1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:23,000
Hello, welcome and thanks for listening to Carbon Climates, an energy podcast dedicated

2
00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:28,040
to discussing all things energy, carbon and sustainability while pointing out what's

3
00:00:28,040 --> 00:00:33,120
getting hot, aside from our planet. I'm your host Aine and today I'm joined with my Carbon

4
00:00:33,120 --> 00:00:44,440
Climate and co-host Louise. Yeah, that's you introduced. But yeah, thanks for coming on

5
00:00:44,440 --> 00:00:49,880
Louise. My pleasure, my pleasure. Of course, this is the first Carbon Climates episode.

6
00:00:49,880 --> 00:00:56,960
It's an honour. Yeah, I'm glad. I'm glad. Like, yeah, you were definitely the first choice in

7
00:00:56,960 --> 00:01:07,120
mind of mine. Yeah. So before we get into today's topic, how's your week been and how

8
00:01:07,120 --> 00:01:12,520
have you been carving and can you tell us a bit about yourself? How has my week been?

9
00:01:12,520 --> 00:01:19,920
Do we love each other? Do you want the podcast answer or the real answer? Yeah, do you want the podcast answer or the real answer?

10
00:01:19,920 --> 00:01:25,080
Yeah. Living the dream, Enya. Living the sustainability dream. Of course. First,

11
00:01:25,080 --> 00:01:31,880
well, that brings on your job title. Like, what is it? It is a sustainability engineer.

12
00:01:31,880 --> 00:01:40,160
Wow. Very impressive stuff. Same as you. How long have you been in the sector as a sustainability engineer?

13
00:01:40,160 --> 00:01:48,080
Well, four years full time and then I did my placement year in the sector. So we'll count that.

14
00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:57,600
Oh, very good. That was you did a placement from Coran. It was Geography. Yeah. Geography. Very good.

15
00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:09,600
That's like, did you hear about this through University of Ulster or? No. So one of the directors of the company,

16
00:02:09,600 --> 00:02:16,800
my mum worked with his wife. It actually was aimed at my brother because he was doing like a

17
00:02:16,800 --> 00:02:25,280
natural engineering at the time. So she had said to mum for him. And then I just asked if they had it

18
00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:29,840
because they had like, whenever I went on to look at the website, they had environmental stuff.

19
00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:38,400
And at the time I was wanting to go down like environmental management route. So I just applied

20
00:02:38,400 --> 00:02:45,360
and asked. Then I originally came in to do Braille but ended up doing all the simulation stuff.

21
00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:53,760
Like wow, that's amazing. Okay. I can imagine, imagine if you and your brother are beaten for the same roles.

22
00:02:53,760 --> 00:03:02,400
This is such. I feel like they'd make a K drama about that. I would watch it.

23
00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:09,840
You've seen what I watched. That's good. Well, so you're saying at uni you've seen yourself in the

24
00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:15,120
environmental management sector. See when you were at secondary school, did you ever see yourself in

25
00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:22,240
this sector? Do you know what? I was actually thinking about this because I used to go in

26
00:03:22,240 --> 00:03:27,200
hall the other time as kids. They were like five years old. That was the first time I ever

27
00:03:27,200 --> 00:03:35,120
seen a winter van. And I was fascinated. My mum has photos of me and my older brother standing

28
00:03:35,120 --> 00:03:47,200
at the access patch of a winter van. I'll smile at my cheeks. We were focused like 2001 or something

29
00:03:47,200 --> 00:03:54,160
in the environment. Didn't even know what a winter van was. So me and my mum were probably fascinated

30
00:03:54,160 --> 00:04:00,400
by these things. I think from the end I did sort of think that's quite interesting. Because I was

31
00:04:00,400 --> 00:04:07,440
kind of being interested in like renewables and stuff. But then the geography went down

32
00:04:07,440 --> 00:04:11,920
environmental management route. So yeah, I always kind of did see myself working in like

33
00:04:13,040 --> 00:04:18,880
renewables and energy efficiency and stuff from that. That's really great to hear.

34
00:04:20,560 --> 00:04:26,160
Did you get work experience at school? Like say in sixth form or fifth form? Yeah.

35
00:04:26,160 --> 00:04:31,360
Yeah. Where did you get yours? I went to primary school. Of course. My primary school.

36
00:04:32,080 --> 00:04:36,400
And all the teachers, I can actually remember half the teachers, but they were like,

37
00:04:36,400 --> 00:04:42,000
they remembered me. I said, I don't remember you teaching me at all. That's so sweet.

38
00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:47,920
You know where I did my work experience? Oh that? Oh that's it? Yeah. And now look at us now.

39
00:04:49,200 --> 00:04:53,680
Wow. Wow. Really pumped. And like that's the thing. I feel like at secondary school,

40
00:04:53,680 --> 00:04:58,160
I don't know if you find it, I feel like teachers, they put on a lot of pressure

41
00:04:58,720 --> 00:05:06,560
on you to maybe as, oh you have to go do a degree at a particular uni and you have to look at these

42
00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:12,720
jobs, like push you towards certain jobs. Which were like maybe science, medical, law based. But

43
00:05:12,720 --> 00:05:20,160
they didn't even like, you know, put a thought up to like the likes of film. Or even like apprenticeships

44
00:05:20,160 --> 00:05:25,600
or anything like that. It's very much just go to uni. And because now I'm like, I've come to the

45
00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:32,000
realisation and it's simply because I think it's more well known now. But there was the option for

46
00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:38,880
us to maybe do a part time degree and then also have a job when we're like 19, 20. So rather than

47
00:05:38,880 --> 00:05:44,160
doing the full like three or four years uni, which you know, fair enough, it is a uni, like it's an

48
00:05:44,160 --> 00:05:52,320
experience in itself. We could have like, you know, from 19 got experience and like also like

49
00:05:52,320 --> 00:05:58,160
be getting a degree. So earning, earning and learning, learning, learning, learning. I like that.

