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Gordon Brown's 'light touch' of regulation in his Budget could be seen as a 'soft touch' in terms of tackling the biggest polluters in the UK – commercial buildings -warns Energy Consultant Kate McCartney of Tour Andover Controls.
Commercial buildings are the biggest fossil fuel polluters in the UK – even more than the much-maligned car driver – and their owners and operators should be striving to improve their environmental performance.
Instead of making them take financial responsibility for their contribution to climate damage,Gordon Brown’s tackling of red tape goes against his green credentials.
Gordon Brown had a golden opportunity with the Budget to penalise bad developers and incentivise the good ones.For those developers who build sustainability into their designs Gordon'Brownie' points in the form of significant tax breaks could have been considered as an incentive to industry.
'Clean up or cough up' is a message which comes after figures reveal that buildings are responsible for approximately 50 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions in the UK and are the highest users of fossil fuels.Under Kyoto Protocol,the UK government has committed to reducing the country’s carbon dioxide emissions by 12.5 percent(on 1990 levels)by 2012.
With energy prices expected to increase by 30 percent or more,energy efficiency is fast becoming a key issue for the construction industry in terms of financial and environmental cost.New UK and EU legislation,such as the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive,will also move energy efficiency higher on company agendas.The only way that sustainable reduction can be achieved is by targeting buildings and encouraging their owners and facilities managers to improve their energy management.Alternatively,on new builds,developers must sit down and literally build sustainable technology into the fabric of the new building to ensure the construction is eco-friendly from day one and throughout the life cycle of the building.
The obvious benefit in adopting good energy management practice is financial.
Each year in the UK,more than £13 billion is spent on energy for non-domestic buildings.
By adopting improvements in energy management,it is estimated that most buildings in the UK could save 15 – 20 percent of their annual energy spend.This results in lower carbon dioxide emissions and lower Climate Change Levy costs.
There is also a less tangible HR benefit to this as well as there is empirical evidence to suggest that the comfort of occupants is improved in energy efficient buildings.Studies have shown that buildings with good levels of energy efficiency have higher levels of occupant comfort,health and productivity.In any building,the major cost will be staff salaries so it makes sense to adopt procedures that encourage loyalty and reduce absenteeism.
We should also look at new-builds and ensure that intelligent building expertise is involved as early as possible in the design process,particularly in the specification of mechanical and electrical plant.
Often systems which look well-designed on paper can become unmanageable on site.A post-handover review of the new building should be conducted by an independent party to enable system problems to be identified and acted upon and the building’s performance to be monitored.It also offers a good opportunity to train staff in the new building’s environmental systems to ensure they are operated as designed.
Clearly these are changing times for the construction industry who may in the past have regarded energy efficiency issues as being 'optional extras' or not applicable in a business context. That is no longer the case: indeed,there are genuine business benefits
in striving for optimum energy efficiency.
