Energy Statements Made Easy
Advice for developers, planning consultants and design teams in preparing energy statements. This short guide offers developers, planning consultants and design teams advice on preparing energy statements, saving time and development costs, with more likelihood of the planning application being both validated and granted.
1. Understand the Policy
Local authorities differ greatly in their energy policy requirements, some stricter than others. Ensure that you have assessed the scale of requirement and the impact this could have on your design and budgets.
– Do the energy policies apply to your building?
– What are the targets, and how do the Council want this to be demonstrated?
– Is renewable energy generation required?
– Are the policy requirements measured in energy or carbon?
2. Decide on the best solution
It is vitally important that sustainability features are integrated into the design from the outset as this will save time and additional costs later. It is not always immediately obvious which solution will provide the most cost-effective option and a detailed evaluation needs to be undertaken.
– Always use the calculation methodology defined by the Council.
– Benchmark the building using recognised methodologies and investigate the impact of including enhanced energy efficiency or passive measures within the design.
– Conduct a feasibility study into different renewable energy technologies to assess: the potential contribution from the various technologies; the potential impact of the technologies (e.g. noise); and the long-term maintenance and management of the system(s).
– Complete a cost analysis.
3. Employ the services of an Energy Specialist
By appointing an Energy Specialist to assist with your energy statement and planning submission many of the risks associated with meeting Council energy policies can be avoided. The benefits of using an Energy Specialist include:
– They can complete all of the above investigations and provide a clear written report for submission to the Council.
– If required, they can challenge the Council policy, using their knowledge of local and national energy policies, the Building Regulations, site constraints and client requirements.
– An Energy Specialist from Carbon Green Consulting is not tied to any one technology or solution and as such they can take a 100% independent view to ensure that the best cost option is selected whilst still meeting Council and client requirements
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