50
00:05:58,160 --> 00:06:03,600
But like, yeah, that definitely wasn't publicised. I think that's only really good if you know

51
00:06:03,600 --> 00:06:08,240
exactly what you want to do. Yeah, no, you're right. You're right. Like if you were like,

52
00:06:08,240 --> 00:06:12,720
I didn't really know what I wanted to do, you know, if I wanted to do geography. Like if I knew,

53
00:06:12,720 --> 00:06:18,960
if I knew, you know, at 19, 18, 19, you know, it probably would have been a different choice.

54
00:06:18,960 --> 00:06:24,400
Like if you knew point blank, this is what I want to do. Because you see a lot of even in our company,

55
00:06:26,080 --> 00:06:30,880
yeah, a lot of younger people coming in ex-girl levers because this is what they want to do.

56
00:06:30,880 --> 00:06:35,280
That's like, you know, it's just like, got so, so jealous of you. Yeah.

57
00:06:35,280 --> 00:06:40,560
Knowing how you really made the right decision. Yeah, knowing what direction your life is going.

58
00:06:40,560 --> 00:06:49,680
I stood alone. Well, thanks for that Louise. And now, so we're going to move on to today's topic.

59
00:06:50,640 --> 00:06:58,480
Before we do, I've got one question for you. What did the pirate find most important about

60
00:06:58,480 --> 00:07:06,240
the insulation? I don't know. The R value? For those of you who don't know what an R value is,

61
00:07:06,240 --> 00:07:13,200
that will be explained in the long way. That's a nice segue. That would be a cool segue. R values.

62
00:07:13,840 --> 00:07:19,760
Today's topic is actually called, is actually focusing on EPCs with this episode's title being

63
00:07:20,320 --> 00:07:28,000
EPCs, energy performance is assert. Okay. That was the first thing I came up with when I think like

64
00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:32,320
it was maybe this time last year, shouldn't titles back at you. It was like energy performance is

65
00:07:32,320 --> 00:07:38,480
assert. I'm like, this is it. Okay. Okay. Enough fun. Okay. So myself and Louise are sustainability

66
00:07:38,480 --> 00:07:43,760
engineers and we mainly deal with issuing EPCs to clients for the final constructions of their

67
00:07:43,760 --> 00:07:49,040
buildings. EPC stands for energy performance certificate. For those of you who don't know,

68
00:07:49,680 --> 00:07:56,400
I feel like most people know. Yeah. However, I always like want to explain because even my friend,

69
00:07:56,400 --> 00:08:03,040
he was buying a house, I think a couple of months ago and I looked up his EPC to show,

70
00:08:03,040 --> 00:08:09,520
I was like, oh, what's your EPC? And he was like, oh, what's this? This is mine? So I'm like,

71
00:08:09,520 --> 00:08:16,720
oh, maybe some people don't know that this is right there. So EPC stands for energy performance

72
00:08:16,720 --> 00:08:22,320
certificate. It's a calculation which rates your building from A to G and gives a representation

73
00:08:22,320 --> 00:08:26,480
of how energy efficient it actually is. Even though the energy performance certificate is

74
00:08:26,480 --> 00:08:32,080
only a couple of pages, there's a lot that goes into the calculation itself. Us, me and Louise

75
00:08:32,080 --> 00:08:40,800
are both energy assessors, both LCEAs, which stands for, I'm sorry, I'm just like, I'm just

76
00:08:40,800 --> 00:08:46,160
explaining all the abbreviations. If you ever get into the energy sector, you'll realize there are

77
00:08:46,160 --> 00:08:53,200
a lot of abbreviations. Some might say too many. But LCEA stands for low carbon energy assessor.

78
00:08:53,680 --> 00:08:59,040
So for this, that means we look at the area of the building, the type of construction it's made up

79
00:08:59,040 --> 00:09:04,080
of. When we talk about constructions, we're talking about what materials make up the wall,

80
00:09:04,080 --> 00:09:10,320
how much insulation goes into it, how permeable the building is. When we talk about permeability

81
00:09:10,320 --> 00:09:15,040
in terms of building, we talk about the amount of the airflow for it, like the infiltration.

82
00:09:15,040 --> 00:09:20,400
We also look at the heating, ventilation and hot water type of the building and also what the lights

83
00:09:20,400 --> 00:09:27,760
are. These are all put into a software calculator and this calculator spits out a carbon amount,

84
00:09:27,760 --> 00:09:32,080
which is then rated on an orthonumeric scale. From A to G.

85
00:09:32,080 --> 00:09:34,080
Keep it simple, yeah.

86
00:09:34,080 --> 00:09:41,040
Yeah. Like, okay, I won't be trying that again. Okay. So why is this important? Because all the

87
00:09:41,040 --> 00:09:49,680
buildings require a valid EPC in order to be sold or rented out. So Louise, in your opinion,

88
00:09:50,640 --> 00:09:56,400
how valuable do you think people actually look at the EPCs? How important are they to the function

89
00:09:56,400 --> 00:09:57,360
of the building?

90
00:09:57,360 --> 00:09:59,360
I guess it's just theoretical.

91
00:09:59,360 --> 00:10:01,360
Theoretical, okay.

92
00:10:01,360 --> 00:10:08,000
It's not really a good indication of how energy efficient the building is, I think.

93
00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:11,840
That's honestly...

94
00:10:11,840 --> 00:10:14,800
This is the inside scoop, directly from the energy.

95
00:10:14,800 --> 00:10:17,040
Directly, straight from the source.

96
00:10:18,480 --> 00:10:23,280
Because if you think about things like, you can maybe not pass your building regulations,

97
00:10:23,280 --> 00:10:24,800
but still get an EPC that A.

98
00:10:24,800 --> 00:10:25,300
Yeah.

99
00:10:26,240 --> 00:10:27,120
I think that's like...

100
00:10:28,320 --> 00:10:28,820
Yeah.

101
00:10:28,820 --> 00:10:33,520
Would you be in the agreement that maybe an EPC reform is needed? Like, you know, different

102
00:10:33,520 --> 00:10:37,680
layer of the structures, like investigation into what is actually important.

