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New green manager questions residential air con growth
Mitsubishi Electric’s new Green Gateway Initiative™ Manager, Martin Fahey has attacked the idea of a significant growth in residential comfort cooling within the UK market as unnecessary and unsustainable.
Mr Fahey, who takes on the newly created role after spending 4 years as East Midlands Area Sales Manager for the air conditioning manufacturer, questions the idea of a booming residential market and asks whether comfort cooling is even needed in the majority of our homes.
“There are over 26 million households in the UK and if a large number of them install air conditioning then the energy consumption of the nation is going to go through the roof,” he explained. “This is at a time when the Government is pushing us towards a zero carbon policy for new homes.
“There will always be inner city hot spots where air conditioning is the best solution and certain vulnerable people who need cooling at the height of the summer, but the bulk of us don’t need air conditioning in our homes, we just need better ventilation systems for the few times a year when its too hot at night.”
As Green Gateway Initiative Manager, Mr Fahey’s role is seen as fundamental to the future of the company’s sales strategy, which is built around sustainable growth and energy efficiency.
“As an industry, we simply have to help the nation find ways of reducing energy consumption and Martin’s role is central to broadcasting this message to as wide an audience as possible,” commented Sales Director, Deane Flint.
Mitsubishi Electric has created the Green Gateway Initiative to demonstrate ways in which everyone involved in the built environment can help reduce energy consumption, from the architects, specifiers and designers, through manufacturers and installers, right down to the end users, facilities managers and home owners.
“As a major industry player, of course we want to grow our business as much as any other manufacturer, but we believe that doing this without a fundamental review of the sustainability of any approach is highly inappropriate and out of step with our core values as a business,” added Fahey.
The Stern Report has highlighted the catastrophic danger to businesses of ignoring climate change, and Mitsubishi Electric has responded by highlighting ways in which the industry can act to reduce CO2 emissions, rather than increase them. Mitsubishi Electric has also recently been awarded ‘Official Partner’ status for its Green Gateway Initiative by the European Commission’s Sustainable Energy Campaign. The Initiative is a 10-point plan which points the way to annual reductions in CO2 of at least 3 million tonnes by 2016.
“We believe that air conditioning is a necessary fact of life in the modern world, not least because of increasing legislation on air quality and indoor temperatures, so the commercial sector will therefore continue to grow,” added Fahey. “However, this must be done in a sustainable and energy efficient way and we need to start by removing the industry’s obsession with domestic air conditioning and act responsibly by looking at what is actually needed rather than simply trying to drive up sales.”
The issues discussed here are all part of Mitsubishi Electric’s Green Gateway Initiative.
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