In Brief
SMART ENERGY INITIATIVE The first Smart Energy System demonstration of its kind in the UK is to be developed by the Energy Technology Insititute (ETI). The £100m, five-year programme aims to expand the UK’s capability in low carbon technologies.
LEED AND BREEAM PLAN The US Green Building Council has announced that the LEED programme for sustainable buildings will in future recognise BREEAM energy credits. The aim was to make the two systems more ‘interoperable’.
PLANNING MOVE ‘RAISES BAR’ The government has published its National Planning Policy Framework, which it says contains provisions to make planning simpler and more accessible. The framework also ‘raises the bar on design standards’, according to Planning Minister Greg Clark.
SUPPORT FOR SHALE GAS The extraction of gas from shale, known as fracking, should continue but with more safeguards, a government- appointed panel of experts has reported. The report is being consulted on by DECC.
IMTECH AQUA The CIBSE award winner, Imtech Aqua Building Services Ltd, was misspelt in our report on the awards in the March Journal (page 17). We apologise to the company for the error.
Energy certificates revamped in move to ‘aid’ home buyers
l Communities Department pledges more training for energy assessors
Prospective home owners will be given better and clearer advice on making their new homes more eco- friendly, according to the government A new-look Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) will provide recommendations for improvements and will indicate to the consumer whether they can be funded through the Green Deal.
Energy assessors who compile EPCs will also receive further training to ensure the documents are produced to a ‘consistently high standard and assured advice is given to prospective homeowners’, the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) in a statement.
Prospective buyers and tenants will also be given this energy information much earlier in the buying process, to give them time to plan how they will implement some of the recommendations included. From April
this year, house buyers have been able to compare the energy performance of the new home with that of similar properties, as the National Energy Performance Certificate Register is opened up to public use for the first time, DCLG said.
But to ensure the data is as secure as possible, companies wanting to use the register will be required to sign a licensing agreement – which will include strict rules over how the data is used. Communities Minister Andrew Stunell said: ‘The Energy Performance Certificate has proved useful in putting the efficiency of our homes at the forefront of our minds, but homeowners can often struggle to know how to act on the advice it gives.
‘That’s why we’re giving it a complete redesign, making it clearer and easier to understand and putting the recommendations for improvements into matters of pounds and pence by showing how much consumers could potentially save on their energy bills.’
See Regulations, page 22
Architects body attacks minister’s ‘unambitious’ climate target plans
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has expressed concern over the government’s ‘inconsistent’ and ‘unambitious’ position on the draft European Energy Efficiency Directive (EED). The directive is designed to ensure the European Union meets its 20% energy savings target by 2020.
8 CIBSE Journal May 2012
The coalition is currently opposing both a 20% binding target and nearly all the other significant measures in the EED, said RIBA, which has written to Energy Secretary Ed Davey. Anna Scott-Marshall, RIBA head of external affairs, said: ‘The coalition government’s current position on the EED is confusing
and causing us some concern. ‘In particular, the coalition appears to be pushing for an unambitious target on public buildings renovations. ‘This does not help lead the market for energy efficiency renovations, and leaves a large energy bill for the taxpayer. ‘This position… stands contrary
to the coalition’s claims to be the greenest government ever. We need a sensible road map to improving the efficiency of our building stock.’
The letter was signed by 18 other organisations including the UK Green Building Council, the Association for the Conservation of Energy, and WWF-UK.
Shutterstock / vectorlib-com
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