The Green Deal assessment is the gateway to the Green Deal, no one will be able to enter into a Green Deal plan without a qualifying assessment of the building and recommendations for measures that could improve the energy efficiency of their home.
The assessment and accompanying advice must be carried out by a qualified and authorised Green Deal advisor. They will have a mixture of technical knowledge, practical competence and ‘soft’ skills to provide households and businesses with the advice they need to take informed decisions.
A significant amount of work has already been done to put in place the necessary qualifications, specifications for all Green Deal Advice certification bodies, organisations and advisors, and the tools and methodologies to produce assessments to support Green Deal in the domestic and non-domestic sector. More information on each of these is set out below.
Why have an assessment?
An assessment of the property is an important part of the Green Deal process. If we are to realise a step change in energy efficiency across Great Britain it is essential that households and businesses have reliable and impartial information about the energy efficiency of their buildings. This is also important in providing consumers with the information they need to make an informed choice about whether a Green Deal is right for them.
What is the Green Deal assessment process?
Domestic sector
The assessment for the domestic sector will be in two parts.
- Assessment of the fabric of the building resulting in an improved Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)
- Occupancy assessment to take into account additional information about the way the current householder(s) uses the property.
Fabric Assessment
The first step in the assessment process is an assessment of the fabric of the property to produce an EPC. The EPC will provide a set of recommendations aimed at improving the energy efficiency of the property. The assessment will be produced using an approved tool using an improved methodology (known as RdSAP).
The changes made to the methodology will improve the energy assessment of dwellings and provide better information on benefits from improving their energy performance. This is needed as part of the continuing improvements of the methodology for energy assessments and to support the delivery of Green Deal policy.
- Some additional improvement measures are being included. These include flat roof and room-in-roof insulation, floor insulation and waste water heat recovery.
- Additional data items to recognise wall thickness, more alternative walls, and recognition of the need for further investigation in the case of system build, stone wall and hard to treat cavity walls.
- Regional weather is to be used for calculation of all costs and savings.
- Calculation of whether measures are likely to be eligible for Green Deal finance.
Occupancy Assessment
The second step in the assessment process will take into account additional information about the way the current householder(s) uses the property. This assessment will factor in some of the main elements that can affect actual energy use in the household, including:
- Number of occupants
- The heating system and rooms heated by each system
- Actual temperature the home is heated to
- Hours of heating
- Annual fuel use and an indication of reliability
More information on the occupancy assessment including a link to a beta version of the occupancy tool on the BRE website will be available here shortly.
Non-domestic sector
The assessment method for non-domestic buildings will build upon the existing SBEM methodology for producing an EPC, taking into account the way the existing occupants use the building to produce estimated energy savings and recommendations. In addition to allowing the default EPC assumptions to be changed to better reflect actual building-use patterns, the new assessment will factor-in energy management practices; fuel tariff information; and historical energy consumption data, where available.
The combination of a more bespoke fabric assessment; actual energy use data; and information about how the building is being used should allow the Advisor to provide the customer with the best possible information to allow investment decisions to be made.
The Building Research Establishment (BRE) are developing the Green Deal tool, with a pilot version available on the BRE website for testing.
What are the requirements to be a qualified, authorised advisor?
A qualified, authorised Green Deal Advisor is any individual who:
- meets the requirements to be set out in both the National Occupational Standards (NOS) for Green Deal Advisors;
- is employed by an organisation that has been certified by the appointed accreditation body against the relevant Green Deal Scheme Standard, has signed the Code of Practice, and appears on the Green Deal register.
How will advisors get paid?
To enable flexibility, the approach to payment of assessors and the price of the assessment will be determined by the market. Research suggested that to enable a wide appeal a variety of payment solutions should be available. Once the Green Deal is established, the market will be monitored to ensure it is operating effectively..
How will advisors’ work be monitored/ quality assured?
We believe that those providing Green Deal assessments and associated advice should be certified by an accredited certification body. These certification bodies will be accredited to deliver certification in line with a Green Deal Scheme Standard that will cover both what is expected of them and what is expected of the companies/organisations delivering assessor services. The United Kingdom Accreditation service (UKAS), has been appointed to independently accredit the certification bodies.
