SPONSOR CPD PROGRAMME Continuing professional development (CPD) is the regular maintenance, improvement and broadening of your knowledge and skills, to maintain professional competence. It is a requirement of CIBSE and other professional bodies. This Journal CPD programme can be used to meet your CPD requirements. Study the module and answer the questions on Ensuring efficient air conditioning system operation in buildings completed module is equivalent to 1.5 hours of CPD. Modules are also available at www.cibsejournal.com/cpd This module explores inspection routines that contribute This CPD will consider the increased focus on efficient air conditioning operation, explore inspection and reporting methodology offered by CIBSE guidance, and suggest how raising awareness of systems function can provide more frequent, informal opportunities to uncover inefficiencies in operation. As the impact of climate change1 becomes increasingly evident across the globe, with unseasonable weather patterns driving droughts and storms, and scenes of uncontrollable fires and flooding become more common, there is growing public concern2 that action is needed. In just over a months time, high-level negotiations will take place at the 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) of the United Nations Climate Change Framework Convention in Glasgow, that will set trajectories for long-term change. This will further heighten public awareness and undoubtedly accelerate governmental activity. This is, of course, not news to the building services community who partly driven by regulatory requirements (such as the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive) have already seen significant reductions in the potential environmental impact of buildings, equipment and consumables. However, increased public and client awareness of both climate change and the need for well-ventilated spaces is likely to further raise interest in inspecting and maintaining air conditioning systems. Analysis undertaken, and reported in the detailed paper by Hitchin et al,3 that was produced from extensive research and modelling in 2014 and is illustrated in Figure 1 predicted that the largest realisable energy savings would be from adopting integrated minimum performance requirements for buildings and systems. These may be enacted through the demands of building regulations and standards, and require realistic simulations to optimise the building and system at the design stage. The second largest potential saving was predicted to come from better operational practices deriving from inspections and energy audits. This was closely followed by the minimum performance for equipment that has been driven by the various global ecodesign standards, resulting in manufacturers producing higher performing equipment such as the variable refrigerant flow (VRF) system shown in Figure 2. Across the whole of the UK (and the EU) there are statutory obligations and duties of care relating to the operation and maintenance of air conditioning systems. As outlined in the recently published guidance material4 for the Energy Performance of Buildings (England and Wales) Regulations 2012 (amended in 2020 to incorporate into post-Brexit non-EU dependent regulations), the air conditioning system inspection by an accredited air conditioning energy assessor is designed to improve efficiency, reduce energy consumption, reduce operating costs and reduce carbon emissions. Air conditioning in this context is considered as being where refrigeration is used to provide cooling for the comfort of the occupants of the building and is for systems in buildings that have an effective combined rated output of at least 12kW. The 2012 revision to CIBSE TM44 Inspection of air conditioning systems: a guide to EPBD compliance, was originally written to meet the compliance needs of conducting www.cibsejournal.com September 2021 77 CIBSE Sep 21 pp77-80 CPD 184.indd 77 27/08/2021 13:58