Europe

Why have a page on Europe?  I am British, based in Scotland for 20+ years - what does Europe matter?  Well in my view 'we' are not just Scottish but part of a developing European framework and as such need to take account of changes to European legislation. 

If you are the occupier of commercial premises - shop, office, hospital, hotel etc - your world is about to change significantly.  Take note also if you are buying or selling a new home as this will soon apply to you.

Assessing the energy efficiency of established buildings, large or small, is the key requirement included in a new directive called "Energy Performance and Buildings".  The intention is to improve Europe's existing buildings sufficiently to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions by 45 million tonnes by 2010.  So, if you are moving into a different building, whether for work or to live in, you will now automatically receive information on how energy efficient it is - and guidance on how that can be improved. 

In every building over 1000sqm to which the public have regular access these results must be "placed in a prominent place clearly visible to the public".  This will become statutory for public buildings and for private buildings like banks and supermarkets. We would like to think that the "Name and Shame" principle will kick in at this point.  So energy savings advice is given - but will it result in change?

In the UK we hope that the latest initiatives from the Carbon Trust, including for example a £100,000 zero interest loan scheme to SME's will encourage implementation of energy savings measures.  After all it is really the easy bit of an Energy Consultants work to identify where the savings lie - the hard bit is getting the client to part with his or her hard earned cash to make it happen.  Turning ideas into Carbon savings.  Go to my Energy Auditing page for more details.

There are some very strong hints in the European directive about the need for judicious tax incentive or grant schemes to encourage improvements and I congratulate the Carbon Trust for spearheading this movement in the UK.

I hope that this will act as a catalyst to stimulate other incentive measures designed to suit local conditions and trust that this may in fact be the beginning of something very big in the field of energy conservation.

Because I recognise the importance of the European market I am trying to negotiate with like-minded companies in Europe with a view to establishing regional offices.  To date I have had some initial orders from a company in Greece and one from Canada which I hope can become the foundation of an international network for energy efficiency.

If you are interested in working with me email with your details.