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With all the chatter, whinging and scepticism over the introduction of Energy Performance Certificates in the United Kingdom, particularly with the introduction as part of the Home Information Pack in England and Wales, it was very interesting to read an article from Elena Koinova about the implementation of the EPBD in Bulgaria. Interestingly

"Proprietary houses account for 97 per cent of all buildings in Romania and blocks of flats for 39 per cent of all dwellings. A Romanian bloc consumes, on average, 390 kWh/sq m a year, as compared to an EU average of 220 kWh/sq m a year."

And how is it going with Commercial Energy Performance Certificates?

Yes, the momentum is now with us, enquiries are coming in thick and fast and the national network of non-domestic energy assessors is pretty much in place. Building.co.uk recently undertook a survey of some of its professional subscribers and the results made for interesting reading. Certainly a high number of respondents felt that their building ranked well in terms of energy performance- well above the average in many cases.

"One of the most interesting findings is that, although 67% of those surveyed expect to get either a C or D rating, only 27% anticipate an E, F or G. This suggests that either BCO members inhabit very up-to-date buildings or they are in for a shock, because a building constructed to 1995 Part L standards which includes everything built up until 2002 - would get an E."

British Council for Offices (BCO) members think there will be problems when they do want their buildings certificated as 70% reckon there wont be enough assessors qualified to do the work, certainly this is still a concern with no public figures available as to the number of accredited assessors either in training or already qualified. At the moment, my best guess is around 500 will be qualified by mid-July, but thats based only on the evidence of numerous conversations with trainees and the trainig providers- CIBSE are the dark horse in this and may be providing many APEL qualified assessors from the existing multi-disciplinary companies out there who will be competing for the work.

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Labels: implementation of Energy Performance Certificates EPBD in Bulgaria Commercial Energy Performance Certificates shortage of assessors ?