Pilkington EnergiSummit Heats up the Debate on the Sustainable Housing Challenge

Pilkington hosted its inaugural EnergiSummit Question Time at the Glazier’s Hall in London on 7th February, where more than 50 prominent members of the housing, architecture and sustainability professions participated in a lively discussion on how to address the sustainable housing challenge.

The far-reaching issues of low carbon housing provoked enthusiastic discussion amongst attendees and panellists. Central to the debate was whether focus should be on building new low-carbon homes, or making improvements to existing homes. The need for the government to provide more incentives for energy efficient refurbishments in homes provoked a positive response from the audience. The use of compulsory energy performance certification as a driver for energy efficiency improvements at point-of-sale provoked the opposite response; delegates felt that the grading in the current certificates is not sufficiently sensitive to enable the improvements made by energy efficiency measures to be recognised. In addition, government legislation, such as the implications and fitness for the purpose of Part L of the building regulations, were debated and answers sought in particular from our expert panellist – Ted King, Buildings Division, Communities and Local Government.

In the chair was Vikki Miller, Assistant Editor of Regenerate. She said, 'Interestingly, a quick survey of the audience and panellists revealed only a handful had taken measures to make their own homes more energy efficient. This is despite nearly all members of the audience playing an active role or having an interest in the promotion of energy-efficient housing – suggesting that perhaps change really does need to start at home.'

Vikki was joined by:
Ted King – Buildings Division, Communities and Local Government
David Strong – Chief Executive of Inbuilt Ltd
Bill Dunster – Director, Zed Factory
Andrew Burke – Sustainability Consultant for BioRegional Consulting
Rick Wilberforce – Market Development Manager – Europe, Pilkington

Andy McDowell, IGU Product Manager, Pilkington said: 'The event provided an ideal platform to foster open dialogue between key players across a variety of sectors on the opportunities and challenges in delivering the green agenda. It also proved to be a rare opportunity to hear the nation’s leading experts in the housebuilding and sustainability arena offer their views on some of the most topical issues of the year.'

Anne Quayle, Marketing & Sales Support Manager, Pilkington said: 'The EnergiSummit was sponsored by Pilkington energiKare™, the new energy-efficient glazing system from Pilkington. The Pilkington energiKare™ system is an ideal way to improve the energy efficiency in both new and existing homes. The system benefits from the use of Pilkington Optiwhite™ low iron glass in the front pane, which has higher solar gain than conventional float glass and hence enables homes to benefit from free heat from the sun. The system will be advertised to homeowners over the coming months.'

For more information visit http://www.pilkington.co.uk/energikare.