The transposition deadline of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) is less than six months from now.  As the main mechanism employed by the Government to implement the directive, it was anticipated that an announcement would be made on new building regulations on the last day of Parliament, 21st July 2005.  However, to date there has been no announcement, and therefore this is the current status of implementation of the EPBD to the best of the Partnership's knowledge.

EPBD

Adopted in 2002 (entered into force January 2003) and due for transposition on 4 January 2006, the objective of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive is to reduce the energy used in buildings by requiring:

• a methodology to calculate integrated energy performance of buildings
• minimum energy performance requirements for new buildings
• minimum energy performance requirements for existing buildings over 1000m2 being renovated
• energy certification of buildings
• regular inspection of medium to large boilers and air conditioning systems.

Under Article 175 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, the Directive should aim for 'high levels of environmental protection'. It covers all buildings and differentiates between residential (domestic dwellings), tertiary (commercial), new and existing buildings. More information about the tertiary sector and the implementation process can be found at the DIAG website and in the CIBSE brief.   And in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity   and acknowledging the varying regional environment, the directive will be implemented by the devolved nations.

Devolved nations responsibility

Implementation is being lead by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM), the Scottish Building Standards Agency  (SBSA), and the Department for Social Development (DSD) and Department of Finance and Personnel  (DFP) in Northern Ireland. More information on Implementation in Ireland can also be found at Sustainable Energy Ireland  (SEI). The major legislative changes will be made to the Buildings Regulations, Part L for England and Wales, the Building Act (Scotland) 2003 Part J  and the Building Regulations (Northern Ireland)  Part F. As part of the implementation process, each department published a consultation or similar document (England and Wales,  Northern Ireland,  Scotland) which are due to be published as final documents in the coming months. The information, therefore, is subject to change but since the transposition date is so close it is unlikely for any changes to be radical.

Calculation Methodology

For new dwellings, the methodology will be based upon SAP 2005.  Currently under consultation, the major changes will be to include solar protection, air conditioning, renewables, and lighting in the calculation, so that all the parameters of EPBD Annex 1 are met. The advantage of SAP is its whole system approach which can take into account the synergies between types of technology whereas the current building regulations use elemental values to specify how each element of a building must perform. Although the directive states that 'to the extent possible, the [energy] certificate should describe the actual energy-performance situation of the building', SAP is an Asset Rating system which calculates the possible performance of the building under typical conditions.

A full SAP assessment requires a lot of information and this is often unavailable, so an alternative methodology has been proposed for existing buildings. The various methods currently proposed are Reduced Data SAP (RDSAP) and Scottish Energy Rating Tool (SERT) which is still being researched and considered. Version 1 of Reduced Data SAP was published in February 2005, following significant development work on behalf of Defra by FAERO, BRE and EST, and training is now available in its use.  A Partnership Consultation has been opened on the final draft RDSAP whilst responses regarding SERT, such as from Energy Action Scotland,   have highlighted possible problems with its equivalency to SAP and clarity of information.

Energy performance targets 25% improvement

The directive requires that the minimum energy performance requirements be based on the calculation methodology. These shall take account of general indoor climate conditions, in order to avoid possible negative effects such as inadequate ventilation, as well as local conditions and the designated function and age of the building. When setting requirements, governments may differentiate between new and existing buildings, and different categories of buildings. These requirements must be reviewed at least every five years, and updated to reflect technical progress.

Recently it was reported that energy savings targets were to be scrapped  for existing dwellings when major renovations were being carried out. It was originally proposed that any major building work costing over £8000 would require cost-effective energy efficiency improvements to be made to the whole building to a maximum cost of 10%. Whilst these savings have been included in the climate change strategy, they are not strictly necessary since the Article 6 of the Directive 'about renovation of existing buildings' only targets buildings over 1000m². This would be likely to include blocks of flats only, and under proposed building regulations, large dwellings would in fact be treated as non-dwellings. Furthermore, SBSA believes that the current Building Act (Scotland) already exceeds the Directive requirements.

New dwellings, will have a target carbon dioxide emission rate per m² of floor area (TCER). The exact target will be based on the size of the dwelling and finalised when the SAP 2005 consultation ends but should achieve a 25% improvement. Changing the target with increasing floor area is necessary because it is easier to reduce per m² CO₂ emissions in a larger dwelling, much in the same way that larger fridge freezers are more efficient but use more energy. Scotland are waiting on the Building Regulations of England and Wales to review their targets. Other methodologies can be used in place of SAP but they must be approved by the regulatory body.

Certification

Whenever a building is constructed, sold or rented out, a certificate detailing its energy performance must be made available. This can either be to the owner or, by the owner, to the prospective buyer or tenant.Certificates will be valid for  ten years.

For apartments or for units designed for separate use in blocks, it is possible for certificates to be based on either a common certification of the whole building where a block has a common heating system, or upon the assessment of another representative apartment within the same block.

In order to facilitate comparisons between buildings, the energy performance certificate must include reference values such as current legal standards and benchmarks. It also must include recommendations for the cost-effective investments which can be undertaken in the building, and which will improve its energy performance.

The objective of the certificates shall be limited to the provision of information. Any effects of these certificates in terms of legal proceedings will be subject to national legislation.

The certificates for buying have been passed into law through the The Housing Act 2004.  This requires Home Information Packs, which contain an energy report, to be produced whenever a house is placed on the market. Other terms used to cover dwelling certificates include: the home energy report, single survey, building energy rating, home condition report, and vendor information pack.

Certification for second hand homes for sale will be undertaken by licenced Home Inspectors and it is expected that certification of new homes for sale will continue to be undertaken by Authorised SAP Assessors.  Training for both is available, for further details please contact NES.  Certification for lettings and social housing is still under development.  Recommendations for  certification were made by the DIAG Article 7/10 Advisory group and their report to ODPM may be found here.  Certification for lettings and social housing is still under development.

Regular inspections

Articles 8 and 9 of the EPBD require boilers with a rated output of over 20kW and air conditioners of 12kW to be inspected every two years, extended to four years for gas boilers. This should only capture the largest dwellings which would probably be treated as non-dwellings.

Delays to the EPBD transposition

The Directive requires transposition by 4 January 2006. An additional period of three years may be taken by member states to fully apply Articles 7, 8, and 9 (certification and regular inspections) only if there is a 'lack of qualified and/or accredited experts'. The Association for the Conservation of Energy expects that the January deadline will be met but the additional three years may be necessary to roll out the entire certification process in the nations.

There is a history of energy certifcation for new homes in the UK, leading to the inclusion of SAP ratings into building regulations in 1995, and the additional requirement to display the SAP ratings on newly built homes since 2002. There have also been voluntary schemes available to certify the energy performance of existing homes since 1990 although take up has been limited. However, there is no history of energy building certification for buildings other than dwellings in the UK.  For all classes of buildings, the administrative procedures still need to be created and approved. Furthermore, there are not as yet enough accredited experts to cover the increased requirement arising from the Directive in the UK housing market. This will all take a considerable amount of time - in England and Wales a rolling implementation is expected in 2007. However, the UK Government has yet to inform the European Commission of its intention to defer.

The potential allowance of an extra three years by the Directive has meant full implementation of certification systems was not a priority, which has had an impact on the provision of guidance. This has further delayed efforts to implement the Directive and address issues, such as creating accreditation bodies, costs, training, and ensuring compliance.

The requirements of the EPBD cut across departments, legislation and nations in the UK. This has made its implementation complex and extremely technical in parts. We must now wait for the final statements by the implementing organisations to be made before we can fully assess the implications.

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