Jul 26 2005
A software tool commissioned by ODPM and developed by BRE will help those developing and designing buildings with the complex, but soon-to-be essential, task of assessing their buildings' energy performance.
Such assessments will be needed for all new (and many large refurbished) buildings to comply with the revised Part L of the Building Regulations, and to produce the energy rating that will be required from next year under the EU's Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD).
Known as SBEM - simplified building energy method - the tool is a package of software that simplifies the job of the national calculation methodology (laid down in the Part L consultation document) for buildings other than most dwellings (see notes below). It demonstrates a building's compliance with minimum energy performance standards, and works out its EPBD asset rating. This rating shows how much energy the building uses under standardised design conditions, and will have to be made available to prospective purchasers and tenants. The national calculation methodology is necessarily complex, taking many factors into account including the building's fabric, heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems, position and orientation, and occupancy and use. SBEM simplifies this process by using monthly average calculations that should provide a sufficiently accurate assessment of all except the most complex buildings, and by providing a user-friendly means of inputting building information.
The tool consists of three elements:
- the SBEM energy use calculation tool
- an interface (known as iSBEM) by which the user of the tool can input the necessary information on the building's geometry, construction, activities and service systems
- a set of databases - of activities within buildings, descriptions of wall, floor, roof and glazing systems, and details on heating, ventilation, air conditioning and lighting systems - which the tool can draw information from.
Beta testing of SBEM will start at the end of July and continue until September 2005. This follows a period during which a prototype of the method has been available on the web and has received almost 100 comments and feedback on suggested revisions and improvements. SBEM demonstration A demonstration of SBEM is being held at resource05, the low-carbon technology showcase at BRE, Watford on 14 September 2005 (see www.resource05.co.uk).