Thermal Heat Loss / Gain Calculations showing TER v DER
for submission to Local Authority Building Control
by an Accredited Surveyor
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Energy Performance Certification for New dwellings.
From 6 April 2008 it will be law to provide an Energy Performance Certificate for all new and newly built homes that are completed after that date. An Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) gives information on the building’s energy efficiency.
What does this mean in practice?
If you are a builder, you will most likely be working to the Building Regulations that were revised in 2002 and amended in 2006. As part of this you will be providing an energy rating to building control for your new homes using SAP (Standard Assessment Procedure).
For all homes that are physically completed on or after 6 April 2008, there will be a requirement to provide an EPC to the owner, with evidence shown to Building Control. If you do any building work to a home which creates (or combines) a separate dwelling that has heating, hot water or air conditioning, then you will need to provide an EPC for the home(s). When you finish your building work, Building Control ask you to submit a notice which includes an energy rating to demonstrate your building complies with the Building Regulations. By the same date on the notice, you must get an EPC from an accredited On Construction Energy Assessor, give the EPC to the owner of the building and tell building control that this has been done.
This is now a requirement under the Building Regulations, Approved Inspector Regulations and the Energy Performance of Buildings Regulations. Building Control can not give you a final completion certificate until they are sure that everything has been done.If the completed home is being advertised for sale, the EPC is available to include in a Home Information Pack for potential buyers, for the next 12 months.
Energy efficiency and new homes
In 2006, the Government in England and Wales introduced new Building Regulations which raised the energy efficiency standards which new homes must meet. New homes that are built to meet these regulations save more energy, have lower carbon emissions and cost less to run. In order to meet the Building Regulations, builders need to make sure that any new homes they build meet a minimum target for energy performance.
Why do we need Energy Performance Certificates?
Energy Performance Certificates tell owners and potential buyers and tenants about the energy efficiency of a home and how it can be improved. The SAP rating shown on the certificate is the same number as is needed for Building Regulations but it is shown in a format similar to the energy labels that are now often used for many appliances and cars. The Environmental Impact rating is also shown, which shows how much CO2 the home is expected to generate through its energy use. All EPCs come with a Recommendation Report which includes advice and suggestions on improvements you could make to save money and energy.
The certificate also shows the rating that could be achieved if all the recommendations are followed.In the case of new homes, you will get a shorter Recommendation Report which contains more advanced energy improvements such as solar panels. This is because most money-saving improvements will have already been included in the design of the home (so the actual and potential ratings are likely to be very similar). Providing information about energy for homes that have not been built yet (off-plan sales) If you are selling a home before it has been built, you will need to provide information about energy efficiency in a Predicted Energy Assessment (PEA). This is simply the predicted SAP and Environmental Impact (CO2) rating from the SAP calculations you do at the design stage, to check whether you will meet energy saving targets.
How do I get an Energy Performance Certificate?
By law, Energy Performance Certificates can only be produced by an accredited On Construction Energy Assessor - That would be me then !!
The accreditation schemes protect builders and potential homeowners by making sure Energy Assessors have the appropriate skills to carry out energy assessments, and that EPCs are always of the same high quality. So that they can produce an EPC, the On Construction Energy Assessor will need to use an approved version of the SAP software. Energy Performance Certificates must be registered and stored in the national register at www.epcregister.com with a unique reference number. This must be done by the On Construction Energy Assessor in conjunction with their accreditation scheme. What happens if I am not happy with the energy assessment or EPC? If you are worried about any part of the energy assessment or the quality or accuracy of the EPC, you should contact the Energy Assessor in the first instance. If the matter is not resolved you should contact the accreditation scheme of the energy assessor who produced the EPC.
We offer a professional SAP service for Part L1A & L1B of the Building Regulations in England and Wales and Scotland for new dwellings, conversions and extensions.
All our SAP calculations are produced by an accredited Surveyor. We aim to produce the results within 2-4 working days of receiving all the required information.
What is SAP 2005 ?
The implementation of the new building regulation means that SAP is the only assessment available for new dwellings.
The SAP rating is based on the energy costs associated with space heating, ventilation and lighting, less cost saving from energy generating technologies. It is adjusted for floor area so that it is essentially independent of dwelling size for a given built form.
The SAP is now expressed on a scale of 1 - 100, 1 represents a poor standard of high running cost energy efficiency while a SAP of 100 represents zero energy costs.
The Environmental Impact Rate (EIR) is based on the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions associated with the space heating, water heating, ventilation and lighting.
Dwelling CO2 Emission Rate (DER) is similar to the EIR, it is equal to the CO2 emissions per M2 of the floor area and the DER is used for the purpose of building regulation compliance.
The calculation is based on the energy balance taking into account a range of factors that contribute to energy efficiency.
Part of our service is providing the U-Value calculations that co-inside with the SAP calculations. We offer advice to ensure compliance with Building Regulations.
