The Energy Performance Certificate programme was initiated just over 15 years ago as part of the government's efforts to promote more energy-efficient structures throughout the UK. At first, EPCs were only required for residential buildings with 4 or more bedrooms. But over time applicability has been expanded to include all residential and commercial buildings being sold or rented, with only a few exceptions.
The energy efficiency of a building is indicated on the EPC by way of an alphabetic scale with A being best and indicating a very energy-efficient building, and G being worst and indicating a very inefficient building.
That said, most homes in the UK have an EPC energy rating of D, which indicates less than stellar energy efficiency. (While that may be surprising to some you have to remember that a lot of homes in the UK are older than 50 years and were built at a time when energy conservation was a non-issue.)
The bad news is that an energy efficiency rating of “D” means your home has an energy efficiency of just 55-68%. That indicates there are quite a few parts of your home that enable waste. The good news is that there are relatively simple and straightforward steps you can take to improve your home’s energy efficiency.
Even if a home earns a “C” or “B” rating we still highly recommend that the homeowner switch over to LED bulbs if they haven’t already. LED stands for Light Emitting Diode and this technology represents nothing short of a revolution in electric lights. LEDs use only a tiny fraction of the electricity of incandescent light bulbs and they can last 20 years or longer. So step 1 of improving your EPC energy rating of D should be to adopt LED lighting.
Old-fashioned wood-frame windows are notorious heat sieves allowing your expensive heated air to escape to the atmosphere through a maze of cracks and crevices. Their single panes also do a great job of transferring heat from indoors to outdoors. The problem is, they're not supposed to do that. If you are still clinging to your leaky, creaky, single-pane, lead-weighted windows it's time to enter the 21st century and replace them with insulated double-glazed windows. This alone could bump your EPC rating.
Older homes were not built with energy efficiency in mind so many of them have little in the way of exterior wall insulation. This is another major contributor to all those D ratings being earned by homes nationwide. The problem is particularly acute in the loft which, because heat rises through a home, is potentially a major source of heat loss. The good news is that upgrading your exterior wall insulation is one of the simplest and most cost-effective home improvements you can make.
The boiler sits quietly in the basement unseen and unheard for most of its useful life. As such when people are weighing things they could do to shake off the D rating blues they often overlook upgrading the boiler. But they shouldn't. Today's boilers are light years ahead of those from even 20 years ago when it comes to energy efficiency. So when you're contemplating ways to improve your EPC energy rating of D, contemplate an energy-efficient boiler.
An awful lot of energy is wasted because people don't want to be bothered with (or they simply forget to) adjust their thermostat as conditions in the house change. A smart thermostat can be programmed to automatically turn the heat down at the time you normally go to bed, or turn it up before you get home from work. And if you get stuck at work and don't need the thermostat to increase the heat automatically at 6 pm you can simply access it from your office via your smartphone and make any necessary adjustments.
An EPC energy rating of D is easy to bolster by making the above-listed improvements. And if you plan on selling or renting your home and need an EPC, give us a call on 0203 397 8220 or complete our online form.
