly a step in the right direction,” said Blane Judd. “I also commend the Chancellor for proposing new legislation that will ensure householders installing microgeneration units are not subject to income tax on any payment for surplus electricity exported back to the grid.
“Incentives such as these will help to bring about a cleaner environment that will help address climate change. However, unless we insist that professionals are putting in these systems we will not be ensuring that the most energy efficient, cost effective and environmentally friendly solutions are being selected. The time has come to recognise that without professional advice from qualified plumbing and heating engineers the dash for green energy will lead to consumers being sold inefficient or ineffective solutions by the unqualified installer who does not operate to the same code of ethics that our members do.”
ENDS (250 WORDS)
DECEMBER 2006