Certification for Energy Performance of Buildings

European legislation requiring better energy performance for buildings in the region has led the European Building Automation and Controls Association (EUBAC) to develop a certification scheme for this area with highly respected European Certification Bodies (ECBs) from the UK, France and Germany.

Directive 2002/91/EC which is transposed into national law by the 4th January 2006 strives to improve the energy performance of homes, offices and public buildings in an effort to cut waste emissions of carbon dioxide, by reducing the demand for and use of fossil fuels. It will require new buildings, those being significantly renovated, those being rented or sold and notably public buildings to have a certificate detailing the energy performance of the property against local targets - to be set by energy specialists and taking into consideration the local climate of building.

Building Automation and Controls play a key role managing the temperature and ventilation of such properties - systems which implicitly use the most energy, and so having their performance and reliability certified - with the visual assurance of a certification mark, will help those that build, renovate, sell or manage them to demonstrate their compliance with requirements of the Directive and to produce a certificate for the building as a whole.

Certification will involve factory inspection to ensure consistent production processes are used, testing of the products and systems and on site equipment inspection from an independent, qualified third party. Certifications will be valid for 5-year period and products that can be certified include:

* Electronic room controllers for hot water and heating applications
* Electronic room controllers for fan coil and induction unit applications
* VAV and CAV - such as ceiling chilling applications
The scope of the certification will eventually be extended to include outside temperature compensating control equipment for hot water and heating applications, optimisers and full building automation systems.

In line with the transposition of the Directive into law, the Certification of products and systems becomes available in early 2006. Certification will be provided by three ECBs: ASTA BEAB Certification Services of the UK, CSTB of France and WSPCert of Germany

If you are seeking energy efficiency certification for your construction project contact ASTA BEAB by phone on (+44) 1483 455466 or by email at info@astabeab.com