Shocking government zero carbon U-turn
Posted by Andrew Eagles on Tue, Mar 29, 2011
There has been a great deal of talking about the new definition of zero carbon. We thought it might be useful to set out what the old definition of zero carbon was and how the budget announcement changed it.
Short summary in measuring carbon in homes
We currently use something called the standard assessment procedure (SAP) to measure the energy used in homes. SAP counts up the energy used in heating our homes and the energy used to provide lighting and hot water. It then calculates how many carbon emissions come from this by calculating how that energy is provided. Electricity has a higher CO2 content, reflecting that much electricity in the UK comes from coal fired power stations. Gas has a lower CO2 content.
There are other ways we use energy in our homes. Our use of appliances, which SAP does not capture, can be equivalent to up to 45% more energy use.
2011 Budget announcement
The understanding in the sector was that Building Regulations would require homes to reduce or generate ALL energy from homes from 2016. They thought this would mean SAP measured energy (heating, fixed lighting, hot water and building services) and non SAP (appliances) related energy. The sector was gearing up to provide super low energy construction, through teaching people how to build in an energy efficient way, and through the use of renewables.
The budget announcement last week surprised everybody. It announced that “Government will hold house builders accountable only for those CO2 emissions that are covered by Building Regulations”
This means a significantly lower overall carbon reduction target than previously expected. On average the goal will be about a third less. This means lower costs for house builders, but it upsets those looking for stringent carbon targets and those that were gearing up for a more challenging target. Interestingly many large house builders were on board with the more challenging zero carbon target.
There are other changes, that will also have a future impact. Currently compliance with Building Regulations is checked based on the design. Separately it has been recommended to Government that Building Regulations move to measure the built performance of homes. These are to be included. At this stage this will come out during the consultation but it is useful that Government is moving to a checking system that better captures how homes perform in reality.
Housing sector response
Many in the sector are very surprised. Paul King, Chief Executive of the UKGBC said: “In the space of two weeks, this Government has gone from a firm commitment on zero carbon homes, to a watered down policy. A zero carbon home will no longer do what it says on the tin. The world leading commitment that new homes would not add to the carbon footprint of our housing stock from 2016 has been scrapped despite a remarkable consensus between industry and NGOs in support of it. Thanks to a crude de-regulation agenda we now have a policy that is not only anti-green but anti-growth.”
Andrew Eagles, Managing Director, Sustainable Homes states, “This change is significant. It will mean a lower threshold for those building from 2016. The onus of reducing those emissions still remains. That will either need to come from further decarbonising of the grid or from a more rapid and deeper reduction of carbon for our existing homes. Both of which are quite challenging.”
The dramatic pace of current policy announcements will have real impacts on the housing industry. We work with organisations to understand and get ready for these changes. To find out more check out our best practice and networking group - SHIFT and training on the Code for Sustainable Homes.
For a link to the actual quote for changing the definition in the budget see here.
For more information on the other green issues in the 2011 Budget please see our next blog coming out later this week.
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To understand the Code for Sustainable Homes see here