Association of Commercial Energy Assessors

Why have them at all?

Back in the  ‘70s there was a tall tale doing the rounds about how if the entire population of China were to stamp their collective feet simultaneously, the resultant shock wave would trigger a tsunami of sufficient power to travel half way around the world.

True or not - this shows two things: firstly one person acting alone has little or no effect, but a large number acting together can make big things happen. Secondly, if such a thing is to happen, information is the key (after all they would all need to know precisely when to stamp their feet for the effect to take place).

This is the approach which has been adopted by the EU following on from the Kyoto Protocol of 1997. The idea is that in supplying information for each individual home or business premises, the occupants are thus better informed and then enabled to stamp their individual foot so to speak on the matter of climate change. If enough people do it, a big change will occur. However for change to occur, we all need to know where we are now – at the effective start point – in order to be able to implement and then measure improvements. This is precisely where the Energy Performance Certificate fits in to the process. Not one gram of CO2 will be saved simply by having an EPC, but at least it gives a measure of where we are now – at the start of the process.