Display Energy Certificate (DEC)

5 Oct 2020

Every year UCC, like other public bodies, are required to undertake an exercise to calculate the energy performance of our buildings and display that performance through a Display Energy Certificate (DEC). The original intent of the DEC process was to give building owners an idea of how their buildings are performing in comparison to othe

Every year UCC, like other public bodies, are required to undertake an exercise to calculate the energy performance of our buildings and display that performance through a Display Energy Certificate (DEC).

The original intent of the DEC process was to give building owners an idea of how their buildings are performing in comparison to other similar buildings and depending on the rating achieved, nudge those owners to make energy efficiency improvements.

More recently the topic of DEC’s has made its way into Irelands Climate Action Plan, with the goal of increasing the number of DEC’s generated in Ireland.

Our most recent DEC process was completed in November 2020 and the results are tabled below and raise a number of interesting observations, most notably;

The Beaufort building, opened in 2015, holds UCC’s only A rated certificate.

40% of the buildings covered achieved a B rating, including the Mardyke Arena, Glucksman Gallery and the Connolly complex.

Our historic Quad building came in with a C2 rating.

Our most energy efficient building, the Western Gateway,  registered a D rating due to the energy intensive nature of the research activities that take place within the building.

The Mardyke Pavilion achieved our lowest rating of G, driven largely by the energy consumed in the flood lighting systems installed in the track and pitches.

In the coming weeks we will posting our DEC certs in the buildings as well as making them available online for you to review.

Some further information on the DEC process is listed below but in the meantime feel free to contact Pat Mehigan with any queries or comments you may have.

Thank you.

What is a Display Energy Certificate (DEC)?

A Display Energy Certificate (DEC) shows the grade awarded, energy and CO2 performance indicators, and the buildings energy trends. A DEC provides a building energy rating  from A to G, where A is very efficient and G is the least efficient and are based on the actual amount of metered energy used in the building over a period of 12 months.

What is the policy behind the requirement to display a DEC?

The introduction of DECs came about to raise public awareness of energy efficiency in publicly accessed buildings and to encourage building owners to adopt energy efficiency measures by displaying their energy performance.

Buildings that require a DEC

• A building other than a dwelling, which is occupied by a public body, and has a total useful floor area greater than 250m2, and is frequently visited by the public.
• A building other than a dwelling, which has a total useful floor area greater than 500m2, and is frequently visited by the public.

How a DEC is calculated?

Benchmarks are used to take local factors into consideration when calculating the DEC. Benchmarks include specific building use categories with standard use patterns, certain locations, and climate.

Sources:https://www.seai.ie/business-and-public-sector/display-energy-certificate/