UK playing catch-up

Feb 12 2008 by Sue Scott, Evening Gazette

THE GOVERNMENT must be prepared to make massive investment in the construction industry if it is to achieve its target of making all new homes carbon neutral by 2016, a leading architect will warn tonight.

Mark Siddall, pictured, of Sedgefield-based Dewjo’c Architects, a sustainability champion on the Middlehaven zero carbon regeneration project for developers BioRegional Quintain, will tell an audience at Middlesbrough Town Hall that the UK needs to catch up fast with developers in Europe or risk being left behind in the race to cut emissions.

The Government has begun rolling out plans for 100,000 carbon-neutral houses clustered in eco-towns across the country, but Mr Siddall said unless it puts its money where its mouth is, the idea of building all zero carbon homes by 2016 was “unrealistic”.

It also needs to compel builders to adopt different techniques and approaches through the mechanism of building regulations.

“Our building regulations now would not meet those of Sweden’s in 1980 in terms of energy efficiency,” he said.

Houses account for 30% of the UK’s total CO2 emissions and developers have already identified two sites locally for green homes that could reduce their environmental burden in the Tees Valley.

Plans for the Middlehaven site, which will feed homes with hot water from a biomass boiler and electricity from renewable energy, have already been approved, while a 2,000-home eco-village at Wynyard is waiting in the wings. Features will include renewable energy systems, water capture and reuse, and sustainable transport links

Mr Siddall, who is taking part in a free debate on the future of sustainable buildings in the Tees Valley, organised by Northern Architecture, said there was an urgent need for the UK to adopt a building standard similar to the German Passive House standard, which has cut emissions by 80% and energy consumption by 85%. It relies on very high levels of insulationto reduce energy consumption as well as a highly efficient “heat recovery” system.

He accused the Government of muddled thinking.

“The first problem presented by the ‘zero carbon’ home is that, because the generation of renewable energy is relatively unpredictable, it is unlikely to coincide with peak demand. As a consequence, ‘zero carbon’ homes still use electricity derived from fossil fuels, meaning that they still produce carbon emissions. These homes are not zero carbon, but low carbon.

“Whilst people could attempt to offset this with carbon-free electricity generated from renewable sources, at present renewables account for only 3% of electricity nationally. This means that to build zero carbon homes, new renewable power stations need to be constructed.

“A third problem is that two Government departments have differing definitions of what constitutes a ‘zero carbon’ home. The Treasury definition states that a gas supply can not be used in a ‘zero carbon’ home whilst the Department for Communities and Local Government, via the Code for Sustainable Homes, suggests that gas supply is acceptable.”

Meanwhile, the comparatively high cost of renewable energy did little to persuade homeowners that green supplies were for them.

“Should we adopt the Passive House model for building in the UK, it would meet many of the requirements of the Government’s Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH), but there are currently no homes in the UK that meet Passive House standards, and whilst architects and builders are learning skills to meet the anticipated demand, there is a long way to go,” said Mr Siddall.

He added there was a lot of “greenwash” surrounding environmentally friendly developments and called for a kitemark to identify the best green homes.