resourceO5 news

Help with building energy assessment

A new energy performance tool will ease the process of complying with the new requirements for energy use in housing and other buildings, as Paul Davidson of BRE Environment explains.

 

A software tool commissioned by ODPM and developed by BRE will help those developing and designing buildings with the complex, but soon-to-be essential, task of assessing their buildings' energy performance.

 

Such assessments will be needed for all new (and many large refurbished) buildings to comply with the revised Part L of the Building Regulations, and to produce the energy rating that will be required from next year under the EU's Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD).

 

Known as SBEM - simplified building energy method - the tool is a package of software that simplifies the job of the national calculation methodology (laid down in the Part L consultation document) for buildings other than dwellings. It demonstrates a building's compliance with minimum energy performance standards, and works out its EPBD asset rating. This rating shows how much energy the building uses under standardised design conditions, and will have to be made available to prospective purchasers and tenants.

 

The national calculation methodology is necessarily complex, taking many factors into account including the building's fabric, heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems, position and orientation, and occupancy and use. SBEM simplifies this process by using monthly average calculations that should provide a sufficiently accurate assessment of all except the most complex buildings, and by providing a user-friendly means of inputting building information. 

 

The tool consists of three elements:

• the SBEM energy use calculation tool
• an interface (known as iSBEM) by which the user of the tool can input the necessary information on the building's geometry, construction, activities and service systems
• a set of databases - of activities within buildings, descriptions of wall, floor, roof and glazing systems, and details on heating, ventilation, air conditioning and lighting systems - which the tool can draw information from.

The release of the next version of SBEM in July 2005 follows a period during which a prototype of the method has been available on the web for comment, and revised and improved in response to feedback.

 

A demonstration of the national calculation method is being held at resource05, the low-carbon technology showcase, on 14 September (see www.resource05.com).

 

EPBD -  key requirements

The EPBD was approved in 2003 and must be transposed into law by each EU member state with effect form January 2006. It can be summarised as seven different but interrelated requirements:

• a calculation methodology to determine the energy performance of the building, which must be adopted at national or regional level
• minimum energy performance standards for all new buildings
• minimum energy performance standards  for buildings with a useable floor area of more the 1000m² undergoing major renovation
• an energy performance certificate when a building is being sold or leased
• the public display of an energy performance certificate, not older that 10 years, in certain public buildings
• regular inspection of boilers and air-conditioning systems
• qualified and/or accredited experts to provide the certificates and carry out the inspections in an independent manner.

 

Return to news