Welcome to Future BY Energy Ltd
Commercial Reports and Certificates
We help you save energy and reduce costs. We provide SBEM calculations, Commercial EPCs and TM 44 Air Conditioning Inspections
Commercial Reports & Surveys
TM 44 Air conditioning Inspections
We help you with TM 44 CIBSE report also known as Air Conditioning Inspection reports for Air conditioning systems above 12KW. The TM 44 Surveys are done by specialists.
Commercial Energy Performance Certificates
We provide commercial energy performance certificates for all Non-Domestic buildings such as schools, retail units, hospitals, etc. Commercial EPCs are done by specialists.
SBEM Calculation
We provide BRUKL report also known as SBEM reports for commercial buildings to show complience with building regulations
TM44 Air Conditioning Inspection report
We provide air conditioning inspections for VRF systems, chiller units, air handling units, split and multi-split units and packaged systems.
All air-conditioning systems with an effective rated output of more than 12kw must be inspected by an Air Conditioning Inspector before 4 January 2011.
Table of Contents
1. Why air-conditioning inspections are required?
2. When air-conditioning inspections are required?
3. What does an air-conditioning inspection cover?
4. What can I expect in the report?
5. Penalties for not having an air conditioning inspection report
Why air-conditioning inspections are required?
Having your air conditioning system inspected by an energy assessor will improve efficiency and reduce electricity consumption, operating costs and carbon emissions. Energy inspections highlight improvements and will suggest new ways to improve or replace older systems with energy efficient technology.
Due to previous legislation, the replacement of refrigerant is now restricted in older systems. So there is an additional incentive to improve or replace older systems with new energy efficient units.
Senior managers and building owners responsible for air conditioning systems must abide by statutory obligations and duties of care in their maintenance of air conditioning systems.
Air conditioning systems can account for a huge proportion of a building’s energy usage. Having regular inspections performed by a qualified assessor can improve efficiency and reduce energy consumption, which can only reduce operating costs and carbon emissions.
Those who operate air conditioning systems have statutory obligations under the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) to ensure inspections are performed by qualified air-conditioning inspectors.
All air-conditioning systems with an effective rated output of more than 12kw must be regularly inspected by an energy assessor.
When air-conditioning inspections are required?
If the system has an effective rated output of 12kW or more, the first inspection must be done by 4 January 2011.
What does an air-conditioning inspection cover?
An air-conditioning inspection will examine the refrigeration and air movement equipment. It will examine all the maintenance documentation and offer a guide on how well the present systems have been maintained. All energy assessors are required to estimate whether the system is suitably sized for the cooling loads in the treated spaces, and are expected to provide advice on how the air-conditioning system can be improved.
Access will be required to all equipment situated in the plant rooms and other locations with limited provision for access. The building owner/manager should agree the means for access to the air conditioning unit with the energy assessor, following a health and safety risk assessment. The energy assessor will need to be accompanied by the respective building manager or maintenance agent at all times.
Some additional access is likely to be needed, for example, to the inside of AHUs or ducts. This must be supervised by the responsible building manager or maintenance agent on health and safety grounds. This involves the system being turned off to allow safe access, so this will have to be arranged outside of working hours to avoid disruption to business. The energy assessor may need to access a sample of components, such as fan coil units, which may be hidden above suspended ceilings. In this instance access should be provided by the building manager.
Building owners and managers should not expect the air conditioning inspection to identify hazards or unsafe aspects of the installation that should have been identified by previous arrangements. Nor should they expect the energy assessor to fix any problems identified as part of the inspection.
If owners or managers require this service they should clearly specify their demands in advance before undertaking an inspection. And they should also assure themselves that the energy assessor is competent to undertake such additional work. All terms and conditions should be ratified in advance and clearly expressed in their contract or agreement with the energy assessor.
What can I expect in the report?
The air conditioning inspection will ensure that building owners and managers are provided with basic information regarding their air conditioning systems. It will also provide advice on how the effectiveness of their systems can be improved.
