A new report from the Royal Academy of Engineers has made Ant Wilson, director of sustainability at AECOM, think of the influence that building services engineers have on society, at present and in the future.

Having just received a copy of a new report on Engineering a low carbon built environment from the Royal Academy for Engineers, it makes me think of the influence that we, as building services engineers, can have on the society present and future.

Climate change has made our influence more apparent right now, but it is only through young people that we can extend that to the society of the future. The increasing importance of the discipline of building engineering physics has led to many leading engineers being appointed as visiting professors at universities such as Bath, Bristol, Sheffield and Cambridge. These are difficult economic times however, with the press reporting that in 2009 construction industry graduates without jobs reached a record high.

How can we keep these and future students committed to engineering and how can the industry make sure that their education is relevant to not only a rapidly changing world but also is effective within a construction process as a whole? The engagement of practising engineers to work alongside teachers and academics must be the way forward. There are many school students who have a passion for creating a better environment and can be inspired by a systematic approach to education that will deliver better buildings.

Past students may have thought of services engineering as uninspiring, yet it is our discipline that has to help deliver the cuts in carbon emissions that the world needs. After all, buildings in the UK are responsible for about 50% of all of the UK's carbon emissions.

Yet the diversity and breadth of the construction industry is so wide that the role of building services engineering can be submerged. School students find it easier to become absorbed in how a building looks rather than in what makes it run with maximum efficiency while emitting minimal carbon. Heating and ventilating engineers need to promote technical excellence and consultants and contracting organisations need to show leadership to prove we are able to meet the demand placed by government for a low carbon future.