This summer, the heat waves are being collected as if they were trading cards and looking for respite in the air conditioning can be tempting; just by pressing a button, the room temperature goes from 40ºC to 23ºC. But the energy consumption resulting from this easy and convenient action has a direct impact on the electricity bill and also on the environment.
For those who are not sufficiently encouraged by this, it may be useful to remember that Royal Decree-Law 14/2022 remains in force, which from August 1 establishes temperatures of 27ºC for air conditioning in summer (25ºC in places where light physical work is done), and whose validity ends in November.
The rule applies to public administrations, commercial premises, cultural and leisure spaces and transport stations (including airports). If these spaces are air-conditioned, the decree also establishes that they must have automatic closing doors to avoid energy waste.
The Administration concluded that the inspections on compliance with these measures were the responsibility of each autonomous community. In Catalonia, the body in charge of its implementation is the Department of Business and Work, within the framework of the Generalitat. “During this first year, we provided informative and awareness-raising support to the establishments regarding the requirements of the decree in order to make compliance possible,” a spokesperson for the department told this newspaper.
On Tuesday, the decree turned a year old and the authorities warn that, from now on, “informative files may lead to disciplinary files”. The punishments will be, in financial terms, up to 5,000 euros for cases of minor misconduct, and up to 100,000 euros for those considered serious.
This body has carried out 1,200 inspections in Catalonia, in the period from September 1, 2022 to June 31, 2023. Most of the actions were favorable, although the exact number is not known, due to lack of records. Through the actions taken, information has been obtained regarding the door closing system, the limitation of the air temperature, the information with informative posters about the temperature, humidity and the measures that are being applied. “It has been established that the majority of establishments comply with the regulations, although the lack of doors has been detected and that some establishments required to have the information poster do not have them”, explains the department, adding that in any case, if breaches were detected, “requests were made for them to be resolved”.
Despite the confidence of the Administration, within the energy sector there are some versions that are not so optimistic about the success in the implementation of the decree. The impression of José Enrique Vázquez, president of the Group of Energy Managers (GGE) of Catalonia, is that the level of application that has been achieved is very low. The absence of sanctions moved the compliance of this rule towards the field of personal conscience, and not so much towards that of legislative obligation. “There are those who think that it was a decree with the intention of making people aware, but I think that, in this case, the awareness has not worked”, concludes Vázquez.
Automatic doors and the signaling of energy saving measures, temperature and humidity, are the least complete, according to the expert, who believes that it is easy for them to occur in large chains and public buildings; for small businesses, the degree of complication may be greater. “In the case of small businesses, the application of the measure depends on the characteristics of each premises; you have to guarantee working conditions, comfort and product quality” in the case of food establishments, introduces Laura Garcia, spokesperson for the Energy Commission of the College of Engineers of Catalonia. It is important to remember, in this sense, that the 27ºC that was established was room temperature, and not what the air conditioner itself indicates.
For his part, Lluís Morer, responsible for the energy saving and efficiency area of ??the Catalan Energy Institute (Icaen) defends that the measure has no technical complications and that it is “in the social sphere, in which it is still you have to work on it”. He adds that, after years of being used to lower temperatures at home and at work, finding comfort in 27ºC requires effort.
Beyond sanctions and awareness, what seems to have really motivated the establishments was the price of light. “Hoteliers were forced to come up with energy saving plans to reduce unaffordable electricity bills”, declares Hostaleria Madrid. The association adds that the most important effect that the decree had was to accelerate this dynamic that was already in the establishments and of which no serious breaches have been detected in this community either.
