Buildings, Carbon Footprint, Carbon Neutral, Construction, Events, Net Zero Carbon, News
Zero Carbon Homes Abandoned by UK Government
The UK government recently announced that zero carbon homes 2016 and zero carbon buildings 2019 (non-domestic) will be abandoned. The zero carbon homes policy was designed so that all new buildings would generate as much energy from on-site renewables (PV, wind,…etc) as they consume to heat and power the building. It was a flagship environmental policy and was billed as the first country to ‘commit’ to carbon neutral buildings. Once more the quote “greenest government ever” comes to mind!
So what does this mean for the carbon footprint of the buildings sector?
Energy consumption in the building sector is projected to double by 2050 and the carbon footprint of the building sector is expected to increase by anywhere from 50-150% on this timeline. It is therefore unfortunate that this flagship policy has been abandoned.
Another implication is that the removal of 2016 zero carbon homes extends the debate around building refurbishment versus replacement. Furthermore, refurbishment was identified as a key carbon mitigation measure by the IPCC. A large amount of embodied energy and embodied carbon is invested in a building structure and by retaining as much structure as possible the whole life carbon footprint of the building project is reduced (embodied carbon + operational carbon).
Recent analysis by Circular Ecology suggested that with current building regulations it could take 34 years for the lower operational carbon of a new build house to payback the embodied carbon of building a new house. With the scrapping of 2016 zero carbon homes the question of refurbishment or replacement has never been more important.
What do you think? We would love to hear your thoughts in the comments box further below…
If you like this post please consider sharing it on social media using the share buttons or signing up to our Newsletter.
What is this government up to? This is incredibly ridiculous. Like so many of it’s recent policies, it is heading in exactly the wrong direction and dismantling so much of the earlier hard-won work.
I completely agree about refurbishment. Absolutely crucial. I’ve always thought that building new was nice but almost cheating as there is a huge embedded [carbon] cost that takes time to offset.
We halved our gas usage by insulating, draught-proofing and installing a heat-recovery ventilation system and solar thermal water heater. We then halved it again by installing a log-burning stove. We halved it a third time by maximising on the log burner, fitting a few tripe-glazed windows and installing a draught porch. We are now at 10% of our previous gas usage and 20% of the previous carbon footprint.