Acting upon the advice in the inspection report and rectifying identified faults may result in immediate improvements to the effectiveness of air conditioning systems and possibly reduce the operating costs.
In some instances the costs of providing both heating and cooling will be reduced, especially where these two systems are unnecessarily being used due to inappropriate controls or settings. In many cases it will be clear that the building and systems are already well-documented with records clearly showing that the equipment has been maintained to a respectable standard.
If so, the energy inspection could be reduced and the inspection report kept relatively brief with the main content advising on opportunities for load reduction, or alternative solutions that hitherto not been considered. However, in other cases the energy assessor may find it necessary to suggest relatively basic maintenance, such as cleaning or repairs to neglected equipment.
Cleaning operations or adjustments to controls do not form part of the inspection procedure, even where they might be carried out to improve efficiency. The inspection is not intended, or expected, to involve any physical work of this nature, as this could change the health and safety risk to the energy assessor.
Authority to carry out such work would need to be given as part of a separate arrangement by the building owner or manager, and only if the energy assessor has the competence to do the job. However, the building owner or manager may be able to carry out some alterations themselves provided they agree with the assessor’s observations.
Most reports are likely to contain advice with a combination of low cost measures and advice on where investment may be required to implement the recommendations in the report. The manager concerned should be provided with or learn how to obtain, information about air conditioning management, especially anything that is contained in free publications such as the Carbon Trust’s Good Practice Guides.
Penalties for not having an air conditioning inspection report
Local authorities are responsible for enforcing the requirements relating to air-conditioning inspection reports.
Failure to commission or provide an air conditioning inspection report when required by the regulatory body will result in a penalty charge notice. Trading Standards Officers may well act on complaints or undertake investigations. They may request you to provide them with a copy of your air-conditioning inspection report. If asked, you must provide this information within seven days of the request or be liable to a penalty charge notice for failing to do so. A copy of an air conditioning inspection report can be requested by an enforcement officer at any time up to six months after the last day for compliance.
The penalty for failing to having an air-conditioning inspection report is £300 or more.
The Air Conditioning Inspection Report aims to outline areas within the HVAC equipment operation that could improve in performance and reduce energy costs. Special attention will be paid to the introduction of any low-cost initiatives and capital investment opportunities that could arise as a result. The survey covered the inspection of air conditioning systems, performance and powers of fans, and associated cooling electrical load. By doing so it compares the performance in compliance with industry standards to identify energy savings whilst maintaining their minimum performance requirements.
Other observations made during the inspection include the condition of the air conditioning systems, maintenance regimes, cooling/building loads, fresh air volumes, air change rates and the control of ancillary units. The TM 44 inspection is largely carried out by making visual observations of the representative air conditioning equipment and other visual indicators such as refrigerant sight glasses, pressure, temperature or filter gauges. Although where these are not available the inspector may have taken some test readings.
The Air Conditioning inspection included an examination of records of design, construction and maintenance where made available. Inspectors have a duty to comply with relevant health and safety legislation. This includes a duty to draw the building owner or manager’s attention to instances of poor system maintenance or neglect, especially where these have implications for health and safety.
What is covered in air conditioning inspection report is the comparison of size and appropriateness of cooling plant against the cooling loads of the building; and the effectiveness of current maintenance regimes. All of which will enable you to optimise your buildings HVAC operations and reduce energy costs and Carbon Dioxide emissions.
Commercial EPCs
We provide commercial EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) for offices, restaurants, shopping centres, retail stores, wholesale shops, hotels, industrial parks, warehouses, factories, medical centres, garages, and industrial buildings.
Table of Contents
1. Why energy performance certificates are required?
2. Buildings requiring an energy performance Certificate
3. When Energy Performance Certificates are required?
4. What is an EPC certificate and what does it mean?
5. What an EPC certificate for a non-dwelling contains
6. What contributes to the energy performance of a building?
7. Recommendations with an Energy Performance Certificate
8. How long are EPC certificates valid for?
9. How much will an EPC certificate cost?
10. Can a prospective tenant or buyer waive their right to receive an EPC certificate?
11. Do I need an EPC certificate
12. Do I have to act on the recommendations?
Why energy performance certificates are required?
An Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) is intended to inform potential buyers or tenants about the energy performance of a building. By doing so they can consider the respective building’s energy efficiency as part of their investment to either to buy or occupy that building.
An EPC certificate will provide an energy rating for a building, which is based on the potential performance of the building’s fabric and services such as heating, ventilation and lighting.
The energy rating certificate reflects the energy performance of the building and is relative to a benchmark that can be subsequently used to make comparisons with similar properties. It is accompanied by a recommendation report, which provides guidance on how the energy performance of the building could be enhanced alongside an indication of the payback period.
Buildings requiring an energy performance Certificate
For the purposes of the regulations, a building is defined as:
“a roofed construction having walls, for which energy is used to condition the indoor climate, and a reference to a building includes a reference to a part of a building which has been designed or altered to be used separately”.
A building can be either:
· The whole of a building
· Part of a building, where the part is designed or altered to be used separately
When Energy Performance Certificates are required?
From 1 October 2008, all buildings that are not dwellings, save for a few exceptional cases, will require an Energy Performance Certificate on construction, sale or let.
EPC certificates for the sale or letting of buildings that are not dwellings will be valid for ten years, or until a more recent EPC certificate is produced for building.
What is an EPC certificate and what does it mean?
The EPC certificate is similar to the energy labels now provided with vehicles and household appliances. The purpose is to show a building’s energy efficient rating.
The certificate will provide an energy rating of the building from A to G, where A is highly efficient and G is the least efficient.
If a building has a high EPC rating, then it will be more energy-efficient and it will be more likely to have lower fuel bills. The energy performance of the building is shown as a Carbon Dioxide (CO2) based index.
Each energy rating is based on the characteristics of the building itself and its services (such as heating and lighting). Hence this type of rating is known as an asset rating.
The asset ratings will reflect considerations including the age and condition of the building. It will be accompanied by a recommendation report, which provides recommendations on using the building more effectively. In addition it will recommend cost effective improvements to the building and more expensive improvements that could enhance the building’s energy performance.
What an EPC certificate for a non-dwelling contains
In addition to the asset ratings, EPC certificates must convey several other key pieces of information:
· Reference information – this includes the unique certificate reference number (as stored in the central register), and the date of issue of the certificate
· Energy assessor details – this includes the assessor’s name, accreditation number, employer’s name (or any trading name if self employed) and accreditation scheme
· Information on how to complain or how to confirm that the certificate is genuine – the EPC certificate will provide information on how to register a complaint about an unsatisfactory EPC certificate and how to check the certificate is authentic.
The EPC certificate is accompanied by a report that includes affordable recommendations to improve the energy ratings. For each improvement indicative paybacks are listed.
Responsibilities for providing an EPC certificate on construction or modification of a non-dwelling.
When a new building is physically complete, it is the responsibility of the person carrying out the construction to give an EPC certificate and recommendation report to the building owner, and to notify Building Control that this has been completed. Building Control will not issue an EPC certificate of completion until they are satisfied this has been achieved.
Responsibilities for providing EPC certificates when selling or letting a non-dwelling
As soon as a building is in the process of being up for sale, it is the responsibility of the seller to make available an EPC certificate to prospective buyers free of charge. Likewise once a building is put up for let, the prospective landlord is responsible to make an EPC certificate available to all new tenants.
Collecting the information required for an Energy Performance Certificate.
The energy assessor will need to understand the internal layout of the building and for what purposes it is being used. This is required for the energy assessor to understand the energy demands of each individual space (zone) in accordance with its designed use.
The information that will be required to produce an EPC certificate includes:
· The individual spaces or zones in use within the building, and their dimensions (either as verified from plans or as measured). This information is most readily provided by building plans
· The activities conducted within the zones. Examples of zones include retail space, office space, kitchens, storage etc
· The heating and ventilation services for each zone (including type of system, metering, controls, fuel used etc.)
· The lighting and controls used for each zone
· The construction of the fabric of the building and thermal efficiency of the materials used: roof, floors, walls and glazing.
