CRC 'virtually impossible' to enforce

London – Changes to the CRC will be ’virtually impossible’ to enforce unless significant improvements are made to the way that carbon savings are measured, warns consultancy EEVS (Energy Efficiency Verification Specialists0.

With no set measurement methodology in place, public and private sector organisations face carbon tax bills on unverified emissions, said the firm which consultancy offerss savings-evaluation via a ’unique’ IPMVP measurement and verification protocol.

The most common approach is to compare the periods before and after implementation of an energy-saving measure, according to Alex Rathmell, head of analysis at EEVS.

This, he said, generates a saving number, but it’s only valid if the two periods happen to be directly comparable. In most cases they won’t be, so the savings figure is meaningless.

“An IPMVP analysis comes in two parts, firstly a detailed savings plan, in which the site is analysed in detail and a methodology for determining the savings is agreed upon, and secondly a savings report, which quantifies the avoided energy use,” Rathmell said.

“Any measurement and verification strategy that does not have these two ingredients could be open to ambiguity, or worse, abuse.
“Without IPMVP you can’t be sure the energy-saving measure you have taken is doing what its maker claims it will.”