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Other than the fact the introduction of Display Energy Certificates have been watered down twice so far (date slippage and the use of one DEC per group of buildings rather than per building), and the fact that I don't feel the data collection is detailed enough to produce a result that is helpful enough to the occupier it could just be that folk are beginning to understand what this energy saving business is all about!

Take this article in Bradford's Telegraph and Argus by Ben Barnett entitled Museum's energy-efficiency 'among the worst' which goes on to state that not only is the National Media Museum scoring a G rating but 1 in 4 of all buildings assessed so far has scored either a F or G rating, the worst categories for energy efficiency.

This particular building spent 189,807.42 on energy bills in 2007-08, roughly 26p per visitor, Museum director Colin Philpott said:

We are currently implementing a number of energy-saving measures and investigating further energy-saving techniques which we hope to have in place in the short to medium term. The museum is proactive in implementing a number of energy-saving measures including installing voltage optimisation, which should reduce its electricity consumption by ten to 15 per cent. Energy-saving options are being investigated including installing CHP (combined heat and power) which would enable the museum to generate some of its electricity on site, and then use the heat generated for heating space and water.

Now this is good news, this was precisely the point of DECs, highlight to occupiers the problems with the buildings so that they could take action and cut their energy usage, and of course their fuel bills too.

But I need to let you into a little secret. In order to meet the Governments regulations, buildings must have these Display Energy Certificates hung on their wall, but there is a neat workaround available, which is to simply issue default ratings of G which is a score of 200 incidentally. This can be done in less than 5 minutes by an accredited energy assessor without vistiing the building, without seeing any fuel bills, without having knowledge about the construction of layout of the building. This would meet the Government and EU Directive, and the decision could be made to leave the proper survey until possibly 2009, when things are less hectic, surveyors actually know what they are doing, the software is much improved and so on, oh and DEC will be cheaper of course.

I fully expect to see a HUGE number of G ratings issued this time round and if you looked closely at them, and found a large number of scores of 200, then you will now know why! A huge number of the data collectors being used are not qualified energy professionals, they are simply box tickers, given basic instructions in what to do and let loose on many of the largest municipal buildings in the country.

If the EPBD rollout was a school project, this Government would score a D- Very poor communication, failure to meet its own objectives and the actually quality of what has been produced is sadly, open to scrutiny.

Labels: Can Display Energy Certificates really work? G ratings of 200