Talking with expert Carlos Santos from Neves & Ferrão

Carlos Santos, qualified energy performance certification expert for the past 11 years.

Carlos Santos qualified in Civil Engineering from the Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa in 1998. He worked at the Gabinete de Projecto Planear (1998/1999). He was responsible for production at the empresa de materiais de construção Serva and Coralva (1999/2003), and in 2003 went to the Portuguese Navy until 2009.

In 2008 he took the Energy Certification Course at Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universidade de Lisboa and became an energy performance certification expert after passing the exam at ADENE.Between 2009 and 2013, he was at ISQ working in partnership with ADENE.

Carlos started working at Neves & Ferrão in 2014 and joined the recently created Energy Certification department. We spoke to him about how the past 5 years in the energy certification field has been.

- What is life like for an energy performance certification expert?

There are 3 types of lives for an energy performance certification expert, each person chooses their own. The first is an expert that makes his life a hobby. He has his profession in engineering or architecture, and then he does the certification in his spare time.Then there is the life of the experts who work for ADENE. They do not issue certificates but oversee the processes. And finally my life, I have made it my profession.
It's simple, people call to make an appointment, and I will visit the property on the appointed day. After obtaining the measurements, the energy equipment, among other constructive factors, I do the calculations of the energy class of the property. After obtaining the class, the certificate is issued, and then we send it to the owner and voilá, a satisfied customer. Now multiply this by 10/15 a week, because appointments come flooding in each day.
In short, life is fun but tiring. It's interesting too, because we speak to different people everyday.

- Does the customer already understand the energy performance certificate and its purpose?

Many customers do not yet. Every day I hear two typical phrases, "What is this for?" And "The electricity meter stays here." About 30% already know what an energy performance certificate is, but only 10% realize its usefulness. Of course, whenever I visit, I am obliged to explain its purpose. Some shrug, others thank me for the explanation.

- Do they still frequently change the calculation procedures, as happened in early years?

Not anymore, things have stabilized since 2016. In early days there was a lot of doubt because it was all new. Changes after changes. In 2013 things settled down, and in 2016, minor changes were made. The calculations have been stable for the last 6 years.

- Do you think that today, with the energy performance certification, construction is done more efficiently and sustainably? Did the energy certification have any impact on the building?

I am sure. Incidentally, nowadays it is mandatory to enter a pre-certified Chamber (where it requires this sustainable efficiency) with guaranteed class B. A type B certificate is already synonymous with quality in construction.
Now if it did have an impact, it had but on the contrary (between 2010-2016), negatively because it was a new thing that was mandatory and no one was for it. In central Europe yes, with the cold weather this makes perfect sense. In our case, with the temperate climate, it didn't make much of a difference. But today (from 2011 onwards) it is undoubtedly an asset, as it is proven that the costs of electricity and gas are substantially reduced.

- And lastly, can anyone take the energy performance certification course?

No, only architects, civil engineers and mechanical engineers can take this certification course. These are the only people that are qualified to do so.

Thank you, Carlos. Finally, if you want to get to know this expert better, just tune in to Antena 1 on Sundays, you may find him as he has been an assiduous presence on this radio station for 25 years.

For more information on energy certification just go to certificacao.nevesferrao.com or call (+351) 962 196 699.