Measuring energy efficiency in buildings
Turn that light off!
May 28th 2013, 16:49 by H.G. | NEW YORK
FOR some people there are two important numbers when it comes to buying a car: the price and the miles it does per gallon (for others, looks, style, brand and the whole driving experience are what counts). Property is no different. A cheaper house price will save you money at the time of your purchase, and a high energy-efficiency rating (EER) will save you cash on each month’s energy bill. One problem with the latter is that there are far too many factors in each property to produce a single rating.
According to the 2012 global Energy Efficiency Indicator survey, 44% of the respondents said they wanted a green building-certification, but the process was hindered by the lack of a common EER. The key to resolving this is to combine the two systems most widely in use, the operational-rating system and the asset-rating system, depending on the stage of the building.
The operational-rating system is best for a building already occupied because it measures how the property is faring. It takes old utility bills, the square foot measurement of the building, a few other bits of information and crunches all this into a percentile rating. In the past five years, two states and a handful of cities in America have begun to use that system. It sounds accurate, but it has a glaring problem by comparing a decades-old building to a brand new one. That’s where the asset rating comes in.
This looks at the energy systems in a building and predicts how efficient it could be. It is used for new buildings, because it shows a buyer the absolute best it will be energy-wise if it is run most efficiently. But once the building is up and running, the operational-rating system must also be included because it shows how energy efficient the building is when run by the current owner and used in the current capacity.
It sounds like a buraeucratic nightmare, but Clay Nesler, the vice-president for global energy and sustainability for the building-efficiency business of Johnson Controls, a conglomerate specialising in energy efficiency, says that EERs should be seen "as one of a number of tools that when combined with other policies can really drive greater investment in energy efficiency".
In Australia, for example, the government will only lease space in buildings with high energy-efficiency ratings. And since the government leases more buildings than anyone else, those buildings with lower ratings will suffer.
Three years ago the European Union adopted the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, in which all member states are required to include a certain level of energy performance for all buildings. But according to the EEI survey, respondents from both developed and emerging regions favoured policies where tax incentives and rebates were awarded in accordance with a property’s energy-efficiency rating. So it would be more effective if government programmes combined with the two rating systems to implement incentives in accordance with energy efficiency. And help people get those green certificates.
Source: www.economist.com
No comments:
Post a Comment
All comments are welcomed as far as they are constructive and polite.