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Energy management, reduced energy consumption, green issues, the Kyoto Protocols and the environmentally friendly built environment are some of the currently fashionable phrases. But what do they mean to the building owner/occupier? Why must building services engineers, architects and manufacturers now pay attention? For two reasons: the rising cost of energy and increasing legislation.

Remember the oil crisis in the '70s? Remember the long lines of cars queuing for restricted amounts of petrol? In the UK we even had a three day working week imposed on industry when striking coal miners caused power rationing. We all learned then that there would not be an unlimited supply of fossil fuels.

We know that we cannot avoid energy crisis. It was deferred, but it is rushing upon us. People continue to aspire to a higher standard of living and consumption of goods, and therefore energy, continues apace. Now developing countries such as India and China want the same things too.

It is inevitable that energy consumption must be controlled. Western governments are already putting legislation in place, the USA included. In 1978 Congress passed the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act that laid the groundwork for deregulation and competition by opening wholesale power markets to non-utility producers of electricity.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) implemented the Energy Policy Act in 1996 with the stated objective to "remove impediments to competition in wholesale trade and to bring more efficient, lower cost power to the Nation's electricity customers". The FERC ordered open and equal access to utilities' transmission lines for all electricity producers. This facilitated the States' restructuring of the electric power industry, allowing customers direct access to retail power generation.

Federal and State initiatives are changing the US electric power industry from highly regulated, local monopolies which provided their customers with a total package of all electric services, into competitive companies that provide the electricity while the utilities continue to provide transmission or distribution services. States are moving towards an increasingly deregulated industry in which prices are determined by competitive markets.

Leading with legislation
Almost half of the states have passed legislation and/or regulations to restructure their electric power industry. Europe has lagged behind the US by some seven years. However, it is enacting legislation that will cause drastic reassessments in the energy industry.

Directive 2003/54/EC and Regulation (EEC) no 1228/2003 are all about conditions for access to the network for cross-border exchanges in electricity. Member states have agreed to bring into force necessary laws and regulations to comply by 1 July 2004.

The European parliament and Council passed the energy performance directive 2002/91/EC on the 16 December 2002 and it was accepted and published (ie must be acted upon by the member states) on 4 January 2003. The Intelligent Energy – Europe Directive 1230/2003/EC was also accepted on 26 June this year and published on 4 August. The outcome of this legislation is that European governments will force a situation similar to that of the US. Energy users negotiate power buying from the grid in time chunks (usually four-hour units). Sophisticated software monitors both the facilities' power consumption and the fluctuating price of power units on offer and can switch suppliers automatically, generating a report through the energy management system – the software can be overridden through operator intervention.

In terms of building certification Europe has a model to copy in the US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Energy Star programme. To date, over 1000 of the US's most energy efficient buildings have earned EPA's Energy Star designation. The buildings receiving these awards use about 40% less energy than average buildings, without compromising comfort or services. In 2002, these buildings spent $130 million less in energy bills and reduced CO₂ by £2.6 billion compared to average buildings.

Over the past two years, 1075 EPA awards went to buildings in 47 states. Among them are: 339 properties owned by commercial real estate organisations and leased to commercial tenants; 335 public schools; 240 owned and occupied by corporations, including offices, hotels and supermarkets; and 161 owned by federal, state or local governments. ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½s qualify by earning a score of 75 or higher on EPA's 100-point national energy rating scale. These buildings must also meet industry standards for comfort and indoor air quality, as verified by a professional engineer.

Across the US, leading companies and organisations are discovering the value of having an energy management strategy. EPA research suggests that leading companies in energy management outperform competitors by as much as 10%. When building end users understand the advantages, support will be there for European energy certification.

These coming developments offer a competitive advantage to those shrewd enough to prepare in advance. A property company's marketing can make much of a building that carries a good energy management certificate. While a company's financial director demands lower overhead costs, the facilities manager desires easier to manage systems and the IT manager wishes nothing to endanger or disrupt the IP infrastructure. Effect – next generation energy management systems utilising web services to integrate all the currently disparate software systems to deliver the intelligent building.

Organisations whose buildings are from inception, designed, constructed and fitted out to allow complete energy control are offering clients a more cost-efficient business future.