103
00:10:37,680 --> 00:10:44,800
Yeah, maybe. I mean, I think it is good because it's obviously comparing your building to

104
00:10:45,680 --> 00:10:50,240
other buildings. It's not like what it is, but it's like what it can be.

105
00:10:50,240 --> 00:10:50,740
Mm-hmm.

106
00:10:51,840 --> 00:10:53,120
That's pretty cool now.

107
00:10:53,120 --> 00:10:59,600
Very, very interesting. Well, you also do operational energy reports, which are reports

108
00:10:59,600 --> 00:11:05,440
that are required for an energy accreditation, like for the building.

109
00:11:05,440 --> 00:11:09,520
An operation, they pretty much give the real life operation of the building.

110
00:11:09,520 --> 00:11:16,320
So what it's actually producing in terms of electricity, fuel, what's being used, flow rates,

111
00:11:17,120 --> 00:11:20,880
et cetera. I always do lists, like, you know, sort of.

112
00:11:20,880 --> 00:11:21,380
Yeah.

113
00:11:21,380 --> 00:11:22,400
And I'm trying to stop it.

114
00:11:22,400 --> 00:11:22,900
Yeah.

115
00:11:23,760 --> 00:11:24,260
Sorry, guys.

116
00:11:24,260 --> 00:11:25,280
It's like a natural loop.

117
00:11:25,280 --> 00:11:29,920
A loop. Exactly. Yeah. She does it in real life as well.

118
00:11:29,920 --> 00:11:31,120
It's the prettiest thing.

119
00:11:31,120 --> 00:11:31,920
But like, sorry.

120
00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:37,600
Please, can you get your little fever test or something?

121
00:11:37,600 --> 00:11:45,200
Well, so also, like, do you also perform operational reports or put together operational

122
00:11:45,200 --> 00:11:50,240
reports for clients as well? And when you started doing that, did you see a clear difference between

123
00:11:50,240 --> 00:11:56,000
the likes of what's been out in an EPC and then what actually is going on in the operational report?

124
00:11:56,000 --> 00:11:56,500
Yeah.

125
00:11:56,480 --> 00:11:56,980
Okay.

126
00:12:02,240 --> 00:12:09,200
Yeah. I mean, it's not all that. I'm one is, you know, the operational energy is better than

127
00:12:09,200 --> 00:12:14,720
than the EPC. But there is always a difference. Of course, there's always a difference because

128
00:12:14,720 --> 00:12:20,960
it's actually taking into consideration how a person is supposedly actually, you know,

129
00:12:20,960 --> 00:12:23,920
operating within the building and living within the building.

130
00:12:23,920 --> 00:12:24,420
Yeah.

131
00:12:25,360 --> 00:12:31,440
Like, if you think about it, an EPC doesn't really take into consideration your equipment gains.

132
00:12:31,440 --> 00:12:31,940
Yeah.

133
00:12:31,940 --> 00:12:38,800
Plugin modes. They're massive in every building and operational energy does think about that sort of stuff.

134
00:12:40,080 --> 00:12:43,760
That's pretty interesting. Pretty interesting. So, yeah, that's great.

135
00:12:43,760 --> 00:12:51,600
And often, well, at the minute when we're dealing with different projects, we often get a document,

136
00:12:51,600 --> 00:12:56,640
a contract document that states a specific EPC might be required for the building.

137
00:12:56,640 --> 00:13:03,760
And this is purely a marketing technique so people can advertise. Yep, my building gets an A or a B

138
00:13:03,760 --> 00:13:13,120
or, you know, very snazzy. But yeah, like, has it been annoying seeing that? And then maybe,

139
00:13:13,120 --> 00:13:17,120
like, you're on the project and it's always like, oh no, we want to go,

140
00:13:17,920 --> 00:13:20,880
like, a route that maybe isn't going to achieve that EPC or...

141
00:13:20,880 --> 00:13:25,520
Oh yeah, of course. Especially with the change in building regs.

142
00:13:25,520 --> 00:13:28,000
Oh yeah, change in building regs.

143
00:13:28,000 --> 00:13:33,200
You know, maybe something that, like, something that allowed you to get a certain rating once

144
00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:36,880
is not going to let you get it now. Vice versa.

145
00:13:36,880 --> 00:13:37,380
Yeah.

146
00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:42,080
Jordan is annoying in the way, I think, with the EPC stuff.

147
00:13:42,080 --> 00:13:45,920
Oh, off topic. Completely unlike me.

148
00:13:47,760 --> 00:13:52,240
Do you know whenever you look at houses, you know, like, any sort of domestic assessor,

149
00:13:52,240 --> 00:13:55,840
when you look at domestic APCs, which is not just domestic.

150
00:13:58,160 --> 00:14:02,000
Do you know, like, well, obviously older houses haven't...

151
00:14:02,720 --> 00:14:04,320
Are you going to talk about this? Shall I just stop?

152
00:14:06,320 --> 00:14:10,160
Like, what is it? I think I might bring it up in a later section. No, no, no, no,

153
00:14:10,160 --> 00:14:13,120
but like, keep on going, this is good. There's a lot of things that noise me

154
00:14:13,120 --> 00:14:17,040
every time I say it. Okay.

155
00:14:17,040 --> 00:14:22,400
Well, we talked previously about the training we've done, how we're both LCEAs.

156
00:14:23,360 --> 00:14:29,280
However, like, I myself have only been an LCEA for the past year,

157
00:14:29,280 --> 00:14:34,160
whereas we've been doing APCs for the past, I'd say, five, six years. How old are we?

158
00:14:34,160 --> 00:14:43,200
In your opinion, like, what sort of training pathway did you prefer, or would you find,

159
00:14:43,200 --> 00:14:46,480
do you think would be viable to future energy assessors?

160
00:14:47,360 --> 00:14:50,960
Like, do you think a more hands on approach to the job?

