CASE STUDY: How Passionate is David Cameron?

Image via WikipediaBy Andrew Morphet

Let's look at David Cameron's record on energy efficiency advice.

Clearly any new Government was going to have a lot on its plate; mainly to do with the economy and no one would expect them to do everything at once, but immediately after the election David Cameron spoke passionately about three things he said were at the heart of his agenda:

1. The green economy; "we've got a real opportunity to drive the green economy, green jobs, green growth and make sure we have our share of the industries of the future."
2. The climate change agenda; "we have got to get back on track both nationally and internationally."
3. Energy security; "I think is vitally important: we need to do a huge amount of work on."

It must therefore have been encouraging for him to see the joint article by Chris Hulne and two of his European counterparts pushing for an increase in the Europe-wide target for cuts in carbon emissions from 20% to 30% by 2020. In this article Hulne said; "This shows how seriously we (Britain, France and Germany) take the low carbon agenda and how we want to work together to make it happen." This sounds like a step in the right direction, but is it?

Rhetoric, strategy and planning will achieve nothing without action; only the Government can lead the drive to reduce carbon emissions, energy use and improve fuel security. There are already many tools available but none are being fully utilised; a good example is the Display Energy Certificate known as a DEC.

Display Energy Certificates (DECs)

A Display Energy Certificate (DEC) is legally required to be on display in certain buildings occupied by Public Bodies; so why is this not working?

Many public bodies (which include Councils, Health Authorities, Schools and Universities) have appointed an accredited public building energy assessor to provide their DECs and have started to implement the action plan in the Energy Advisory Report that accompanies it.

When some of the advice in an Energy Advisory Report is actioned, the results are reflected on the next Display Energy Certificate, thus providing a highly visible public record of reduced energy consumption. Over time, as more of the advice in the Energy Advisory Report is actioned the DEC record should continue to improve.

Unfortunately, three years later after the implementation of the legal requirement, some public bodies haven't complied with the legislation. In other cases, some commissioned an approved energy assessor for the DECs, but have given up on taking the actions outlined in the Energy Advisory Report!

It was startling to discover recently, from the Department for Communities and Local Government's own data, that there are over ten thousand public buildings that had DECs and Energy Advisory Reports in the first year but have not brought back the energy assessors to re-evaluate the energy efficiency of the public buildings. Not only is this wasting public money and wasting energy it is also breaking the law.

For many public bodies October 2010 is their deadline for updating their DECs. There are some public bodies that have taken the right steps and Accredited Public Building Energy Assessors are helping some of them. However, many others are yet to show any signs of action; and time is ticking away.

Synergy Property Services; Accredited Public Building Energy Assessor

Like David Cameron, we have a passionate belief that DECs are an essential cog in the wheel of the drive towards a greener economy, meeting the climate change agenda and improving fuel security.

If you are employed by a Public Body, such as a University, one of the Emergency Services, a Law Court or a Health Authority and would like some help with or information about DECs and Energy Advisory Reports before it is too late, please visit http://www.synergypropertyservices.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Andrew_Morphet
http://EzineArticles.com/?How-Passionate-is-David-Cameron?&id=4912029