CIBSE HQ: A Commercial Green Deal Story - Part 2

Still inspired by @SophiePelsmakers “My Green Deal Journey” here is the second instalment of the commercial Green Deal story on the CIBSE buildings.  

Due to non-availability of personnel a second visit by the Green Deal Advisor was required to complete all of the “lifestyle” questions.  This is something that both advisors and clients are going to have to try and manage better going forward.

However, we now have our two Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) and Green Deal Advice Reports, one of each for each building.

The first interesting thing is that despite the age difference and the differences in construction, their ratings were similar.  For the newer Building Services Centre the EPC was a D (81 Asset Rating) and the Victorian Delta House was also a D (88 Asset Rating). This demonstrates that it is possible to retro-fit older buildings to bring them up to a modern standard. However in both cases the EPC states that if they were newly built, both buildings would be B rated (in the thirties.)

In 2002, CIBSE began an energy performance makeover on the buildings as part of the Carbon 60 project, setting a target to reduce carbon emissions by 60%, and the success of that initiative is apparent in the similar ratings.  Details of the Carbon 60 project can be found at: www.cibse.org/content/cibsesymposium2011/Paper119.pdf 

The Green Deal initiative could be regarded as the next step in an on-going process of reducing carbon emissions.

The EPCs came with a recommendations report which is purely based on measures to improve the fixed assets of the building and the merits of the improvement are judged assuming standard occupancy. The Green Deal advice report also recommends fixed asset improvements but the merits are judged on the actual use of the building. Additionally the Green Deal Advice Report recommends improvements in the way energy use is managed, i.e. the behaviour of the people in the building.

	DELTA HOUSE		BUILDING SERVICES CENTRE
	Recommendation Report  from EPC (In ranking order)	Green Deal Advice Report (In ranking order)	Recommendation Report from EPC (In ranking order)	Green Deal Advice Report (In ranking order)
Asset Measures	Lighting improvements	Internal insulation of (external) walls	Solar Control to windows	Loft insulation
	Glazing improvements	DHW storage cylinder insulation	Lighting improvements	Glazing improvements
	Photovoltaic	Lighting improvements	Glazing improvements	Lighting improvements
	Solar Water Heating	Photovoltaic	Solar Water Heating	Replace DHW storage system with electric point of use in kitchen
	Identify and treat air leakage	Solar Water Heating	Photovoltaic	Photovoltaic
	DHW storage cylinder insulation		Identify and treat air leakage	Solar Water Heating
			Replace DHW storage system with electric point of use in kitchen
			Review HVAC control settings/timings
Lifestyle/Energy Management Measures		Allocated Energy Manager		Allocated Energy Manager
		Monitoring and Targeting Programme		Monitoring and Targeting Programme
		Management of HVAC controls		Management of HVAC controls
		Good Practices for lighting use		Good Practices for lighting use
		Staff awareness and training		Staff awareness and training
		HAVAC checks by energy manager		HAVAC checks by energy manager
		Monitoring and servicing of HVAC plant and lighting		Monitoring and servicing of HVAC plant and lighting

It is interesting and somewhat perplexing to note that the main differences are in the Management recommendations rather than the Asset improvements, given that the Green Deal is intended to fund difficult to fund Asset improvements.

For these buildings the situation might be a consequence of the Carbon 60 project with most asset improvements already in place.

The projected annual savings are summarised as follows:

	DELTA HOUSE	BUILDING SERVICES CENTRE
Asset	£824 (£691 from top three measures)	£500 (£229 from top three measures)
Management	£938	£923

The asset savings are on a scale that is unlikely to meet the Golden Rule for Green Deal funding, although some individual measures might. That is for the Green Deal Provider to determine and is the next step.

In the meantime CIBSE can make even better savings by improving their management of the building.This may turn out to be the biggest benefit to organisations having Green Deal assessments on their buildings.  The law of unintended consequences sometimes produces a positive outcome.

So, the next steps are:

• Investigate implementing the top three energy management actions N.B. British Land have won @CIBSEAwards  for this type of activity www.britishland.com/media/news/2013/06-02-2013.aspx
• Investigate either:

1.    Funding the top three asset improvements from our own resources or

2.  Approaching a Green Deal Provider to see what they can offer...