Neil Harrison of RS Components explains how to manage energy efficiency and meet government regulations.

Businesses in every industry across the UK have never been more aware of managing costs. Reducing the cost of energy consumption has in turn been high on the agenda of simple, but significant areas for improving business efficiency and balance sheet health. In combination with corporate desires to improve carbon footprint and regulatory needs to ensure compliance, the stock of Facilities Managers as vital personnel to oversee these initiatives has never been higher. In turn, FMs have a responsibility to deliver comprehensive energy management and energy efficiency programmes within their buildings that deliver cost savings and meet buildings and construction energy regulations.

Energy Performance Certificates needn’t be hard work

Since October 2008, the Government has required that every building bought, sold, rented or constructed in the UK display an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC), which grades its energy efficiency from ‘A’ through to ‘G’. This, together with the Display Energy Certificate (DEC) which shows the actual energy usage of a building, comes with a report that makes recommendations on how to make the building more energy efficient. These recommendations have urged Facilities Managers (FMs) to bring their buildings up to standard; however as maintenance budgets are under threat, many believe they cannot afford to make the necessary improvements. Equally, employers are not prepared to impact customer service for the sake of energy efficiency, and demand fast return on investment for any energy efficient products they do buy. The challenge for FMs is to find cost effective, low impact and fast ways to meet the legislative requirements for their buildings.

The value of EPCs and the breadth of their applicability divide opinion amongst FM professionals. Clearly valid arguments exist on both sides. Enabling compliance is more problematic when older buildings and certain types of industrial building are concerned, but equally, if a standard measure of energy efficiency is to be accepted as meaningful, then all buildings must be included within its remit. Reading between the lines, degrees of difficulty in delivering energy efficiency have consigned EPCs to the ‘too hard’ basket for many.

The rationale and purpose for EPC’s however, is sound. Improving the energy efficiency of buildings reduces energy consumption in physical infrastructure and its applications, making a significant improvement to CO2 emissions and returning tangible commercial benefit through lower cost operations. In these terms, energy efficiency can be considered a best practice approach to effective Facilities Management, and EPCs a mechanism within this to provide assessment guidelines rather than an enforced set of hoops for FM professionals to jump through.

Information overload causes spec paralysis

In some scenarios, achieving compliance can be a challenge. Many of the FMs I work with find grappling with legislation and applying requirements to physical facilities requires considerable time and energy. Over the last several months, we have seen an increase in sales of energy efficient products and a growing demand for advice to help customers first make sense of regulations, and then select the right solutions for their environment.'

A huge amount of information on energy efficiency legislation exists on the web, but locating and applying this information presents something of a minefield for buildings services and FMs. For instance, there are a number of steps between knowing that your building needs to cut energy consumption by 40%, and then identifying the energy efficient products needed to do that. The solution is not simple to collate and translate by trawling through reams of web information.

Making energy efficiency easy

In my experience, FMs in both contractor and direct facilities management teams are knowledgeable people – they’ve been managing energy efficiency for years. Their objective is not just to comply, but to deliver a strategic, best practice energy solution for the business.

With the tools to self-survey their environment and enable informed decision-making about lighting, heating, insulation, test and measurement; or, with the budget to employ an energy consultant to assess and specify energy solution changes, FMs have the skills and expertise to deliver lowest-cost, compliant solutions.

Knowing where to find and how to interpret the necessary regulations then becomes the issue. Our own ‘Energy RSource Centre’ is a resource, designed to solve and simplify exactly this challenge. It offers practical advice both on the specification and installation of energy efficient products for deployment across the whole building, as well as the tools and information to match this back to regulatory guidelines.

Spending money means saving money – and not only in the long term

Securing management buy-in for energy efficiency projects can be perceived as counterintuitive by budget-holders. With the right tools however, it is possible to accurately show how lifetime usage, cost of ownership, re-lamping interval, CO2 emissions and cost-per-unit work together to deliver an energy solution that maps against current energy consumption expenditure to determine the break-even point. In many cases, return on investment can be realised in as little as six months. In most instances, translating seemingly small upgrades in heating and lighting and scaling up efficiency gains across multiple sites typically results in large and compelling financial benefit – and that’s a language every decision-maker can understand.

The historic Shaftesbury Theatre in London is a great example of how challenging regulatory requirements can be met hand-in-hand by delivering return on investment in energy efficiency.

In common with all theatres of its kind, it has a voracious appetite for electricity. London Mayor’s Green Theatre Programme however requires all theatres to curb this appetite, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60% (from 1990 levels) by 2025. The programme sets out plans showing theatres how to reduce their carbon emissions through changes in lighting, ventilation, heating and through raising staff awareness.

The Shaftesbury’s management team needed to put the Theatre on track to meet this requirement, and curb the cost of energy consumption without affecting the quality of the experience it is famous for providing The Theatre’s electrical requirements range from installation work and general maintenance, through to operating all show lighting and keeping the building's electrical systems running smoothly.

The Theatre replaced all lamps in Front of House areas - bars and corridors, for example, with energy-saving lamps, and fitted occupancy detectors in offices and installed compact fluorescent lighting backstage. Each particular area had special requirements that needed to be dealt with. The Front of House, for example, had areas where dimmed tungsten has to be used, and ,  backstage, where actors needed enough light to be able to apply make-up, a range of energy-saving bulbs were installed to match the colour temperature of tungsten and allow the two types of bulb to integrate seamlessly.

The Shaftesbury Theatre invested in energy efficiency lighting solutions to comply with the Mayor’s directives, but already it is within the guidelines set for 2025 and has achieved greater than 100% return on investment.

Let the experts help you be an energy efficiency expert

In a world of cost-pressures and green practices, energy efficiency can only grow in importance. With organisations such as the Carbon Trust and EnergySavingWatch mandated by the government to raise awareness of energy efficiency in the UK’s commercial and public sectors, plus the need to meet regulations, FMs need to come to grips with what’s required and what solutions are available.

Knowledge is essential to make the right energy efficient decisions. Working in partnership with expert suppliers to assess and specify solutions for your facilities will go a long way towards delivering long-term strategic energy solutions for now and the future.

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