Zero Carbon Homes
The hot sustainability topic on the UK government's sustainability website is housing... Our homes account for c. 27% of all the UK's carbon emissions. The government's aim is that all new homes will be zero carbon by the 2016.
Earlier this week (7th February) the gauntlet was thrown down to the construction industry by English Partnerships to speed up its response to climate change by building zero carbon developments. Trevor Beattie, the Director at English Partnerships responsible for the aptly named "Carbon Challenge" said “Climate change is with us now – so now is the time to act. English Partnerships is already working with developers to accelerate the move towards zero carbon development and this challenge will redouble our efforts.
“The built environment is one of the most significant contributors to global warming, which means our work can have a massive impact on leading the way in cutting domestic carbon emissions.”
The challenge particularly hopes to tackle the efficiency of new housing stock...
“The built environment is one of the most significant contributors to global warming, which means our work can have a massive impact on leading the way in cutting domestic carbon emissions.”
The challenge particularly hopes to tackle the efficiency of new housing stock...
...however over 13 million homes in the UK are inadequately insulated according to the National Insulation Association - and at the current rate of c. 450,000 per annum cavity wall insulations we have a long way to go!
3 comments:
Nice idea and a big challenge for those in the industry.
Having done a couple of quick calculations (and google searches!), these carbon free homes will account for approx 12% of all households in the UK in 2016 (based on 2001 Census data).
So for the remaining 88%, check out:
www.carbonfootprint.com
for some top tips on how both individuals and organisations can do their bit.
Zero carbon homes should be achievable its not rocket science afterall, but the construction methods and the materials are only part of the problem. The location is vital too, and not just in relation to the sun.
Who will face the developer up to the issues of sustaiable transport? Not my problem Gov, congestion, pollution and drain on the economy is the Council's responsibility, I just build houses. Even if they build on a brown field site in the central area of a town they object to a planning obligation towards the improvement of public transport services and infrastructure.
Railway fares act against carbon neutral homes if the fares keep rising, forcing people towards their cars. We still pay £5 a passenger subsidy for rail when the whole purpose of privatisation was to reduce the subsidy. There's a few more examples like that, but I fear I rant like a maniac.
No, a 2016 carbon neutral date would require some heavy weight primary transport legislation to achieve.
Look at the comments local Councilors made about the housing build assigned to various areas in the southeast and southwest. ALL refered to the lack of transport infrastructure as being the biggest barrier to accommodating the build without resulting n a detriment to the current population.
Nice idea, a very nice idea but the economic driver is not there to achieve it.
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