A new report produced by the BRE Trust and the Energy Services and Technology Association aims to help facilities managers and building operators bridge the energy performance gap in their building portfolio, so consumption and costs can be reduced for business benefit.

Director of ESTA, Robin Hale says ‘Buildings rarely perform as well as their designers predicted – energy consumption and costs can be as much as double what was expected with damaging financial implications for occupant organizations. This ‘performance gap’ and how we tackle it is one of the most critical challenges faced by the built environment sector. As well as outlining the issues, this report shows how a freely available tool can be used to find the solutions.’

Currently, operators of commercial and public sector buildings have two indicators of a buildings energy performance available to them. The first is an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating which is a theoretical assessment of a buildings energy needs in optimum conditions. The second is a Display Energy Certificate (DEC) which is based on actual energy consumption. The DEC is almost always higher due to occupant behavior, non-standard hours of operation, and unregulated loads such as IT and office equipment.

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