161
00:14:50,960 --> 00:14:53,360
Like, oh, yeah, learning on the job. Yeah.

162
00:14:53,360 --> 00:14:54,320
Learning on the job. Yeah.

163
00:14:55,760 --> 00:14:58,320
I always think, I always think it's like learning to drive,

164
00:14:59,040 --> 00:15:03,200
going to the university and stuff. You're not learning, like, yeah, you're learning the basics,

165
00:15:03,200 --> 00:15:08,560
you're learning how things work. You're getting a baseline knowledge of something,

166
00:15:09,120 --> 00:15:12,240
but you don't actually learn to do something until you're doing it every day.

167
00:15:12,240 --> 00:15:14,720
Yeah. Like, you're going to go into

168
00:15:14,720 --> 00:15:18,560
university and learning the theory behind things. Of course, that's always beneficial,

169
00:15:19,200 --> 00:15:23,600
but, you know, unless you're actually sitting down and putting that into practice,

170
00:15:24,320 --> 00:15:28,560
I don't think that information is retained or it's, you know.

171
00:15:28,560 --> 00:15:33,440
Yeah, no, I completely agree. I can't, I think I've, what is it, no,

172
00:15:33,440 --> 00:15:35,840
I've forgotten more than I've learned. Yeah, yeah, 100%.

173
00:15:38,400 --> 00:15:43,040
But yeah, well, like, what particular guides do you find are helpful in your job?

174
00:15:43,040 --> 00:15:44,560
Guides? Guides, like, you know,

175
00:15:44,560 --> 00:15:48,000
the way we would use SIPSE guides or what one do you use the most?

176
00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:50,000
I use guide A. Guide A.

177
00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:53,120
Wow. Don't ask me what that is.

178
00:15:53,120 --> 00:15:58,560
Guide A. The TM-59 for overheating.

179
00:15:58,560 --> 00:16:02,640
Yes. And occasionally TM-54 for

180
00:16:02,640 --> 00:16:04,400
operational energy. Right, yes.

181
00:16:05,680 --> 00:16:08,640
Like, TM-59, I was going to do a separate episode on itself.

182
00:16:08,640 --> 00:16:10,880
So I'm going to be a suspect for that. Daytune guide.

183
00:16:10,880 --> 00:16:13,760
Yes, daytuned. To come later.

184
00:16:15,520 --> 00:16:17,440
Splinter. That's hot.

185
00:16:18,320 --> 00:16:21,520
Okay, well, that's great. I'm trying to think what my favourite guide is.

186
00:16:21,520 --> 00:16:26,400
I use, I use, like, as you mentioned, I'm a domestic energy assessor or

187
00:16:27,040 --> 00:16:30,240
like domestic on construction, whatever the abbreviation.

188
00:16:30,240 --> 00:16:32,480
Again, another abbreviation. Okay.

189
00:16:32,480 --> 00:16:35,920
You should do a listener game.

190
00:16:35,920 --> 00:16:38,160
Yeah, it's this abbreviation.

191
00:16:38,160 --> 00:16:42,800
Every time there's an abbreviation, it's like, get a point.

192
00:16:42,800 --> 00:16:48,240
I think I do like that manual because it's so bulky and it's about, I think,

193
00:16:48,240 --> 00:16:54,320
now I don't want to say 600 pages, but it's 200 pages between 200 and 600.

194
00:16:54,320 --> 00:16:57,040
Hmm. It's a good document.

195
00:16:57,040 --> 00:16:59,840
Range. Tell us in the comments.

196
00:17:01,600 --> 00:17:03,440
What's your favourite building regulations guide?

197
00:17:04,080 --> 00:17:07,360
If you had one to read for the rest of your life.

198
00:17:08,320 --> 00:17:09,120
Oh, BMI.

199
00:17:10,720 --> 00:17:16,320
Well, as previously mentioned for energy assessors, like us as energy assessors,

200
00:17:16,320 --> 00:17:20,560
we not only issue EPCs, but also building regulations, calculations.

201
00:17:21,280 --> 00:17:24,160
These calculations are often associated with the energy

202
00:17:24,160 --> 00:17:28,800
and can be spit out from the same software that we simulate EPCs from.

203
00:17:29,360 --> 00:17:37,920
So this is, and this is often the thing that clients maybe don't get that part F or part L

204
00:17:38,720 --> 00:17:44,400
building regulation, like, you know, built in simulation regulation document.

205
00:17:44,400 --> 00:17:48,960
It's going to be different from an EPC. Like they're like, oh, it's even though it's

206
00:17:48,960 --> 00:17:52,080
the same model, same software, it's two different things.

207
00:17:52,080 --> 00:17:55,040
It's two different, it's being measured against two different

208
00:17:56,000 --> 00:18:00,720
baselines, not baselines, two different methodologies.

209
00:18:00,720 --> 00:18:01,680
There we, yeah.

210
00:18:03,120 --> 00:18:06,320
Your face there, just so sad methodologies.

211
00:18:07,680 --> 00:18:09,280
It's the national calculator method.

212
00:18:09,280 --> 00:18:17,600
So summary, we submit an EPC and we often submit like a brugel or sap calculation with it.

213
00:18:18,160 --> 00:18:20,000
So, which is the part L bit.

214
00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:25,520
What would be your favourite between the two, doing an EPC or doing a brugel or sap calculation?

215
00:18:25,520 --> 00:18:26,020
What?

216
00:18:27,520 --> 00:18:36,240
Um, there's probably the part L in the brugel because it, like, like I said earlier,

217
00:18:36,240 --> 00:18:39,600
you can pass your EPC, but not pass your building regs.

218
00:18:39,600 --> 00:18:42,720
There's more challenge in the building regs.

219
00:18:44,320 --> 00:18:45,120
I like a challenge.

220
00:18:45,120 --> 00:18:46,320
And you like a challenge, okay.

221
00:18:48,240 --> 00:18:50,880
Um, yeah, like that's interesting.

222
00:18:50,880 --> 00:18:53,920
And also you find like with an EPC, yeah, yeah.

