{"id":136300,"date":"2024-04-03T07:00:35","date_gmt":"2024-04-03T06:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/?p=136300"},"modified":"2024-04-03T09:23:57","modified_gmt":"2024-04-03T08:23:57","slug":"energy-performance-certificates-whats-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/energy-performance-certificates-whats-next\/136300\/","title":{"rendered":"Where next for Energy Performance Certificates?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the UK gears up to decarbonise its built environment, the Energy Systems Catapult is calling for reform of the flawed Energy Performance Certificates to better reflect buildings\u2019 real-world performance. Senior energy policy adviser Fay Holland looks at how EPCs can be made to work better for net zero<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s no secret that building decarbonisation is one of the biggest challenges the UK faces on the path to net zero. There are about 30m buildings in the UK and collectively these produce approximately 30% of the nation\u2019s carbon emissions.<\/p>\n

The changes needed to decarbonise this sector depend on action from a wide range of actors, from commercial landlords to individual homeowners. Until policymakers do what is necessary to reduce buildings\u2019 emissions, we will not achieve net zero.<\/p>\n

With this in mind, Energy Systems Catapult has been exploring ways that Energy Performance Certificates (EPC)<\/a> could be reformed to work better for net zero.<\/p>\n

EPCs: Flawed from the outset<\/h3>\n

The limitations of the current EPC system are well known. Since EPCs were introduced in 2007, critics have sought to highlight the performance gap between the energy use modelled by the Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP), the methodology underlying EPCs, and real-world performance.<\/p>\n

There is also confusion about what the EPC ratings are really telling us about our homes and their impact on climate change.<\/p>\n

The headline EPC rating is the Energy Efficiency Rating, but despite its name, it is actually a measure of the cost of heating and lighting the property.<\/p>\n

As electricity has a higher unit price compared with gas, this means that EPCs tend to favour fossil fuel heating systems over low-carbon alternatives, and adopting a low carbon heating system such as a heat pump can sometimes lead to a lower EPC rating.<\/p>\n

Our research found that EPCs currently recommend new combi boilers for 25% of properties and if these recommendations were followed, the societal cost of the resulting excess carbon emissions could be as much as \u00a357bn in the period up to 2050.<\/p>\n

Recommendations for change<\/h3>\n

After speaking to innovators, policymakers and built environment experts about the pitfalls of the current system, the Catapult has recommended several changes<\/a> designed to unlock the potential of EPCs to drive domestic decarbonisation.<\/p>\n

Firstly, we would like to see the single headline metric replaced by a suite of outcome-based metrics reflecting different aspects of the building\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n

These would be:<\/p>\n