NEWS
Energy Bill is a key chance to extend DECs, say experts
One of the main problems with DECs
l Report on DECs argues case for wide roll-out of the certificates
There is a key opportunity to use the current Energy Bill going through Parliament to make Display Energy Certificates (DECs) mandatory for all commercial building occupiers. A report from a cross-industry group of
experts, disclosed in last month’s Journal and now published by the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC), calls for DECs to be widely extended. Carbon reductions in existing non-
domestic buildings looks at how DECs and the Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC) could be better married to help reduce energy use in commercial buildings. UKGBC chief executive Paul King
stressed the importance of measuring data before action could be taken to reduce consumption. He said: ‘The property sector urgently
needs to go on an energy diet but, to do so, it has to be able to accurately measure and report on its energy use. DECs do exactly that and should be rolled out to all buildings as soon as practically possible.’ CIBSE’s technical director, Hywel
Davies, said: ‘The headline message is that DECs have the potential to save energy in commercial buildings and we are already seeing that in the government estate. ‘The UKGBC report makes a strong
KEY RECOMMENDATIONS
l Annual Display Energy Certificates (DECs) should become mandatory for all non-domestic building occupiers, with a phased roll-out starting in 2012.
l Annual DECs for landlords’ services should become mandatory, starting with multi-let non-domestic buildings over 1,000 sq m, with a phased roll-out.
l It should be mandatory for landlords to pass data to occupiers; this should be based on the Landlord’s Energy Statement (LES).
l DECs (for occupiers and for landlords) should be introduced to non-domestic buildings via a ‘mandatory soft start’ in 2011-12, to
14 CIBSE Journal May 2011
take place prior to the formal display of certificates from 2012-13
l Once the scheme is fully established, the DEC data should be publicly and freely accessible, with an official review of the data published annually.
l A system should be developed to enable DECs to be aggregated to produce a range of league tables based on occupiers, landlords, sectors, buildings types and uses.
l There is a need to increase the pool of suitably accredited DEC assessors to meet the increased demand.
l An independent, funded technical body should be established to review data and benchmarks, and deliver technical support for DECs.
case for rolling out DECs to motivate people to manage their building energy use better.’ In tandem with the report, CIBSE has
also carried out its own technical review of the DEC benchmarks, which has broadly given the benchmarks a clean bill of health. ‘DECs are a very good way of showing
people where they can save energy, reduce their costs and cut emissions, and in doing so, contribute to the UK energy deficit,’ said Davies.
at present is that the landlord cannot always be held responsible for a tenant’s energy use, while a tenant has no control over how the rented building they occupy was designed or controlled, and hence, its energy efficiency. But the taskforce believes DECs can
be applied to all building types, if some changes are made to the methodology used to produce a DEC for both a landlord’s services and a building’s occupier. The government recently published its
Carbon Plan, which confirms ministers’ commitment to extending DECs to the commercial building sector in October 2012. The UKGBC report recommends that a phased roll-out of DECs should begin in 2012, which it says could be set down in law via the Energy Bill. The bill is primarily concerned with introducing the Green Deal programme. As regards cost, the task group recommends that buildings with DEC ratings of F or G should be subject to a rigorous energy assessment to encourage metering, to improve both ratings and building performance. A DEC for this would rely on basic
‘ The report makes a strong case for rolling out DECs to motivate people to manage their energy better’ Hywel Davies
data, such as the building’s type, area, occupancy hours and energy use. According to the report, DECs could also be used to capture the emissions data of other greenhouse gases, emitted through activities that do not stem from the use of a building’s services – for example, from manufacturing, process and construction emissions. However, it concedes that
it will not be possible to capture all such emissions in a DEC league table. In light of the change to the CRC
from a trade and cap scheme to a carbon tax, the taskforce found that industry felt a trading mechanism was still deemed to be the most efficient way of easing the cost burden on businesses, while acknowledging that a tax would be the best way of overcoming the current landlord/tenant issues in the short term. The report recommends that the cap and trade scheme is reintroduced in the future. See the benchmarking article on page 28
www.cibsejournal.com
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