DEC - Display Energy Certificates
Display Energy Certificates for Public Buildings over 1000m2 are mandatory from October 2008.
To find out what needs to be done, read below.
How to obtain a Display Energy Certificate
Energy Saving Expert are working towards being accredited providers of Display Energy Certificates by the October deadline.
If you are a public authority and institution affected by this legislation there is no need to go to the expense of training your employees as energy assessors. We can provide a cost effective annual service for you.
An Energy Assessor, accredited to produce display energy certificates for that type of building, is the only person who can produce a DEC and Advisory Report for your building.
Firstly the energy consumption data you provide will be reviewed by the assessor in line with the approved method. Adjustments may be made for occupancy, intensity of use, special energy uses, weather and climate.
The carbon dioxide emissions for the certificate are based on the adjusted energy consumption and total useful floor area and building type to give a measured CO2 emission per square meter.
The assessor will then produce a DEC and an Advisory Report from this information in line with the approved method.
The DEC will need to be lodged in a national register by the assessor and given a unique certificate reference number.
The certificates can only be produced using a Government approved software programme.
Start the process now
What information do I need to collect?
If you require a DEC, you will need to collect information to be ready for the assessment.
To be ready for your assessment you should:
1. Locate and identify your incoming energy meters and any other (sub-) meters that separately meter energy being produced from On-Site Renewables (OSR) and Low and Zero Carbon (LZC) technologies, or energy used in your building for specific purposes different to your normal activity.
2. Find and collate any actual energy consumption data you have from your energy meters and any sub-meters covering the (approximately) one-year period to the current date. Include in this information any records of delivery of liquid fuels, and of solid fuel, together with records of stock or tank levels over the same period.
3. Contact your energy suppliers to get estimates if you have no meter readings available. Where relevant this may include your supplier of district heating or cooling.
4. If you obtain energy from a district heating or cooling system, contact the supplier to obtain a statement of the carbon dioxide burden of the energy supplied to your building (e.g. kg CO2 emitted per kWh of energy delivered).
5. Obtain or calculate your building areas, bearing in mind that the assessment will use the Total Usable Floor Area (TUFA). You may be able to use an alternative metric but measuring TUFA directly will provide a more accurate result.
6. Find and collate any readily usable plans of your building that would help the assessor to confirm or to measure any unknown floor areas, and any simple plans and schematic drawings that would enable the assessor to locate and identify significant features of the building, its occupancy and use, and the energy consuming services provided.
7. Find and collate previous energy survey work that has been carried out on your building, as this can help advise in the generation of the advisory report.
8. Check whether you have correctly interpreted the CLG guidance and identified the building or buildings for which you will need to display a DEC. You may need to confirm this with an accredited energy assessor.
If your building is recent you may have a building log book. If so, most of the information needed for the assessment should be contained in the log-book.
Further guidance is available in the guidance on Display Energy Certificates and advisory reports for public buildings.
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For more information call 01225 862266 or 0791 215 9195, alternatively email us at mike@energy-saving-expert.co.uk.