223
00:18:57,040 --> 00:19:01,760
With an EPC, because when we submit it, we launched it, we get QA'd

224
00:19:01,760 --> 00:19:06,880
and you often find that like I'm always really strict with what I can like put in

225
00:19:06,880 --> 00:19:12,480
or I always feel like, you know, oh no, I have to put in this default value or this value.

226
00:19:12,480 --> 00:19:18,240
Whereas a brugel, I feel like you can like, you know, I'm going to see what it's like with,

227
00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:21,840
yeah, with these types of lights or these, this type of heating.

228
00:19:21,840 --> 00:19:22,340
Yeah.

229
00:19:22,340 --> 00:19:23,840
The world, the world you're always strict with.

230
00:19:23,840 --> 00:19:24,880
The world you're always strict with.

231
00:19:24,880 --> 00:19:26,880
The world you're always strict with.

232
00:19:26,880 --> 00:19:29,120
But yeah, uh, yeah, okay.

233
00:19:29,120 --> 00:19:38,240
Well, now we're going to come into a section that I think this might be the section you were talking about earlier

234
00:19:38,240 --> 00:19:43,200
about Northern Ireland EPC and domestic regulations.

235
00:19:44,080 --> 00:19:50,240
So since 2012, Northern Ireland has operated under the same energy assessment methodology,

236
00:19:50,240 --> 00:19:56,320
which is equivalent to an English building regulations from 2009 for part L.

237
00:19:56,320 --> 00:19:57,520
Which is ridiculous.

238
00:19:57,520 --> 00:19:58,320
What is it?

239
00:19:58,320 --> 00:19:59,280
Which is ridiculous.

240
00:19:59,280 --> 00:20:00,640
Right, which, oh yes.

241
00:20:00,640 --> 00:20:07,360
So I've prepared a wee short table, which kind of like it talks about all the changes that happened.

242
00:20:07,360 --> 00:20:13,920
And just a summary, pretty much when building regulations were changing in England, Wales and Scotland,

243
00:20:13,920 --> 00:20:16,560
they were staying the same for Northern Ireland.

244
00:20:16,560 --> 00:20:20,000
I'm going to give you the dates onto which they changed.

245
00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:25,360
And I want you to guess what the coinciding event was that maybe stopped the change.

246
00:20:25,360 --> 00:20:25,860
Okay.

247
00:20:25,860 --> 00:20:35,940
So in 2009, England got the 2009 software for domestic energy assessment.

248
00:20:35,940 --> 00:20:39,460
Northern Ireland got the 2009 software for domestic energy assessment.

249
00:20:39,460 --> 00:20:43,220
So 2009, we're both feeling fine.

250
00:20:43,220 --> 00:20:45,220
2009, good job.

251
00:20:45,220 --> 00:20:51,220
2012, England updated to SAP 2012 software.

252
00:20:51,220 --> 00:20:54,180
England, Wales and Scotland, I believe, sorry.

253
00:20:54,180 --> 00:20:59,460
Northern Ireland was told to stay on the SAP 2009 software.

254
00:20:59,460 --> 00:21:00,260
Okay.

255
00:21:00,260 --> 00:21:01,300
Why?

256
00:21:01,300 --> 00:21:04,900
I actually couldn't find a coinciding event with that, so we'll skip that.

257
00:21:04,900 --> 00:21:06,900
2016.

258
00:21:06,900 --> 00:21:08,900
Good as a year.

259
00:21:08,900 --> 00:21:14,180
So the software is still SAP 2012.

260
00:21:14,180 --> 00:21:19,060
However, updates have been provided to the building regulations.

261
00:21:19,060 --> 00:21:24,580
Northern Ireland is still on SAP 2009.

262
00:21:24,580 --> 00:21:32,580
Can you guess what the coinciding event was in 2016 that maybe stopped it from being updated in Northern Ireland?

263
00:21:32,580 --> 00:21:38,580
2016, was it that we didn't have a government?

264
00:21:38,580 --> 00:21:40,580
Well, that is part of it.

265
00:21:40,580 --> 00:21:44,580
But in 2016, Brexit was announced.

266
00:21:44,580 --> 00:21:47,860
I was going between the two because they were both going at the same time.

267
00:21:47,860 --> 00:21:48,500
Yeah.

268
00:21:48,500 --> 00:21:50,980
And so Brexit wasn't announced.

269
00:21:50,980 --> 00:21:57,300
And then I think it was maybe a couple months after that, our elections happened and then we didn't have a government.

270
00:21:57,300 --> 00:21:58,420
So yeah, that was great.

271
00:21:58,420 --> 00:21:59,380
And we still do.

272
00:21:59,380 --> 00:22:01,380
Yeah.

273
00:22:01,380 --> 00:22:03,380
We had to forbid and then they left.

274
00:22:03,380 --> 00:22:06,420
They said this was nice, but they're like, I'm away.

275
00:22:06,420 --> 00:22:08,100
I'm enjoying my holiday.

276
00:22:08,100 --> 00:22:10,340
2020 is when the next update came.

277
00:22:10,340 --> 00:22:16,420
So England was still under the SAP 2012 software for domestic energy assessments.

278
00:22:16,420 --> 00:22:27,860
However, SAP 10 software was introduced, which is a snazzy new software that took into account updated fuel, carbon written for fuels.

279
00:22:27,860 --> 00:22:28,660
OK.

280
00:22:28,660 --> 00:22:31,700
Can you guess what software Northern Ireland was told to stay under?

281
00:22:31,700 --> 00:22:35,540
2009, baby.

282
00:22:35,540 --> 00:22:37,380
As you said earlier, there was no government.

283
00:22:37,380 --> 00:22:38,900
Oh, not failed?

284
00:22:38,900 --> 00:22:39,780
Yeah.

285
00:22:39,780 --> 00:22:40,420
There's a theme.

286
00:22:40,420 --> 00:22:41,780
Yeah, there's a theme.