Specifications for certification bodies and organisations providing advice
Development of the standards for both the certification bodies and organisations offering Green Deal Advice services is almost complete. Both sets of standards are now available for download and have been developed as part of a consultative approach initiated last September.
The standards are now being tested as part of the UKAS pilots currently running, with a number of potential certification bodies being assessed against them with a view to becoming Green Deal accredited. The results of the pilots will be assessed during April 2012 and any improvements incorporated into the published Scheme Standard.
UKAS have also recently announced further applications from potential certification bodies to participate in the roll-out programme for accredited certification of Green Deal installers and advice services. Invitations were sent out in February inviting applications for the 20 DECC funded places included in the roll-out programme and the deadline for submitting these is 16th March 2012.
The assessment of organisations on the roll-out programme will commence in May 2012.
The draft standards for both certification bodies and organisations providing Green Deal advice can be found below:
How do I get trained as a Green Deal advisor?
Training will not be available until the qualifications based on the National Occupational Standards have been developed and endorsed by Asset Skills.
The NOS have now been approved by the UKNOS Panel and can be found on the Asset Skills: National Occupational Standards for Property Services web pages.
In addition, a syllabus to accompany the National Occupational Standards for utilisation by awarding organisations and training providers has been developed. The syllabus will be published shortly and details will be made available on this website.
We anticipate that learning providers will begin to offer training that leads to a Green Deal Advisor certificate/qualification from June 2012.
Further information will be provided about routes for the Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning (APEL) shortly. We are currently having discussions with Awarding Organisations and other stakeholders on the development of a robust standard APEL framework that will ensure that candidates are awarded credit for relevant experience or qualifications.
How do I become employed as a Green Deal assessor?
The Green Deal assessor may be employed in one of several ways. They could be:
- a salaried employee or sub-contractor of one or more Green Deal providers/installers;
- an independent, self-employed Green Deal assessor commissioned directly by a consumer;
- a public/third sector official or representative of a civil society organisation funded (or self-funded) to deliver Green Deal assessments
Roles in providing Green Deal assessments
The main industry roles are:
Green Deal Advisors
Green Deal Advisors will need to be active members of an accredited Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) Accreditation Scheme for either Domestic Energy Assessors (DEAs) or Non-Domestic Energy Assessors (NDEAs), as appropriate to the sector they intend to provide Green Deal assessments for. In Scotland, they will need to have obtained membership of an Approved Organisation, appointed by Scottish Ministers in the production of domestic or non-domestic Energy Performance Certificates, as appropriate.
In addition to the skills and competences required of energy assessors, DECC has worked with Asset Skills to develop f National Occupational Standards (NOS) for Green Deal Advisors as well as a publicly available syllabus that will provide more detail on the knowledge that will be required for the role. The NOS will be used to develop qualifications and training and we expect training providers to begin offering training courses from June 2012. We are also looking at routes for the Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning (APEL) and will provide more details shortly.
We expect training for Green Deal Advisors to be available from June 2012. However, to avoid being mis-sold training, please check this website for further updates on when training will become available.
Certification Bodies
Certification Bodies will need to be assessed by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) to the standard EN 45011 and against a set of guidelines for certifying the provision of Green Deal Advisor Services. Once they have obtained accreditation, they will be able to certify organisations that employ Green Deal Advisors, who may be Sole Traders or larger companies.
DECC is developing the Certification Body guidelines as well as the specification for the work that Green Deal Advisors will be expected to carry out, whoever they work for. These guidelines and specification, which together will be known as the Scheme Standard, are being tested through a pilot programme being run by UKAS.
Applications have closed for the UKAS pilot programme but we expect general applications for accreditation in this area to be open from February 2012. More information about making applications will be provided here and on the UKAS website when available.
Learning Providers
DECC and Asset Skills have been working closely with Awarding Organisations and potential learning providers on the development of the NOS for Green Deal Advisors. We expect Green Deal qualifications to be taken up by a number of Ofqual-approved Awarding Organisations, and these qualifications will be endorsed by Asset Skills.