ENERGY
SCHEME PROLIFERATION TO PUBLIC SECTOR BUILDINGS
C 26
urrent Government thinking accepts the need to reduce importation of fossil fuels, and decrease the UK’s energy consumption, whilst
moving towards other means of domestic energy generation such as renewables. Securing the nation’s energy infrastructure for the future is now a major issue. The public sector can use the proliferation of schemes or incentives, which are steadily growing to meet energy reduction objectives, to its advantage.
One such scheme, the Green Deal, which is due to start in October 2012 may be of substantial benefit to local authorities, housing associations, and other public sector bodies. The scheme will provide funding for building occupiers which is re-paid out of the resulting savings via energy bills. If the occupier subsequently moves this is not a problem as the bill is transferred to future occupiers. By encouraging tenants to use the scheme the public sector can upgrade it’s buildings at, potentially, no cost. This will benefit the tenant who should have a more comfortable home with lower bills.
Leonie Onslow, Executive Director, British Urethane Foam Contractors Association Ltd
Landlords will benefit as their buildings receive an energy efficiency upgrade which might even increase the value, and the nation benefits by decreasing energy consumption. Further benefits may include less time off work due to cold-related illness and fewer hospital beds taken up, plus employment generation for energy efficiency installations. This is likely to be a good investment all round.
When using the Green Deal and other incentive schemes, the area of most benefit, or return on investment, is to ensure that the building fabric is energy efficient. The walls and roof are normally the greatest areas of heat loss. These areas should be better insulated prior to investing in other non building fabric related options, e.g. renewables. The Department of Energy and Climate Change has launched, in April 2012, a new National Heat Map. Local authorities, communities, and private sector developers will be able to use this
PUBLIC SECTOR SUSTAINABILITY • VOLUME 2 ISSUE 4
interactive tool to ascertain heating demand for their area, including that of individual buildings. According to DECC this will enable the development of Energy Master Plans, to inform distributed energy policies in their Local Development Frameworks (LDFs) and climate change strategies.
One such insulation measure is sprayed or injected polyurethane foam – this is a versatile, high performance material that can be used for insulation of roofs, walls, ceilings, voids, and other areas where an insulant is needed. Injected polyurethane can be used for cavity wall insulation, often where other forms of cavity insulant can not be used, for instance in hard-to-treat housing or in flood plain areas. This material can also be used in situations which are hard to reach, or in confined spaces, whereby it is sprayed in, often being the only solution to the problem. High levels of performance can be achieved even with the application
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