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The imminent introduction of mandatory energy auditing and labelling for buildings through the EU Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings has been a hobbyhorse of Construct Ireland for some time now, and our efforts to broaden public and industry awareness has resulted in extensive coverage across the national media.
Construct Ireland believes that heightened public awareness on the implications of the directive will help consumers to make informed purchasing decisions, and to realise that investment in thermally efficient building will serve them will in the long run, in terms of value and running costs. The fact that an estimated 83,000 new houses will have been added to the housing stock this year only reinforces the fact that awareness is crucial, to ensure both that consumers demand better performing buildings, and that the construction industry addresses energy performance as an integral concern.
In the aftermath of our recent awareness raising, Construct Ireland began to research what measures the Irish government was taking to prepare for the directive, and how this compared with views from other EU member states, an investigation that is revealing startling results. Jeff Colley reports.
The
EU Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings (EPBD)
comes broadly into effect from January 4 th 2006. One of the
main discussion points of the directive is that it will introduce
mandatory energy labelling on a scale of A to G for properties
of virtually every description. Article 7 of the directive
requires that “ when buildings are constructed, sold or rented
out, an energy performance certificate is made available to
the owner or by the owner to the prospective buyer or tenant”
.
In
light of this, it may seem a little strange that, until recently,
so little has been widely known about the directive, just
over a year before it comes into effect. A statement by a
spokesperson for Martin Cullen, then Minister for the Environment,
echoed the government view that “the EPBD explicitly allows
additional time […] up to 4th January 2009-to give practical
effect to certain complex provisions [such as] provisions
relating to the energy performance certification of all newly
constructed buildings, and existing buildings, when let or
sold”. This would appear to be evident from reading Article
15.2 of the directive, which stresses that “M ember States
may, because of lack of qualified and/or accredited experts,
have an additional period of three years to apply fully the
provisions of Articles 7, 8 and 9”.
An explanation of where such a derogation may be sought is
given by David Strong, Managing Director of the Environment
section of the UK's BRE, and Chair of the Directive Implementation
Advisory Group (DIAG), who is heavily involved in implementing
the directive in the UK.
“The
directive allows for Member States to delay certain aspects,
such as certification and plant inspection, for a maximum
of three years, but only if they can demonstrate that there
are an insufficient number of suitably qualified experts to
undertake those activities. So the onus of responsibility
will be on Member States.” Strong states. “I sit on the article
14 committee as an advisor to the European Commission, and
they've made it crystal clear that they will take infraction
proceedings against Member States that do not comply, and
will take a very dim view of Member States who can't provide
demonstrable proof—who haven't used all reasonable endeavours
to get their experts in place on time to do the building certification”.
Although
the Irish Government may be preparing itself, should it fail
to implement in full the requirements of Articles 7, 8 and
9 by January 2006, to prove to the EU that these tasks were
not achievable in the given time period, the areas that Ireland
and other member states are entitled to seek a derogation
for may not be as clear as the aforementioned Government view
perhaps suggests. Article 7 relates both to general energy
performance certification at point of sale or rental, and
to energy certificates being displayed in buildings over 1000m2
and “used by the public”, whereas articles 8 and 9 relate
to inspection of boilers and air conditioning systems. However,
although the directive may allow Member States an additional
three years “to apply fully the provisions” of these articles,
this does not necessarily mean that introducing and policing
energy standards can be withheld for this period.
“One
important point that is beginning to dawn on a lot of us,
and particularly the UK Government, is that although the certification
of buildings and plant inspection issues could be delayed
for a maximum of 3 years, the directive does call for minimum
energy performance standards to be set and measured from 4
th January 2006”, Strong asserts. “From that date, every Member
State is going to have to have in place the national methodology
which will measure compliance”.
As
a requirement stipulated in Article 15 of the directive, Member
States are bound to “ bring into force the laws, regulations
and administrative provisions necessary to comply” by 2006.
To fulfil this requirement, Member States must adopt a methodology
for calculating energy performance at national or regional
level, ensure that minimum energy performance requirements
based on this methodology are set, and ensure that new buildings
meet these standards.
“Any
new building submitted for planning or building regulations
consent after 4 th January 2006 will need to be checked against
the national methodology”, Strong reveals. “If Ireland hasn't
got one, it will be in breach, [as will also be the case]
if it hasn't got a sufficient number of suitably qualified
independent assessors –and you may not need to have very many—to
check new buildings submitted for planning consent after 4
th January 2006. Although Ireland and other countries may
choose to delay for instance supplying energy certification
to existing buildings for some time, they can't delay in essence
the requirements with regard to new buildings. The penny is
only starting to drop on that for a lot of people”.
This
revelation suggests implications that Ireland may not be ready
to deal with. Could it even mean that people looking at a
property after this period must be given the building's energy
certificate? On this point, Strong's response is vehement.
“Absolutely. From day one there is no option to delay, because
it's a proof of compliance issue at that point in time. Every
Member State has to introduce minimum energy performance standards,
and the way those standards are measured has to be using the
new national method which takes into account methodology,”
he states.
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