Government failing to measure energy use in its estate

Nearly a third of central government buildings have no energy consumption figures, a new National Audit Office report revealed today.

The report found that 265 out of 877 buildings reviewed in the government estate were not able to supply energy information, whilst 300 of the 877 were unable to provide the proportion of energy from renewable resources and over half, 544 could not confirm whether there was a recycling scheme.

The Home Office, Department for Transport and the Department for Constitutional Affaires provided the least amount of information about their environmental performance.

As part of the report the median energy consumption was calculated as 255 kWh per m2 each year, with most departments using between 162 kWh and 385 kWh per m2 each year. The diferences between departments is thought to be caused by the presence or not of air-conditioning insulation, heating systems and systems such as intelligent lighting.

The report recommends that departments “improve their understanding of the factors that feature in improving building efficiency”. The report adds: “Specifically, they need an accurate and up-to-date understanding of the number of people, the occupation level, the number of work stations, accommodation costs and the environmental performance of the building.