Energy Performance Certificates for Buildings

Energy Performance Certificate for building is an entirely new document implemented by Law No 177/2006 Coll. which is the amendment of Act No. 406/2000 Coll. This document is used for simple and clear evaluation of the building in terms of consumption of all energy that enters the building - energy for heating, cooling, ventilation, hot water preparation and lighting. The contents of the certificate and its processing is closely regulated by Decree No 148/2007 Coll. - The Energy Performance of Buildings.

Energy Performance Certificate shall not be older than 10 years and effective 1.1.2009 is a mandatory part of the documentation for the construction of new buildings, major changes in the energy of existing buildings with floor area over 1000 m² and also in the sale or rental of buildings or parts thereof, if for these buildings was obligation to obtain the Certificate.

Environmental and economic assessment of alternative heating must be included in the Certificate for new buildings with total floor area over 1,000 m². Alternative heating is specified under Section 6, paragraph 4 as:

• decentralized energy supply systems based on renewable energy,
• combined production of heat and power,
• district or block central heating, if necessary, cooling,
• heat pumps.

Operators of buildings used for the purposes of education, health, culture, commerce, sport, accommodation and catering services, customer centers of the water services, energy, transport and telecommunications and public administration on the total area over 1000 m² are required to place a Certificate on a publicly accessible location in the building. This obligation applies, however, only for those operators of buildings, which had the obligation to have the Certificate processed due to the construction of new buildings or major alterations of the completed buildings.

The building owner or association of owners demonstrate among others using the Energy Performance Certificate the general technical requirements for construction to ensure compliance with the requirements on the energy performance of buildings and the fulfillment of comparative indicators, which provides Decree No. 148/2007 Coll., and to meet the requirements of the relevant Czech harmonized technical standards. Decree No. 148/2007 also lays down requirements on the energy performance of buildings, comparative indicators, the method for calculating the energy performance of buildings and details relating to compliance with these requirements. For changes of completed buildings the requirements have to be met for the entire building or for individual changes of systems and features of the building.

The requirements for energy performance of buildings and the fulfillment of comparative indicators, which provides Decree No. 148/2007 Coll., and the requirements of the relevant Czech harmonized technical standards do not need to be met for following buildings:

• where the energy audit shows that this is not technically and operationally possible and economically feasible with regard to the lifetime of the building, its operational use, or if it contravenes the requirements of special legislation (eg. Act No.20/1987 Coll. On the State Heritage care),
• whose operating life is planned for a period of up to 2 years,
• experimental,
• with occasional use, especially for religious activities,
• residential which are intended to be used less than 4 months of the year,
• standing alone with a total floor area of less than 50 m²,
• containing internal heat source technology,
• in production and industrial zones,
• business premisses and uninhabitable agricultural buildings with low annual energy consumption for heating.

Energy Performance Certificate for Buildings, in contrast to the previously valid building energy license by Decree No. 291/2001, may be issued only by those defined by law. These are energy auditors and/or the authorized persons in the fields of building construction, technological equipment of buildings and technology of buildings' environment. The authorized person must be first certified by Ministry of Industry and Trade in details of issuing the Energy Performance Certificate. The list of these authorized persons, list of energy experts, is kept by Ministry of Industry and Trade. Ing. Pavel Kříha, one of the statutory representatives of TERMS CZ s.r.o., listed at the Ministry of Industry and Trade under No.0043 as energy expert ensures that the Energy Performance Certificate for Building issued by our company will meet all necessary requirements under the above laws, regulations and standards.