CIBSE is awaiting a Government decision on the use of operational ratings for public display in public buildings, as part of the England and Wales implementation of the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive.

The Institute advised the ODPM last August that operational ratings could be a powerful driver for increased energy efficiency and reduced carbon emissions in the public sector, in line with government objectives.

Operational and asset ratings convey highly useful but different information, and both ratings are required to gain a full picture of how the building is performing related to its potential. This is the ideal, but in the short term there is a need to kick-start the implementation of the EPBD as soon as possible. CIBSE has warned against using asset ratings, which are more onerous and costly to produce, as the only energy usage indicator. It would be far more cost effective and enable speedier implementation of the Directive if operational ratings were required from the outset.

Most importantly, the operational rating provides a direct link with actual energy use at present and therefore a simpler route to recommendations for improvement. The tools for establishing them are already available - for example in CIBSE publication TM22: Energy Assessment and Reporting Method, which provides a simple method using data that should already be available. If we are hoping to encourage action to improve energy performance in existing buildings - the underlying reason for the EPBD - we must not drop operational ratings.

Source

Building Sustainable Design