Archived decisions

    A Briefing Paper for the Environment and Transportation Select Committee

    20th January 2009

    Date considered:

    20th January 2009

    Item 5

    Title:

    Implementation of Display Energy Certificates

    Directorate:

    The Acting Director of Property, Business and Regulatory Services

    Author & contact
    details:

    Mike Fitch 01962 847846

    e-mail: [email protected]

    Andrew Spencer 01962 847783

    Email: [email protected]

      1.0 Purpose of Report:

1.1 The purpose of this paper is to provide the Select Committee with a progress report in respect of meeting the requirements of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive. The principal focus of the report is on meeting the requirements for Display Energy Certificates (DEC's) as this is where the major impact is for the County Council.

2.0 Background

2.1 It is estimated that nearly half of all carbon emissions in the UK come from buildings. The principle underlying this Directive is to make energy efficiency transparent by the issue of an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) on the sale, rent or construction of a building. An EPC will show the energy rating of a building and be accompanied by a report making recommendations on how to improve it's energy efficiency. Once produced an EPC is valid for ten years.

2.2 For existing public buildings with a floor area of over 1,000 square metres, a Display Energy Certificate (DEC) is required. A DEC will illustrate an energy performance of a building, expressed as a rating from `A' (best) to `G' (worst), similar to that used in rating the performance of "white goods". A DEC has to be renewed every year and be accompanied by an Advisory Report that lasts for up to seven years. Both have to be registered with the Secretary of State.

2.3 It is estimated that 395 buildings require a DEC within the County Council's built estate. DEC's will be a clear reminder to everyone of how much energy the building is using, and the intention is that it will inspire organisations and their employees to take action and work together to encourage a reduction in the use of energy.

3.0 The County Council's Built Estate

3.1 A total of 395 sites require a Display Energy Certificate (DEC) and Advisory Report (AR). These are being reviewed by in house staff and qualified energy assessors on a programme running through to January 2009.

3.2 The range of the County Council's built estate affected by this legislation is shown in table 1.

      Table 1

     

    Total

    School - Infant

    86

    School - Junior

    102

    School - Primary

    105

    School - Secondary

    56

    School - Special

    22

    Office buildings

    24

     Total

    395

      So far 159 DEC's have been registered with the Secretary of State. Table 2 below summarises the spread of ratings that have been found for these lodged certificates:

      Table 2

    Rating

    No. of properties

    % of total reviewed to date

    A

    0

    0

    B

    5

    2.6

    C

    42

    21.8

    D

    74

    38.3

    E

    59

    30.6

    F

    9

    4.6

    G

    4

    2.1

    TOTAL

    193

    100%

3.3 From the above table it can be seen that approximately 6.7% of the properties examined to date have been found to score within the lowest 2 categories possible ("F" and "G"). There are a variety of reasons for this, although the most common reason is incomplete data or estimated utility meter readings which automatically default the DEC to the "G" rating. This is a particular problem with sites using oil as the principal heating fuel where oil delivery quantities are known rather than actual consumptions. For these sites it is proposed to install oil meters to provide more detailed readings for the issue of the DEC update next year.

3.4 The average score for all buildings examined to date is 98 (category "D") and it will be possible to provide an overall figure for the whole estate so that year on year performance can be reviewed. If all of the buildings examined had met the benchmark data provided by the approved software then a score of 100 would have been achieved. This would suggest that the buildings on the County Council's estate are tending to be slightly above the benchmark score.

3.5 Further progress reports will be prepared in the New Year when all of the DECs have been completed. The outputs of this process will be used to feed into the Carbon Management Plan in terms of starting to tackle those buildings most in need of energy performance improvement.