Call to scrap SAP logged on Government ‘Freedom’ web site
A call for SAP (Standard Assessment Procedure for Energy Rating of Dwellings) to be scrapped has been made by Neil Afram, managing director of Space Airconditioning on the Government’s new ‘Your Freedom Website’. Neil Afram claims, ‘It [SAP] is incapable of realistically representing current design practices or technological advancement, and its software is riddled with embedded (hidden) data that disregards industry standards and is based on outdated, inaccurate or inappropriate assumptions.’
Despite detailed comments provided by industry representatives on issues concerning SAP during the recent review consultation, he still sees SAP as a ‘highly complex, yet near-useless, assessment procedure, which cannot provide true or reliable energy ratings for new or existing dwellings and treats the efficiency benefits of renewable-heat technologies such as heat pumps unfairly’.
He asserts that SAP should be scrapped in favour of a simplified building-energy-modelling programme similar to the used for non-dwellings and which acknowledges current industry standards and performance data.
