Energy efficiency is high on the agenda for the government, businesses and homes. And keeping track of energy costs, improving energy efficiency and moving towards a more sustainable energy landscape is something we all care about.
The Display Energy Certificate scheme was introduced in 2008 to raise awareness of energy usage in public buildings. Without this valuable certification, energy usage and efficiency in public buildings would go largely unnoticed by the people who use them.
A Display Energy Certificate (DEC) is an important document that shows a public building’s actual energy use and carbon emissions. In today’s blog we’ll learn more about Display Energy Certificates, and discover who needs one, how they get one and what they mean.
Does Your Building Need One?
Display Energy Certificates were introduced in 2008 as part of the EU’s Energy Performance of Buildings Directive. At this time, public buildings over 1000m2 were required to have a certificate displaying their actual annual energy consumption, with a rating from A (most efficient) to G (least efficient). The process has been developed over the years to the current mandatory requirement enforced by local authorities today.
All buildings over 250m2 that are occupied by local authorities and frequently visited by the public must have a Display Energy Certificate.
Examples include schools, hospitals, public libraries and government buildings. Private organisations don’t need a DEC, but they can choose to get one voluntarily.
How It’s Calculated
A Display Energy Certificate rates the actual or operational energy performance of a building against established benchmarks. To do this, assessors need several critical pieces of information:
- Type of building
- Total ‘useful’ floor area
- Annual energy use (gas and electricity)
- Methods used to heat and cool the building
An accredited assessor calculates the operational rating and compares it to the average emissions of a ‘typical’ similar building. The final rating is produced by the assessor using a government-approved software tool.
The Rating Scale
The Display Energy Certificate uses a colour-coded rating scale, with the letters A to G showing how efficiently a building performs. The scale looks like the energy efficiency ratings we see on household appliances.
A = Excellent
B = Very Good
C = Good
D = Typical
E = Below Average
F = Poor
G = Very Poor (major improvements needed)
