Public buildings not sustainable enough?
23 December 2008 | Steve Bagshaw
By Jake Kanter
According to this story in the Guardian today, new figures suggest that government buildings in the UK emit more carbon dioxide than all of Kenya.
An energy efficiency audit has so far reviewed 9,000 of the 18,000 public sector properties, including police stations and museums. It revealed that these 9,000 buildings produced 5.6 million tonnes of CO2, which when doubled amounts to more than Kenya's entire carbon footprint.
The OGC, which is responsible for the energy performance of public buildings, said real progress had been made in making Whitehall operations more sustainable. Public sector buyers will be playing some role in this, but could their expertise be put to better use? Or are they too overloaded with policy?
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Most of these buildings will be grade A listed buildings. There are some things that can be done, but at great cost for example the royal household has had a reducing budget but still managing to make changes. Rest assured government departments are working on it, but those that signed up to be energy reviewed knew they were going to fail.
Its interesting to see the media spin on it. Either you comply with the rules as stated for listed buildings or you dont, however seeing how bad you are can help improve in some areas.
For example my listed building will never achieve better than the lowest rating. The fact it was built more than 400 years ago, so getting this will be a challenge.
God bless the british media!