Select Committee on Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs Minutes of Evidence

TABLE 5

Government estate: energy and cost indicators¹⁶

Civil Departments, including Agencies	Energy Indicator Cost Indicator
	Fossil fuel kWh/m2			Electricity kWh/m2			Fossil fuel £/m2			Electricity £/m2
	1990-91	1995-96	1996-97	1990-91	1995-96	1996-97	1990-91	1995-96	1996-97		1990-91	1995-96	1996-97
MAFF "Main estate"4	286	151	148	81	94	91	3.58	1.89	1.85		4.88	5.64	5.46
MAFF—Laboratories	578	628	485	235	315	233	7.23	7.85	6.06		14.09	18.90	13.87
Cabinet Office	291	176	157	94	95	116	3.63	2.20	1.96		5.65	5.68	6.96
Culture, Media and Sport10	156	174	153	141	150	169	1.96	2.18	1.91		8.48	8.99	10.15
Customs and Excise	161	84	91	130	113	126	2.01	1.05	1.14		7.80	6.78	7.58
Education and Employment	166	120	120	152	178	193	2.08	1.50	1.50		9.13	10.71	11.59
Employment Service	220	182	168	82	87	93	2.74	2.27	2.10		4.91	5.23	5.59
Environment3	282	169	181	87	88	99	3.53	2.11	2.27		5.23	5.25	5.92
Environment—HSE6	187	182	158	103	84	81	2.34	2.27	1.98		6.20	5.02	4.85
Environment—QEII CC2,6	153	233	165	270	272	272	1.91	2.91	2.06		16.21	16.30	16.32
FCO	218	168	183	145	183	194	2.73	2.10	2.29		8.71	10.97	11.61
Health7	174	116	103	107	197	188	2.17	1.45	1.28		6.42	11.82	11.26
Home Office	312	297	295	136	143	138	3.90	3.71	3.69		8.18	8.58	8.28
Home Office—Prisons2	507	446	431	69	82	83	6.36	5.57	5.39		4.15	4.89	4.96
Inland Revenue	166	127	146	105	92	87	2.08	1.59	1.83		6.33	5.51	5.24
Internal Development9	381	411	271	220	182	137	4.77	5.14	3.39		13.23	10.92	8.23
Lord Chancellor's Dept	259	181	181	108	105	102	3.24	2.26	2.26		6.50	6.31	6.12
National Savings	191	156	184	208	168	149	2.39	1.96	2.31		12.49	10.10	8.93
Northern Ireland	234	193	195	109	97	101	2.92	2.41	2.44		6.53	5.84	6.16
Scottish Office8	258	211	208	91	126	126	3.22	2.63	2.60		5.45	7.57	7.53
Scottish Court Service8	163	100	100	64	45	45	2.03	1.25	1.25		3.86	2.70	2.70
Scottish Prison Service	533	451	474	67	72	75	6.67	5.64	5.92		4.04	4.29	4.50
Social Security11	278	207	227	103	113	121	3.48	2.59	2.84		6.20	6.76	7.29
Trade and Industry	372	122	124	196	157	136	4.65	1.53	1.54		11.77	9.40	8.17
Transport3,12	196	134	105	114	103	97	2.45	1.68	1.31		6.84	6.18	5.81
Treasury	248	208	201	107	107	122	3.09	2.60	2.51		6.40	6.40	7.30
Welsh Office	158	98	108	126	133	131	1.97	1.22	1.35		7.55	8.00	7.89
Total	302	253	255	99	101	102	3.78	3.17	3.18		5.91	6.08	6.12

