CIBSE supportive of proposals for mandatory lodgement of Air Conditioning Inspections

Implementing a mandatory lodgement requirement for Air Conditioning Inspections would bring increased clarity to the market place and ensure that all accredited energy assessors are on a level playing field.

There are currently no legal requirements for air conditioning reports to be lodged on a central register, although all must be lodged with the inspector's accrediting body. There is some confusion about this, with some quite misleading claims that reports are not valid if they are not lodged. These claims are quite wrong and without any legal foundation.

Until a mandatory requirement is in place, accreditation schemes can choose whether or not to lodge their inspectors' reports with Landmark. This is creating confusion amongst assessors and is affecting clients - who are being encouraged to base the decision to use an energy assessor on lodgement preferences, rather than the quality of service offered by the assessor. A continuation of these issues runs the risk of alienating client companies.

Bryan Franklin, CIBSE LCC Steering group chairman, said: "Air conditioning inspections already have the lowest compliance rates, well below 5%, and if these issues are not resolved, it is difficult to see how the industry can increase compliance and how the carbon emissions reductions expected from the introduction of air conditioning inspections can be delivered."

The purpose of air conditioning inspections under the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive was to provide owners/operators with information on the performance of their air conditioning so that they can improve them if they are using too much energy. Lodgement in a central register would provide trading standards officers with information on which buildings have not been inspected and could be the single most effective enforcement measure so far. It would also enable benchmarking, encouraging owners to understand more about what should be expected from an efficient air conditioning system.

Air Conditioning Inspections are an effective way of identifying areas for improvement which can provide quick wins. CIBSE Low Carbon Energy Assessor Darren Jones was a winner at the recent CIBSE Low Carbon Performance Awards 2010, rewarded for his submission detailing the observations and opportunities identified whilst undertaking an Air Conditioning Inspection at Eland House, London. The savings identified for Eland House would have paid for the costs of the inspection and recommendations in less than 5 months.

CIBSE is consulting members on whether they wish to start lodging with Landmark on a voluntary basis before any move to mandatory lodgement, ahead of its official response to CLG's consultation.