EPLabel Online

EPLabel Online produces building energy certificates based on operational ratings. It enables an organisation to generate an energy certificate for each site or building in its portfolio and determine their carbon footprint and energy efficiency.

EPLabel Online (http://online.eplabel.org) enables an organisation to generate a free demonstration energy certificate and determine the full carbon footprint and energy efficiency of each site or building in their portfolio. In EPLabel terminology, a "site" is the premises whose energy performance is to be assessed and can comprise a part of a building, a whole building or a collection of buildings e.g. on a campus.

The data required to produce an energy certificate for a "site" based on its operational rating comprises at the simplest level, aside from administrative details, the floor area of the site and the annual use of all purchased energy carriers i.e. fossil fuels, district heating, grid electricity, etc. More detailed data can be entered where available to provide a more insightful (and often better) result, such as:

• A breakdown of the total "site" area by applicable building types e.g. office, sports facility, etc., allowing the system to create a more representative benchmark.
  
• Identification of any special energy uses not allowed for by the benchmarks; whilst these are an intrinsic part of the site's carbon footprint, where they are accurately quantifiable they can be deducted from the total energy use before it is compared with the benchmark to provide a fairer judgement of the building's energy efficiency.
  
• Quantification of the contribution of any on-site renewable energy sources, allowing the total energy used by the "site" to be determined.

Once the necessary data is entered, the system creates a demonstration energy certificate and the data and results are stored in an Online database. Each user has a 'private' area accessible only to them. A Help facility instructs users about each entry they are asked to make.

EPLabel Online is designed to be used across the EU and in other parts of the world. The demonstration version illustrates its use in 14 countries and 10 languages.