Who do you believe about energy saving data?

From an energy saving study of UK professionals carried out in November 2015, just five percent were very confident in manufacturer claims of energy saving, whilst almost a quarter were not confident at all.

Carbon Trust

Manufacturers’ claims about the expected energy efficiency performance of equipment are not fully trusted by their customers. This was a key finding from new research released today by the Carbon Trust, which reveals that just 5 percent of professionals with responsibility for procuring energy consuming equipment for their organisations are very confident in the energy saving claims made by manufacturers, with a quarter (24%) not confident at all.

Whole life costs are important

The Carbon Trust undertook the survey of 135 professionals across the public and private sector, looking at behaviour, attitudes and intentions related to the procurement of energy saving equipment. One in three stated that a lack of credible information about equipment was a significant barrier to improving their organisation’s energy efficiency. The research also found that two-thirds of respondents did not fully take into account the whole life costs of equipment when making purchasing decisions.

Popular energy saving choices

Lighting is by some distance the most popular purchase, with nine out of ten organisations having invested in it over the past two years and 82 percent expecting further investment in the next 12 months. Other popular categories for expected upcoming purchases include HVAC equipment (56%), boiler equipment (52%), electric motors and drives (47%) and pipework insulation (45%).

Some categories show notable growths in popularity for intention to purchase in the coming 12 months when comparing it with results for equipment bought over the past two years. These include combined heat and power systems (16% to 24%), heat pumps (18% to 27%) and solar thermal technology (13% to 17%).

Barriers to energy efficiency

The survey also found that the most significant barriers to improving an organisation’s energy efficiency are: making a business case for purchasing energy efficient equipment (57%); competing organisational priorities (50%); availability of finance (38%); risk of disruption to operations (35%); lack of credible information about products (33%); and finding good quality suppliers (32%).

Energy Technology List (ETL)

Another finding was that almost half of respondents (45%) were not aware of the existence of the Energy Technology List (ETL). The ETL is a UK government scheme managed by the Carbon Trust on behalf of the Department for Energy and Climate Change. It independently tests and lists products that show top quartile energy saving performance.

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