Enigin Update - Campaign for Energy Efficiency Displays in Commercial Buildings
A CAMPAIGN in the UK that will require landlords to display energy certificates prominently in all non-domestic buildings is increasing its efforts to get the British Government to make it a legal requirement.
The campaigners believe the UK will fail to meet the overall target the country has set of reducing carbon emissions by 80 per cent by 2050 unless they tackle the non-domestic building sector, which makes up 18 per cent of the nation’s current emissions.
The campaign is calling for incentives to motivate landlords to improve the energy efficiency of their buildings and to display the properties energy performance, mirroring the energy labels displayed on domestic appliances.
The campaign has produced a 'proposition’, inviting other organisations to commit to displaying voluntary “Display Energy Certificates” (DECs) by December 2011 throughout office buildings that are over 1,000 square metres.
The campaigners stated in the proposition:
"Carbon is invisible, out of sight and largely out of mind. Buildings represent the single largest cause of carbon release but this is poorly understood, and it is hard to differentiate between good and bad performers.
“This problem was overcome in the white goods market by making energy performance visible via the familiar energy label, which has successfully driven the development of greener products."
The Building Services Research and Information Association (BSRIA) claim that mandatory DECs would "create the necessary awareness among occupiers and drive the desire for buildings with better energy performance. This will create differential rents incentivising landlords appropriately to undertake energy focused refurbishment."
Enigin Distributors concur that displaying energy efficiency is vital for commercial and industrial buildings and with Eniscope the displays can be in real-time, showing what energy is being used as it is being used, truly affecting energy efficiency along with the behaviour of a buildings occupants.