287
00:22:41,780 --> 00:22:42,340
OK.

288
00:22:42,340 --> 00:22:44,660
Guess what's going to happen next?

289
00:22:44,660 --> 00:22:45,940
2021.

290
00:22:45,940 --> 00:22:46,820
What?

291
00:22:46,820 --> 00:22:57,540
Techno booklet F1 and part L221 announced it's set an implementation date for like an implementation date was set.

292
00:22:57,540 --> 00:23:06,420
So all new domestic energy assessments after a certain date in 2021 or 2022 were told to move to the SAP 10 software.

293
00:23:06,420 --> 00:23:07,620
OK.

294
00:23:07,620 --> 00:23:13,060
Even though the regulations were changed to Northern Ireland, what software did we have to stay under?

295
00:23:13,060 --> 00:23:16,980
2009.

296
00:23:16,980 --> 00:23:17,460
OK.

297
00:23:17,460 --> 00:23:23,540
Can you guess the coinciding event about like why that had to happen?

298
00:23:23,540 --> 00:23:25,700
So the COVID one?

299
00:23:25,700 --> 00:23:27,700
Well, and actually COVID as well.

300
00:23:27,700 --> 00:23:28,260
OK.

301
00:23:28,260 --> 00:23:29,300
And Brexit.

302
00:23:29,300 --> 00:23:30,260
And?

303
00:23:30,260 --> 00:23:31,220
All of them came together.

304
00:23:31,220 --> 00:23:32,820
It doesn't matter.

305
00:23:32,820 --> 00:23:36,340
And I would just also like to stress the like, you know, previous.

306
00:23:36,340 --> 00:23:37,940
It's not a political.

307
00:23:37,940 --> 00:23:40,180
It's not a political like podcast.

308
00:23:40,180 --> 00:23:43,540
Like these are purely my this is purely my opinion.

309
00:23:43,540 --> 00:23:52,820
Like, but we do have a unique geopolitical setting and it does severely impact the updates that received onto local bills and regulations.

310
00:23:52,820 --> 00:23:57,940
But yeah, so that's just like my research, what I found, you know.

311
00:23:57,940 --> 00:24:00,820
2009.

312
00:24:00,820 --> 00:24:02,180
Yeah, 2009.

313
00:24:02,180 --> 00:24:05,860
It pretty much it has up like what is it?

314
00:24:05,860 --> 00:24:11,700
What it means that like even the software stays the same, the outputs are stayed the same.

315
00:24:11,700 --> 00:24:21,300
And we still just have to pass like, you know, the the BR the and they're just saying, oh yeah, as long as that shows a 20 percent reduction.

316
00:24:21,300 --> 00:24:26,660
So you have to say, oh, yeah, look, I had in this like, you know, she was a 20 percent reduction.

317
00:24:26,660 --> 00:24:32,900
So the software could put a calculation that says pass, but you could feel.

318
00:24:32,900 --> 00:24:40,980
15 percent for no domestics are 25 percent for flats reduction and then 40 percent for houses.

319
00:24:40,980 --> 00:24:44,820
And yes, it's just it's it's really confusing.

320
00:24:44,820 --> 00:24:50,660
Whereas, like, you know, the non domestic software, the one we use, it's flagged up right away.

321
00:24:50,660 --> 00:25:01,700
Like, you know, if you even though the BR was lower than the TR, if it didn't get more than 15 percent reduction, that was a fail.

322
00:25:01,700 --> 00:25:06,740
That's only recently, though, because whenever the first the rigs are fresh announced, you have to just do it manually.

323
00:25:06,740 --> 00:25:08,340
It's so absurd.

324
00:25:08,340 --> 00:25:09,780
They don't make it easy for us.

325
00:25:09,780 --> 00:25:10,340
They don't.

326
00:25:10,340 --> 00:25:12,740
For the building sector.

327
00:25:12,740 --> 00:25:18,180
OK, well, that's great. Thank you for playing that sector.

328
00:25:18,180 --> 00:25:22,660
I'm not going to move on to another group.

329
00:25:22,660 --> 00:25:26,420
I mentioned the title of this, energy performance is a cert.

330
00:25:26,420 --> 00:25:30,580
I think I'll call this always be certain.

331
00:25:30,580 --> 00:25:34,020
Certain.

332
00:25:34,020 --> 00:25:39,620
OK, I'm just going to ask you a couple of questions and I want your best guess.

333
00:25:39,620 --> 00:25:48,980
So we talked about how we perform part out calculations, building regulations, calculations on particular non domestic software.

334
00:25:48,980 --> 00:25:52,660
How many non domestic software's do you think are right there?

335
00:25:52,660 --> 00:25:58,420
So non domestic, non domestic, like different brands.

336
00:25:58,420 --> 00:25:58,980
Close.

337
00:25:58,980 --> 00:25:59,780
Do you have the answer?

338
00:25:59,780 --> 00:26:00,260
Yeah.

339
00:26:00,260 --> 00:26:04,660
18.

340
00:26:04,660 --> 00:26:09,860
I will publish a link to a list of those softwares, but yeah, there is a lot of them.

341
00:26:09,860 --> 00:26:12,420
There's a lot more than three.

342
00:26:12,420 --> 00:26:15,460
There's only three that I know of.

343
00:26:15,460 --> 00:26:16,980
But yeah.

344
00:26:16,980 --> 00:26:29,060
So in 2020, the Energy Assessment Guidance for London came out and it showed that a certain carbon factor for a certain fuel had decreased over time,

345
00:26:29,060 --> 00:26:32,340
making it really like a lot better, a lot healthier.

346
00:26:32,340 --> 00:26:35,540
I feel like I'm doing my part out of ExxonMu.

347
00:26:35,540 --> 00:26:38,660
But can you tell me that fuel?

348
00:26:38,660 --> 00:26:39,540
It decreased.

349
00:26:39,540 --> 00:26:40,180
It decreased.

350
00:26:40,180 --> 00:26:41,060
Doesn't it got better?

