1 July 2014
The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) is applying for its Low Carbon Consultants register to be approved for the government's new Energy Saving Opportunity Scheme (ESOS).
Under the scheme large firms will need to have their energy use assessed to find potential energy-saving measures.
The ESOS regulations require lead ESOS energy assessors to be sourced from existing schemes run by professional bodies.
CIBSE says its Low Carbon Consultants register includes experts with the knowledge and expertise for ESOS assessments and has applied to have the register for the scheme.
CIBSE technical director Hywel Davies said: "DECC has recognised the need for qualified and expert energy assessors like CIBSE's for this important scheme, which will help large enterprises realise the real business benefits of taking action to improve their energy efficiency.
"By not setting up yet another new scheme DECC have been able to ensure that the average cost to a business for an ESOS assessment will be around £17,500. The anticipated average savings from acting on the recommendations made are approximately 10 times that figure, so this is potentially very beneficial to participating businesses."
The Carbon Trust welcomed the ESOS scheme and said it would tweak its Carbon Trust Standard to make it easier for the standard to meet ESOS compliance.
Darran Messem, managing director of certification at the Carbon Trust, said: "We welcome that the guidance for the ESOS regulations recognises that activity undertaken to certify to the Carbon Trust Standard can be a route to compliance with the regulations.
"I am also pleased to announce that we are currently making further improvements to the methodology and certification process for achieving the Carbon Trust Standard, making it even simpler to comply with the ESOS regulations at the same time as certifying."