News stories of the month
PARTNERSHIP OPENS DOORS TO BURGEONING SOLAR MARKET
London’s City Hall had photovoltaic panels installed on its roof in 2007 providing solar power that converts light into electricity with no waste and no emissions.
Photograph © Free Spirit | Fotolia
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uotatis has partnered with Solarpraxis, one of the world’s leading consulting
and service companies in the renewable energies industry, for its May conference, Solar Industry Summit UK in a bid to help introduce installation companies to the growing solar energy market. Thanks to Feed In Tariffs (FITs) – a government scheme which guarantees payment for solar-produced energy, whether fed back into the national grid or not – householders are wising up to the enormous potential that sits
above their heads.
“It is a fantastic revolution, and one that provides an opportunity for anyone looking to diversify their business,” said Peter Jervis, Quotatis’s managing director. “Everywhere you go, you see photovoltaic panels springing up because householders realise that it is a secure investment with high returns. There aren’t many better places to put your money at the moment – some householders are seeing a 12%-13% return on their investment, and FITs are guaranteed for 25 years!”
Thanks to word of mouth and a constant exposure in the national press, the recent demand for photovoltaic panels has, literally, gone through the roof, especially since the FIT scheme is expected to come to an end in April 2013.
In order to help companies enter this lucrative market, Solarpraxis runs conferences that introduce them to
European suppliers as well as existing companies in the sector. Quotatis is already well-established in the solar energy sector, having built up an enviable record of providing leads to companies within the industry. In order to promote its strength, Quotatis will have a presence on all of Solarpraxis’s marketing material during May.
“I think we have developed a very strong and important partnership,” Peter continued. “Solarpraxis is very experienced when it comes to setting people up in this industry, and Quotatis is already established as the premier lead generator for solar installations. Together we can make a real impact during the conferences they have organised during May.” Companies already registered with Quotatis are eligible for a discount on the conference cost, email
Severine.Scala@
solarpraxis.de for more information.
ww.quotatis.co.uk
CIBSE supports wider roll out of DECs T
he Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers, CIBSE, supports the UK Green Building Council call for the wider roll out of display energy certificates contained in its report ‘Carbon Reductions in Existing Non-Domestic Buildings’. “There is now a clear industry consensus around making more use of Display Energy Certificates to identify potential energy and cost savings,” said Hywel Davies, CIBSE’s technical director. To support the publication of the report, CIBSE has completed an analysis of the first 45,000 display energy certificates, and in particular the benchmarks used to calculate the DEC ratings. The review has looked closely at the spread of ratings across the 29 different benchmark categories, and found
6| SUSTAINABLE FM | APRIL 2011
that the benchmarks are generally fit for purpose and accurately reflect the performance of the building stock. In particular, the benchmarks for schools and for offices are both within two per cent of the median value for all the schools and offices rated, which demonstrates a high level of accuracy. The report’s recommendations provide the basis extending the use of Display Energy Certificates to commercial buildings. The report calls for a “soft start” to the introduction of non-domestic DECs to ease administrative adjustment and allow for data collection and further benchmark refinement before the results are disclosed and displayed. The report also calls for landlords of multi-let commercial buildings bigger than 1,000 sq m to be required to obtain a Landlord Energy
Statement (LES), which details energy use in and carbon emissions from offices. “These recommendations pave the way for the roll-out of DECs to non-domestic buildings, and help smooth out the relationship between landlord and tenant by clearly defining the areas of responsibility regarding the energy use of commercial properties ,” said Hywel Davies.
The full UKGBC report is available at
www.ukgbc.org The CIBSE benchmarks review was undertaken by the Harry Bruhns, University College London Energy Institute, Robert Cohen of Camco, Phil Jones of Building Energy Solutions and Bill Bordass of the Usable Buildings Trust, and will be published by CIBSE at
www.cibse.org
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