Why be concerned about carbon usage?

European laws have recently been passed requiring that all buildings be audited to show how much carbon they consume. The UK government decided that an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) was the best way to carry out this audit. The EPC shows the results in such a way that the building owners, and potential new owners/lessees, are also given suggestions as to how to minimize the carbon usage of their building. The government also decided that as a large percentage of the commercial energy consumption in the UK arises from Air Conditioning systems, each system should be inspected every 5 years to assess their efficiency, and a report on this produced for the building controller suggesting ways in which the efficiency could be improved. As a by-product, this reduction in carbon usage can also save cost; a useful bonus! Carbon usages always results in releasing carbon products into the environment. Thus it may well be that reducing carbon usage could also help mitigate the present cycle of Global Warming, giving another possible benefit.

These EPCs (and the Air Conditioning Inspection reports), are produced by trained specialists, who examine the basic fabric of a building, and the heating and air-conditioning equipment that it contains. This data is used to calculate, based on a standardised occupancy and usage, the probable carbon usage of the building. This is done using specialized software approved by the government, which also then produces the reports. A separate part of the report gives a series of suggestions, also produced by the software, as to steps that could be taken to improve the building from an energy standpoint, with probable payback periods.

By early 2013 the new "Green Deal" incentive scheme was in place for both domestic and non-domestic properties. This enables certain improvements to be carried out for no up-front cost. Sheldon Reed will be able to offer the required energy reports on your premises to allow you access to these funds. For owners of properties falling into the "F" and "G" EPC rating bands, this could provide an ideal vehicle for improving the rating so that it falls into an approved level for letting, when the restrictions on letting buildings with poor ratings come into place in 2018. For other owners, or tenants, it presents an oportunity to reduce their fuel costs in a financially pain-free way. For more detail on the general aspects of the scheme, see : www.energysavingtrust.org.uk

In December 2014 ESOS was launched..."Energy Saving Opportunity Scheme" which mandates that larger companies (basically those with more than 250 staff, or turnovers in excess of €50M plus a net worth of €43M, will be required to undertake an energy audit at least every four years, beginning with the first in 2015. These will have to be overseen by qualified "Lead Assessors" who appear on official registers of such people. We are registered as Lead Assessors and can therefore carry out this function for you.