STAR LETTER - Where are the inspectors?

More specifically, fans consume approximately 18% of the UK's non-domestic energy. The significance of this is recognised through Part L2 of the Building Regulations, which specifies energy performance values for air conditioning and mechanical ventilation systems in the form of specific fan power ratios or Carbon Protection Index ratings.

But is it having the desired effect on actual performance? My colleagues and I in our capacity as specialist energy consultants have carried out hundreds of energy audits on fan systems in air conditioning and mechanical ventilation plant. In our experience, very few of the systems installed over the last few years would actually meet Part L2, which specifies a specific fan power value of 2 W/litre/s in a new building.

So is under-performance being picked up under Part L2 procedures? In short, no. While building services consultants like ourselves have the technical knowledge to calculate these values following installation, the lack of a fully trained team of building control officers is a potential area of weakness.

The EU directive on the energy performance of buildings, which comes into force by 4 January 2006, allows an additional period of three years of compliance for 'Article 9: The inspection of air conditioning systems'. The problem remains though. Will the UK have in force by January 2009 an army of building inspectors skilled in measuring the efficiency of air conditioning and mechanical ventilation systems in buildings with a floor area greater than 1000 m²? And if not, what is the solution? The rewards are potentially too great to ignore. EC research has indicated that by improving the energy efficiency of buildings, we can reduce building energy costs by as much as 22%.