351
00:26:41,060 --> 00:26:42,020
It got better, yeah.

352
00:26:42,020 --> 00:26:42,580
Electric?

353
00:26:42,580 --> 00:26:44,500
Yes, exactly.

354
00:26:44,500 --> 00:26:53,140
So over the period, the monitoring period from 2010 to 2020 or 18, whenever it came out,

355
00:26:53,140 --> 00:26:59,460
they found that electricity had just dropped in the amount of carbon it was producing per kilowatt hour.

356
00:26:59,460 --> 00:27:06,020
This is because of all the renewable elements that are connected into the grid, making electricity a cleaner fuel.

357
00:27:06,020 --> 00:27:09,300
So yeah, that was that was grand.

358
00:27:09,300 --> 00:27:14,580
So I've asked the question about non domestic software.

359
00:27:14,580 --> 00:27:22,340
So as I explained, SAP 10, the new SAP 10 methodology, softwares have come out for that.

360
00:27:22,340 --> 00:27:25,940
Can you guess how many domestic bodies cover that software?

361
00:27:25,940 --> 00:27:28,980
I'm going to just say three again.

362
00:27:28,980 --> 00:27:31,460
Close, four.

363
00:27:31,460 --> 00:27:37,220
I meant non domestic, domestic the first time.

364
00:27:37,220 --> 00:27:39,860
I'll bring out of that, OK?

365
00:27:39,860 --> 00:27:42,420
Well, I want to move on to a section now.

366
00:27:42,420 --> 00:27:44,980
It's called Watch Your Energy Performance.

367
00:27:44,980 --> 00:27:52,260
So this is a section where I just want to highlight how it is possible to find out what your EPC rating is.

368
00:27:52,260 --> 00:27:59,300
Watch Your Energy Performance is if you go to the.gov.uk website and go find an energy certificate,

369
00:27:59,300 --> 00:28:05,620
look up your postcode, find your address and then there's your EPC rating and you can show it off to your friends.

370
00:28:05,620 --> 00:28:09,220
Like, you know, some notes.

371
00:28:09,220 --> 00:28:14,820
But yeah, I'm currently ranting at the minute, so my energy performance, I'm not going to have too much to be with,

372
00:28:14,820 --> 00:28:18,420
but I think I'm sitting on a E or D.

373
00:28:18,420 --> 00:28:22,420
It's pretty, it's not how I'd like it to be.

374
00:28:22,420 --> 00:28:24,900
But did you look up yours at all?

375
00:28:24,900 --> 00:28:28,180
Well, I still live with my mum and dad.

376
00:28:28,180 --> 00:28:32,260
Like, it's, you know, in this, in this, you can have a crazy question.

377
00:28:32,260 --> 00:28:33,780
Of course I do.

378
00:28:33,780 --> 00:28:37,380
I get my dinner made for me, I get my water made for me.

379
00:28:37,380 --> 00:28:39,380
Can I go?

380
00:28:39,380 --> 00:28:41,380
Yeah, we can just go, you can leave me.

381
00:28:41,380 --> 00:28:43,380
Go.

382
00:28:43,380 --> 00:28:46,340
We don't actually have any EPC.

383
00:28:46,340 --> 00:28:48,340
And you know why that is?

384
00:28:48,340 --> 00:28:51,060
Because it was pre 2001.

385
00:28:51,060 --> 00:28:53,060
Exactly.

386
00:28:53,060 --> 00:28:58,820
Yeah, EPCs then became a legal requirement, I think, for UK in 2005.

387
00:28:58,820 --> 00:29:00,820
They did them later for Northern Ireland.

388
00:29:00,820 --> 00:29:08,900
There's only a document that I think 2014 that comes out being like, if you buy or sell property, you need to have an EPC.

389
00:29:08,900 --> 00:29:12,500
I think we moved, I think we would have bought the house in 2001.

390
00:29:12,500 --> 00:29:14,900
I did actually look it up, but we don't have one.

391
00:29:14,900 --> 00:29:17,460
And here, if you're standing there, you don't need one.

392
00:29:17,460 --> 00:29:19,460
You don't need one?

393
00:29:19,460 --> 00:29:21,460
You don't need one.

394
00:29:21,460 --> 00:29:25,460
So yeah, be very, be very interested to, like, you know, I can remind you.

395
00:29:25,460 --> 00:29:27,460
What's this while we're talking?

396
00:29:27,460 --> 00:29:32,420
But I would also like to point out, Alex, so I'm an on construction domestic energy assessor.

397
00:29:32,420 --> 00:29:36,500
And this is the thing, there are many different types of energy assessors.

398
00:29:36,500 --> 00:29:42,900
There is, well, pretty much on construction domestic energy assessor, and then domestic energy assessor.

399
00:29:42,900 --> 00:29:49,220
So domestic energy assessors, they can assess the building if it's been, if it's an existing.

400
00:29:49,220 --> 00:29:53,460
So they are qualified to assume, like, you know, lots of defaults.

401
00:29:53,460 --> 00:29:58,100
Whereas on construction, I pretty much, the contractor tells me what to do.

402
00:29:58,100 --> 00:30:00,820
Like, you know, it's like, this is how you build the building, and like, brilliant.

403
00:30:00,820 --> 00:30:03,940
You've got all your certificates there. Love it.

404
00:30:03,940 --> 00:30:06,180
Whereas non-domestic, that's not the case.

405
00:30:06,180 --> 00:30:12,260
You can be qualified as non-domestic and do existing and new builds as well.

406
00:30:12,260 --> 00:30:16,580
Like, okay, well, Louise, you've been great to have all.

407
00:30:16,580 --> 00:30:19,220
Thank you very much for coming on.

408
00:30:19,220 --> 00:30:25,140
Do you have any advice for future prospective energy assessors looking to get into this sector?

409
00:30:25,140 --> 00:30:29,300
It's kind of a niche sector to get into.

410
00:30:29,300 --> 00:30:29,540
Yeah.

