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Climate Committee amongst worst energy performers
Friday 16 January, 2009
By becca.talbot@consumerchoices.co.uk
The government’s newly formed committee on climate change has come under fire after it was exposed that its own offices were the least energy efficient of all Whitehall departments.
The Committee on Climate Change was set up last year to advise Gordon Brown and his cabinet on the best ways to reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions.
But the energy performance certificate (EPC) displayed in the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) at Number 3, Whitehall Place, where the committee is based, reveals the building has the lowest possible energy score.
An EPC gives homeowners, tenants, landlords and potential buyers a certificate on the energy efficiency of their property, with a standard energy and carbon emission efficiency grade from A to G, with A being the most efficient and G the least. The certificate will also highlight ways you can improve your property’s energy performance, such as cavity wall insulation or switching energy tariffs.
Currently, the average rating for homes in the UK is D.
All 18,000 public buildings in the UK are required to display their rating to comply with EU legislation. The DECC building has been given a Grade G energy rating - the lowest grade possible.
Andrew Warren, director of the Association for the Conservation of Energy (ACE), said of the 9,000 buildings given an EPC so far, one in six received the lowest rating.
He said: “For years, ministers have promised to ensure that all buildings under central government control are within the top quartile of energy performance. At present, qualifying could mean getting as low a rating as a C. Yet the building that houses the Committee on Climate Change has one of the very worst of the G ratings so far recorded.
“As the voice of our collective ecological conscience, it should be in an exemplar building.”
The Conservative’s shadow environment secretary, Peter Ainsworth MP, added: “It’s no good the government telling the public what to do, or wringing its hands about climate change, if it cannot lead by example.”
He continued: “The brutal truth is that most government departments are failing to live up to the standards they have set themselves.”
The Committee on Climate Change was set up to provide MPs with independent advice on how to tackle climate change and reduce carbon emissions.
David Kennedy, chief executive of the Committee on Climate Change said that the committee was looking to improve its energy efficiency performance: “The committee has been based within the DECC building at Whitehall since September. In the next months we will be moving to new premises and we are aiming to move to the most energy efficient building that we can.”
“Whitehall’s poor energy rating is indicative of the scope for energy efficiency improvement that we have identified in our analysis of buildings,” he continued.
Chris Eagle, commercial manager at EnergyChoices.co.uk said: “It seems ironic that the DECC building, where the Committee on Climate Change is based has the lowest possible energy efficiency grade. The government should work on improving the energy performance of all buildings, least of all those in the public eye.”
He continued: “If you’d like to know the energy efficiency of your home, you can apply for an energy performance certificate through Smart Landlord (www.smartlandlord.co.uk).”
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