¹ Progress is expressed as a percentage relative to the 1990-91 base year value of the performance indicator in question. Positive figures represent improvement. The standard indicator, against which the target to improve energy efficiency by 20 per cent, by 31 March 2000 is measured, is obtained by weather-correcting energy consumption and converting to costs using "standard prices" for fuel (6p/kWh for electricity and 1.25p/kWh for all fossil fuels) then dividing by floor area. Conversion to money both reflects the relative costs of electricity and fossil fuel and their environmental impact, and the use of fixed prices eliminates the effects of tariff changes which distort the comparison of fuel bills.
² Although figures have been prepared on a consistent basis, caution should be exercised in comparing the energy use of different Departments and Agencies because of differences in their estate and the nature of their work. For example, the operational needs of prisons and the QEII Conference Centre mean that they have a pattern of energy use which is different from that of a Department which has predominantly office accommodation. Expenditure on energy and investment figures are included for information only. Investment figures relate to clearly identifiable energy efficiency measures undertaken by Departments. Energy efficiency is an integral part of all major construction projects, including building refurbishment and plant replacement and the figure "0" for some Departments does not necessarily mean there has been no investment, just that the investment was not clearly identifiable.
³ The average performance figure for the civil estate cannot be derived by simply adding together the individual Departmental progress and dividing by the number of Departments because this does not allow for the large variations in consumption. The correct figure is obtained by calculating the value of the performance indicator for the year in question and the base year, for the civil estate as a whole, and calculating the reduction relative to the base year.
⁴ The energy performance for MAFF's "Main estate" and its Laboratories continues to improve with ongoing investment in energy schemes, continued staff awareness programmes and changes to estate classification and further rationalisation in 1996-97.
⁵ Last full year for the former Environment and Transport Departments. The former Environment Department now has a greater proportion of air-conditioned buildings than in the base year, because of estate rationalisation, relocation to new HQ buildings and inclusion of some Government Offices for the Regions.
⁶ HSE was removed from the DFEE estate on the formation of that Department. QEII Conference Centre is reported separately because of its business led demands. The initial sharp rise in consumption following the 1990-91 base year was directly attributable to increased revenue earning activity, which has continued throughout the reporting period, and the more recent decline in consumption reflects the effect of energy conservation measures undertaken at the site.
⁷ Rationalisation of the estate since the base year has led to staff moving from several naturally ventilated buildings to more densely occupied air-conditioned buildings, all equipped with information technology equipment.
⁸ Base year is 1991-92.
⁹ Base year in 1991-92. Data for Natural Resources Institute no longer included following its transfer to the University of Greenwich.
¹⁰ Base year is 1994-95 by which time energy efficient lighting and other improvements already installed in buildings which are already fully air-conditioned with intensive IT usage.
¹¹ Workload is increasing, affecting occupancy and requiring offices to be occupied for longer, increasing the use of energy. Greater use of information technology, expansion of the use of air conditioning and the upgrading of lighting levels has increased electricity consumption.
¹² Figures exclude the Vehicle Inspectorate Agency.
¹³ The Ministry of Defence (MoD) estate is different from the rest of the Government estate, and has been undergoing more radical changes. It is therefore treated in a slightly different way. In common with the civil estate, it has greatly increased its use of information technology. Full data for the years between 1990-91 and 1993-94 are not available, so the table shows the results for 1994-95 onwards.
¹⁴ Floor area cannot be calculated for the majority of the MoD estate. However, to enable comparisons with data for the civil estate which is adjusted for changes in floor area, a proxy has been used. Changes in consumption arising from estate changes have been estimated as a result of estate adjustments, with appropriate adjustments made to the gross data for the years following the change. In common with other Departments, the MoD has a target to achieve a 20 per cent improvement by 31 March 2000. Positive figures represent improvement.
¹⁵ This shows the combined results for the whole of the Government estate based on the data in tables 1, 2 and 3. It is not a simple average of the data, but reflects the proportion of total consumption represented by each part of the estate (see also note 3). Some Departments have a different base year, and the individually agreed base year has been used for the purposes of this table, where appropriate.
¹⁶ In some instances the base year is not 1990-91, but for the purposes of tables 2 and 5 the agreed base year has been used in the calculation.

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Prepared 17 August 1998