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Display Energy Certificates
By Brian Howard of ncea: national commercial energy assessors
Display Energy Certificates Since 1st October 2008 public buildings in the UK over 1,000m2 must display a Display Energy Certificate (DEC) prominently at all times. Display Energy Certificates were introduced by the British Government in response to the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive which all EU member states must implement by January 2009. DECs are designed to promote the improvement of the energy performance of buildings. They are based upon actual energy usage of a building and increase transparency about the energy efficiency of public buildings. The certificate looks similar to the energy labels provided on new cars and electrical appliances such as fridges and freezers – it uses a similar scale for energy efficiency, i.e. from A to G with A being the most efficient and G the least. The A3 sized certificate is valid for one year and is accompanied by an Advisory Report (AR) which is valid for seven years. The advisory report is designed to help building owners occupiers to improve the energy efficiency of their buildings so that future DECs show a better rating. ARs do not need to be displayed, but must be available DECs and ARs must be undertaken by an accredited energy assessor using Government approved software. In order to produce the DEC the energy assessor needs to know the gross internal floor area of the building and the operating hours together with actual meter readings or consignment notes for all fuels used during the year of assessment. It is, therefore, very important for owners and occupiers of public buildings over 1,000m2 to maintain good records of fuel used. If the energy assessor does not have access to suitable and sufficient information then the software will generate a default G rating! At the time of writing many public authorities are still in the process of satisfying the requirement for DECs on the buildings. Some have members of staff either accredited to prepare DECs or in training to do so. Others have appointed external specialists such as ncea: national commercial energy assessors to prepare the DECs on their behalf. What is clear is that it will be some considerable time before the requirement for DECs to be displayed on all public buildings over 1,000m2 is met in full. The penalty for failing to display a DEC where required is £500 and the penalty for not having an advisory report available is £1,000. However, the enforcement authority is usually the local authority, so the system is largely self policing, which perhaps explains why so few public buildings have DECs on display a month after they became a legal requirement. Perhaps another reason is that the Government software required to calculate the energy rating was only made available a few days before the deadline. One further factor maybe the lack of accredited assessors. It is possible that at some stage in the future the Government may extend the requirement for DECs to smaller public buildings and perhaps to large privately owned buildings which the public have access to, such as supermarkets. It is, however, surely right that the public sector should lead the way in making buildings more energy efficient, thereby reducing the burden of high fuel costs on the tax payer and helping to reduce Britain's carbon footprint with a view to meeting the ambitious targets that the Government has set itself. For further information on DECs please visit http://ncea.co.uk or contact ncea: national commercial energy assessors on 0845 508 4344 or by email to enquiries@ncea.co.uk.
1st November 2008 |
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