As of September 2015, new legislation will come into effect, the Energy Related Products (ErP) Directive. It has been designed to help the EU meet its target of reduce energy consumption by 20% by 2020. To do this, the directive will dictate minimum efficiency standards for all space and water heaters, employing the same energy efficiency labelling system currently used for white goods.
For Ecodesign, minimum performance standards and environmental criteria have been set. Within the commercial sector, gas and oil boilers and water heaters with an output of up to 400kW will be mostly effected. This will, in effect eliminate all inefficient boilers from the market. Water heaters and hot water storage tanks with a capacity less than 2000 litres will also be forced to comply. If these criteria are not met, products will not be authorised to bear a CE mark, deeming them ineligible for sale.
The Directive will be incorporated into the amended Building Regulations, Part L 2016. Neither the Directive nor Building Regulations will provide differentiation between new build and retrofit projects. It is likely that this will have significant cost impacts for retrofit projects as there is a risk that existing heating systems will not be compatible with a compliant boiler. This could in turn mean an entire new system is needed.
When considering short term vs long term costs – more efficient products such as condensing boilers will incur a higher up front cost compared to atmospheric boilers. However, when the long term costs of the investment is considered, the capital and operational costs should be considered and the price to quality ratio should be compared. The more efficient systems generally prevail as the most cost effective option over a systems lifetime.
The more efficient appliances will reduce a buildings carbon footprint. At Syntegra these savings can be calculated by SAP.
For any more information, please contact our office on 01184028520 or email us at mail@syntegragroup.com.
