Energy efficiency system branded a shambles
January 19, 2009
The energy efficiency system involving Display Energy Certificates (DECs) has been attacked by the Association for the Conservation of Energy (ACE) after leading Government departments failed to meet the required standards.
Since their introduction in October, DECs have revealed that many prominent public buildings are appallingly energy inefficient, the ACE said this week.
Under the new EU-inspired rules, any building open to the public, where the fuel bills are paid for in whole or in part out of public funds, must display "in a prominent Manner" the building's energy performance certificate (EPC). According to the ACE, of the first 3200 certificates recorded, only 22 were "A" rated - less than 1%.
Under a late change to the Climate Change Act, if any government organisation opts to take up a lease in a building below the top quartile, it must publish a clear justification as to why it has chosen such a profligate building.
One of the first such entities which will need to meet this challenge is the new Committee on Climate Change. It is currently based at Number 3, Whitehall Place, and its building has one of the worst ("G") ratings yet recorded, according to the ACE. Even showpiece retrofits such as those at the Treasury and at the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) still achieve only a derisory "E" rating, it claimed.
Overall, it concluded, it is clear that the report card on public buildings' energy management record is firmly in the "Must Do Much Better" category.
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