Professional Meeting ECOBUILT 2012 - Essay Example

Speakers’ details At the conference, there were twelve speakers. The speakers were Kevin McCloud, Christine Whitehead, Jack Dromey Mp, David Ireland, Ian Marchant, Keith Bugden, Munish Datta, David Fisk, Tony Juniper, Gaynor Harnell, and Rt Hon Michael Meacher. Most of the speakers work in the ministries that deal with energy conservation and construction. Some of them are engineers and authors who are knowledgeable about the issues of construction and energy. Summary of main address “Solving the housing crisis: towards a sustainable housing strategy” (Ecobuild 2012).

The speakers said that addressing the housing issues is the first way to attain a sustainable housing. They said that some years back, approximately 185,000 new houses were built and this number was considered not enough at that time in the UK. The number of houses being build has reduced because the state eliminated The Regional Spatial plan and their linked house building aims. This has resulted to a high house demand, and about 4.5 million individuals are still waiting for new houses. Additionally house scarcity has resulted into many people living in slums, and the number of the people living in these areas is approximately 2.5 million. The speakers then asked the audience what they thought would happen if Britain is turned into a “nation of house builders”, and a nation that tackles the housing problems at the same time (Ecobuild 2012).

“From megawatts to negawatts: taking the energy out of buildings in use” (Ecobuild 2012) The speakers said that the increased population and the high demand for houses lead to the high number of buildings under construction. This implies that, additional energy is necessary at the construction sites. They also mentioned that, there has been the augmentation of carbon production at the construction sites, in addition to the high usage, of energy. Therefore, they spoke about reducing the amount of energy from megawatts to negawatts by lowering the energy used buildings.

They said that the country is now focusing on how new buildings that are of high efficiency as far as energy is concerned can be built. Additionally, they said that the reduction of energy utilization would also lead to the lowering of carbon production. The effects of carbon are evident currently in the built environment because of the present stock and the reduction of the power use should begin by concentrating on the existing ones. The audience was then asked to suggest how homes and those buildings that are not domestic could utilize less energy.

The queries to the audience centered on the economic-regulatory and social problems linked with the energy consumption. The speakers further asked them how they think more energy efficient structures can be built (Ecobuild 2012). “Making renewable generation happen: getting the scale right” (Ecobuild 2012) The speakers also mentioned that one way to deal with the energy consumption issue in construction is to put into practice the renewable energy production. She said that among the objectives of UK, is to achieve its EU Renewable Directive goals, which entails the upgrading of a seven fold before the year 2020.

Additionally, the UK intents to upgrade its financial system, manage consumer issues regarding the augmenting costs of energy, and creating an environment, which encourages the increase of investments by the private sectors. However, what is not clear is