U.K. Aims for Zero Carbon Homes

January 15, 2007 // Published as a news service by IHS

U.K. Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly published Building a Greener Future: Towards Zero Carbon Development - a set of measures for planners and housebuilders designed to reduce carbon emissions. The aim is to put tackling climate change at the heart of the planning system.

At present, the energy used to heat, light and run U.K. homes accounts for 27% (or around 40 million tonnes) of all of the country's carbon emissions.

The government proposed that all new homes be zero carbon by 2016. Zero carbon means that energy efficient and insulated buildings draw their energy from zero or low carbon technologies and therefore produce no net carbon emissions from all energy use over the course of a year.

The consultation document was as part of a package of various measures, including:

• A framework for progressively tightening building regulations up to 2016 to increase the energy efficiency and reduce the carbon footprint of new homes.
• The publication of the Code for Sustainable Homes, which aims to increase the environmental sustainability of new homes and give homeowners better information about the sustainability of their home. It sets out a star rating from one to six (with six being the most sustainable) that can be applied to all new homes. From April 2008, after learning from the voluntary phase, the government intends to propose that all new homes be required to have a mandatory code rating, indicating whether they have been assessed and the performance of the home against the code.
• A draft planning policy statement (PPS) on climate change, which expects planning strategies to be tested on their carbon ambition and, in providing for new homes, jobs and infrastructure needed by communities, shape places with lower carbon emissions and resilient to climate change. The PPS expects new development to be located to optimise its carbon performance and make the most of existing and planned opportunities for decentralised, renewable and low-carbon, energy supplies.

When combined, the measures are designed to help meet the government's climate change targets by helping to reduce carbon emissions produced by homes as well as reducing waste and harmful transport emissions.

The government also launched a joint consultation on regulations to set minimum standards for water efficiency in new homes and new commercial buildings.