411
00:30:29,540 --> 00:30:33,300
Like, we think about the, like, the place missions and stuff they get in.

412
00:30:34,100 --> 00:30:38,580
They typically come from energy degrees.

413
00:30:38,580 --> 00:30:39,060
Yeah.

414
00:30:39,060 --> 00:30:44,660
Which, you know, they might not push this end of work.

415
00:30:44,660 --> 00:30:44,900
Yeah.

416
00:30:45,940 --> 00:30:51,300
Um, so it's probably hard for, like, if I didn't do my placement here,

417
00:30:51,300 --> 00:30:55,300
I wouldn't have known that this was even a thing.

418
00:30:55,300 --> 00:30:56,100
Exactly. Yeah.

419
00:30:58,580 --> 00:31:00,500
Yeah, I don't know. Just get out there.

420
00:31:00,500 --> 00:31:03,300
Like, put in your CV.

421
00:31:03,300 --> 00:31:09,300
I think a lot of people, a lot of companies are like, like to help young, like.

422
00:31:10,420 --> 00:31:16,180
My main advice to graduates is to not be afraid to say you don't understand things.

423
00:31:16,180 --> 00:31:17,540
It's laughable.

424
00:31:17,540 --> 00:31:19,780
It's like I go on about this all the time.

425
00:31:19,780 --> 00:31:20,660
It annoys me.

426
00:31:21,700 --> 00:31:22,980
Don't learn if you don't know.

427
00:31:24,020 --> 00:31:25,460
Don't learn if you don't know.

428
00:31:25,460 --> 00:31:29,860
So you have to say you don't know what you're doing to be able to learn.

429
00:31:29,860 --> 00:31:31,860
I am six years in this sector.

430
00:31:31,860 --> 00:31:32,500
I still don't know.

431
00:31:32,500 --> 00:31:32,980
Oh, actually.

432
00:31:32,980 --> 00:31:35,700
We're just, we're just living, living a little prayer.

433
00:31:35,700 --> 00:31:40,900
We're just 20, 27 and 20, I'm taught by seven, 26.

434
00:31:41,780 --> 00:31:44,260
26 and 28 year old teenagers.

435
00:31:44,260 --> 00:31:45,060
Teenagers.

436
00:31:46,580 --> 00:31:48,420
Uh, but you know, okay, that's good.

437
00:31:48,420 --> 00:31:53,140
Well, like yours is actually quite insightful and like, you know, it's like quite encouraging

438
00:31:53,140 --> 00:31:53,940
to people.

439
00:31:53,940 --> 00:31:57,780
Mine was always be certain when they show you inserts.

440
00:31:57,780 --> 00:31:58,340
Hmm.

441
00:31:58,340 --> 00:32:00,340
Yeah. Nice way to round it off.

442
00:32:00,340 --> 00:32:01,220
Nice way to round it off.

443
00:32:01,220 --> 00:32:02,580
I want to clarify that as well.

444
00:32:02,580 --> 00:32:08,420
When you get into the sector, you're an EPC, every EPC you lodge up into the system, it

445
00:32:08,420 --> 00:32:12,180
gets QA'd or it can get like queried by an external body.

446
00:32:12,980 --> 00:32:14,580
So you have to prepare evidence.

447
00:32:15,140 --> 00:32:20,180
So yeah, that, that's why I feel like, you know, I feel like mine's more an inside one.

448
00:32:20,180 --> 00:32:22,180
Like, you know, people on the inside get it.

449
00:32:23,140 --> 00:32:28,100
You've seen, you know, whenever you upload your, you upload your EPCs, you know,

450
00:32:28,100 --> 00:32:30,820
EPC for an thumbs up down the bottom.

451
00:32:30,820 --> 00:32:35,060
If you are unhappy with your EPC, it's contact us, call me, address.

452
00:32:36,820 --> 00:32:37,300
I don't know.

453
00:32:37,300 --> 00:32:38,980
What if you're happy about it?

454
00:32:38,980 --> 00:32:41,300
Yeah. What about if you're just, if you're happy, but

455
00:32:41,300 --> 00:32:42,980
What if you wanted to say job well done?

456
00:32:44,660 --> 00:32:46,660
Here, that, I see that EPC you did.

457
00:32:46,660 --> 00:32:47,460
You just lodged.

458
00:32:47,460 --> 00:32:47,700
Yeah.

459
00:32:47,700 --> 00:32:48,500
Really loved it.

460
00:32:48,500 --> 00:32:48,980
Good job.

461
00:32:49,540 --> 00:32:52,020
Your system efficiency, like, you know, wow.

462
00:32:53,060 --> 00:32:53,940
How did you do that?

464
00:32:55,220 --> 00:32:55,940
Can you show me?

465
00:32:55,940 --> 00:32:56,580
Can you show me?

466
00:32:56,580 --> 00:32:59,620
This is the, like, I feel like

467
00:32:59,620 --> 00:33:01,140
This is the delirium.

468
00:33:01,140 --> 00:33:01,640
Yeah.

470
00:33:03,860 --> 00:33:06,420
But yeah, that is all I have for you.

471
00:33:06,420 --> 00:33:10,500
But wait, so again, thanks for coming on and you've been really interesting to talk to

472
00:33:10,500 --> 00:33:11,940
and you will most certainly be back.

473
00:33:13,300 --> 00:33:14,500
Yeah, can't wait to come back.

474
00:33:14,500 --> 00:33:15,000
Bye.

475
00:33:16,500 --> 00:33:18,980
But yeah, thanks for listening to Carbon Climates.

476
00:33:18,980 --> 00:33:22,740
If you follow us on Instagram at carbon underscore climates,

477
00:33:22,740 --> 00:33:28,820
you can keep up to date with all our latest episode and any news or information and posts

478
00:33:28,820 --> 00:33:29,460
we might share.

479
00:33:30,100 --> 00:33:31,540
Okay, but thanks for listening.

480
00:33:31,540 --> 00:33:32,040
Bye.

481
00:33:32,040 --> 00:33:53,080
Bye.

