subject: Air Conditioning Non-compliance Costs Uk Business [print this page] UK Midlands company, Envitae, specialists in commercial property energy compliance, is one of many organisations supporting CIBSE in their Non Compliance Costs Campaign, as there is compelling case supporting the need for Air conditioning Inspection. Energy Performance Air conditioning Inspections are enabling significant energy savings to be made.
With electricity costs being a significant and rising overhead on commercial property, owners and tenants need to look at energy efficiency to cut bills. Roger Lawrie, partner at Envitae, points out that Air conditioning can account for up to 50% of energy consumption and many businesses are unaware that legislation requires systems with cumulative output over 12kW to be independently inspected by 4th January 2011. Compulsory on systems outputting over 250kW since January 2009, this must be carried out by a government approved energy assessor and is additional to any other service or maintenance. Mr Lawrie goes on to say that assessors are finding that inspection reports make recommendations that in most cases will save energy.
CIBSE say
-It costs the businesses who do not have inspections. The inspection and accompanying report tells operators whether their systems are operating as efficiently and cost effectively as possible. So non compliance costs non complying companies a real opportunity to cut costs and increase profits.
-It costs the environment, because of the excessive energy use and associated carbon emissions.
-And it costs the UK any chance of meeting its statutory carbon dioxide emissions reduction targets.
Envitaes new website provides lots of useful information and guidance on the requirement for independent energy assessment and points out that inspection is the responsibility of the system operator, who is often the tenant.
The government is now consulting on plans for inspection reports to be compulsorily centrally lodged, this will enable local weights & measures to enforce the regulation. So Envitae is now offering free advice for commercial property landlords and tenants who are unsure about how the legislation affects them.
by: Roger Lawrie, Partner, Envitae - solutions for energy compliance