If there are no future plans for a building, the energy assessor will be required to survey the building and gather the appropriate information. If you have up-to date information for your building this process will be far less time consuming.
The energy assessor is responsible for ensuring the information used in the energy calculations is accurate. Even when detailed plans are available, he or she may need to validate this information by making a site inspection.
What contributes to the energy performance of a building?
The energy rating of a building is a complex calculation based on a combination of factors. The key factors are:
· The type of construction of the building (including walls, roofs, floors and glazing)
· Whether parts (zones) of the building are used for different purposes (office, factory, etc) and the occupancy profile for each zone
· Heating, cooling, ventilation and hot water systems used
· Lighting.
The energy performance of commercial is shown as a CO2 based index.
The CO2 based rating of a building depends on the energy used for space heating, water heating, ventilation and lighting. This also includes any energy generated from modern technology installed in the building such as solar water heating. The lower the number from a scale of 0 to 150+ the lower the average CO2 emissions will be.
The rating is adjusted for the total useful floor area of a building (see glossary of terms for a full definition) so it is independent of size for a certain type of building.
The calculation process compares the carbon emissions of the building with those of a ‘notional’ building. The notional building is an equivalent building (i.e. a same sized building, shape and use as the actual building) constructed to 2010 Building Regulation standards.
Recommendations with an Energy Performance Certificate
The recommendation report that is included with an EPC certificate will help owners and occupiers to improve their energy efficiency.
The recommendations only include those improvements that are appropriate for the assessed building. For each recommendation indicative paybacks are noted and are provided in four individual categories.
· A short term payback – less than three years
· A medium term payback – between three and seven years
· A long term payback – greater than seven years
· Other recommendations based on the energy assessor’s knowledge.
Penalties for not having an EPC certificate
Local authorities (usually by their Trading Standards Officers) are responsible for enforcing the requirement to have an EPC certificate on sale or let of a building.
Any failure to make available an EPC certificate when requested by the Regulations can make you liable to a civil penalty charge notice. Trading Standards Officers may act on complaints or undertake investigations for non-compliance with this rule. The local authorities may ask you to provide them with a copy of the EPC certificate and a recommendation report that you are under a legal duty to provide. If asked, you must provide this information within seven days of the request or be liable again to a penalty charge notice.
A copy of an EPC certificate can be requested at any time up to six months after the last day for compliance.
The penalty for failing to make an EPC certificate available to any prospective buyer or tenant when selling or letting commercial is fixed and in most cases, at 12.5 per cent of the rateable value of the building. There is a default penalty of £750 where the formula cannot be applied. The range of penalties under this formula are set with a minimum of £500 and capped at £5,000.
How long are EPC certificates valid for?
An EPC certificate for a commercial building will be valid for ten years or until it is replaced with a new one
How much will an EPC certificate cost?
The price of EPC certificates will be commanded by market demand. In practice the cost will vary according to a number of factors including size, location and age of the building.
Can a prospective tenant or buyer waive their right to receive an EPC certificate?
The relevant person has a duty to make available an EPC certificate to a prospective buyer or tenant and will be liable to a penalty charge if he or she fails to do so. This will take place irrespective of whether the prospective buyer or tenant purports to waive an entitlement to receive the certificate.
Do I need an EPC certificate if I have exchanged contracts to sell or let before the date on which the Regulations apply to my building, but have not yet completed the transaction?
The last point for which the duty to make available an EPC certificate is before a prospective buyer or tenant enters into a contract to sell or rent the building i.e. an exchange of contracts. The Department considers that this is the correct moment, which determines whether or not the Regulations are in force in relation to a legal transaction. In this case the contract has been exchanged before the date and the Regulations apply to the building and the duty to make available an EPC certificate will not arise.
Do I have to act on the recommendations?
You are under no obligation to act on the recommendations for energy improvements to the building. However, taking action on the recommendations is likely to improve the energy efficiency of your building, reduce your fuel bills and carbon emissions and could well make it more attractive to potential buyers or tenants in the future.
