What types of information are shown in SAP report? Answered by http://www.sap-calculation.com/

(prHWY.com) September 27, 2012 - London, United Kingdom -- You can order SAP calculation at http://www.sap-calculation.com/

The main question comes to people mind when we talk about SAP EPC is what do they really show? What are the differences?

Well before answering that question we should understand why government decided to issue SAP EPC in the first place?
The answer is SAP certificates show how energy efficient the target building is.

In fact SAP EPC demonstrates the potential of energy consumption in target building for a period of 1 year.
Apart from public awareness SAP calculation has another important task which is showing the building occupiers how they can improve the energy consumption and reduce the carbon emission.
OK now we all know what does SAP certificate really show but can we really use them?

Apart from being an energy chart, SAP certificates giving you the ability to compare. In fact there are 2 comparison options in SAP EPC certificates.

Option 1: by looking at the SAP rating you will see 3 columns. In column 2 it shows the current SAP rating and in column 3 it shows the potential SAP rating. Potential SAP rating is showing the effects of the low cost improvement on the fabric and system in the building.
As a result you can compare your SAP rating with potential rating and see how far you are from achievable rating.

This comparison is possible by looking at the top left corner of the SAP certificate.
Option 2: You can compare the SAP rating from 1 side to another by checking the rating at the middle of the page. So if the DEC rating is C and another building is D it means this building is more energy efficient.
SAP calculations also show you an indication of typical building (rating of 60 or D) so you can really see if the building is better than typical building or no.

You might ask OK how I can compare a flat with a house or how can I compare 400 m2 mansion with 30m2 flat.

Well let me answer both questions with one answer.
The SAP rating is and an indicative value. It means SAP rating is fractional and the rating is 1-100 so what ever your potential consumption is we divide it by floor area and then compare it to an standard table.

If the DEC rating on display energy certificate is 65 it means it is better than typical building and if it is 40 it worse than typical.

SAP rating
The SAP rating on the SAP certificate follows by a capital Letter and a colour as it is much easier for people to look at letters or even colours to see the energy efficiency rather than rating.

Colour green on SAP calculation report means energy efficient and red means not efficient.
On SAP certificates A rating is representing efficient building and G rating is opposite.

Apart from SAP rating what other information is presented on the SAP calculation report?

It also shows series of recommendations you need to take to improve the energy consumption of the building.
Apart from that in SAP reports we check all the elements in the building and give them a ranking based on their energy efficiency effects.
You can also see how much electricity and gas this building could use for heating, cooling, hot water and lighting, and even more important point is how much you can save if you make the suggested improvements in the SAP calculation report. Please note that these figures are rough estimate and not accurate at all, also please bare it in your mind that in SAP calculation we don't consider consumption from cooker, fridge, dish washer, computers ...etc.

Are the SAP certificates accurate enough for full energy audit?

Well that's a tricky question and the answer is no it is not.

Before giving you any answers please remember that SAP EPC certificates are purely based on the potential of the building and very important facts such as consumption pattern and management of the systems hasn't taken into the SAP calculation.

So even a new built, well insulated building would waste energy if the management doesn't follow good energy saving strategy.
Some elements such as fabric, thickness of insulation, double glazing, and efficient boilers would have massive effects on SAP rating regardless of consumption pattern.

A good energy audit report should be under the effect of consumption pattern and building structure and fabric both but SAP certificates are created based on building fabric and systems only.

It means we can only see the potential effect of fabric and efficiency of appliances rather than the actual effect.

How accurate SAP EPC certificates are?

As we base our SAP calculations on potential fuel consumption and not real consumption they are not accurate.

Get a free quote for SAP calculations at http://www.sap-calculation.com/
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Does the type of fuel effect the rating?

Yes definitely fuels such as biogas or bio diesel have a minimum effect on the environment and doesn't produce that much CO2 as fossil fuels.
Also some other sources of energy such as PV panels or wind turbines don't produce any CO2 emission at all. As a result buildings with these kinds of energies will have much better SAP rating on the SAP calculation report.
But there are some other facts which people are not fully aware of.
For example electricity is producing CO2 twice as much gas.
Let's put it in practice for example if have gas boiler in a house and rating is 65 if you replace that boiler with electric boiler you will get a rating such as 35 or worse!!

But what is a reason behind it?

Well the electricity we use is coming from power plant which uses fossil fuels.
On top of that we loose almost half of the electricity we produce in the grid, so in fact the amount of energy we get is half of the CO2 we produce.

Speaking from the experience electric feed buildings never score well on SAP calculations.

What other facts effect the SAP rating?
Building fabric
U value of the insulation and windows.
Type of the fuel.
Efficiency of the systems.

In order to gets a better SAP rating in SAP certificates you have to first use a cleaner greener fuel, secondly be generous in using insulations and thirdly install A rated boilers.

As you see higher the SAP rating means less money to pay for bills so it is not just a report it is also helping you to reduce the consumption.

http://www.sap-calculation.com/ is nationwide service provider for Display Energy Certificates, Display Energy reports, Display Energy Certificate survey, Display Energy certificate.
Future BY Energy are professional energy assessors and building services consulting engineers based in London , providing independent professional expertise in mechanical engineering for buildings and strategic energy advice. We are designers and specifiers of heating-cooling systems, and pride ourselves in finding innovative cost-effective and energy efficient solutions for new and existing buildings.

CONTACT
Press Contact:
Behdad Yazdani - Low Carbon consultant
+44- (0)2081440820
futurebyenergy@london.com

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