Energy in buildings

From Seedawiki

A thermal image of a property before (left) and after improvements

Introduction

24% of the Diamonds’ carbon and ecological footprint is attributable to housing.

It is easier and cheaper to design to cut energy in new buildings than to retrofit existing ones (see building design advice). Government will require all new homes built after 2016 to be zero carbon, and has announced an ambition for all new non domestic buildings to follow by 2019: it has now completed consultation on the details. After consideration of feedback from the consultation, the Housing Minister has called for the urgent establishment of a challenging but practical national standard for energy efficiency. ZeroCarbon Hub (ZCH) now has a consultation underway on this.

ZCH also have produced a compendium of case studies from countries across the world, which provides technical evidence of positive drivers towards zero-carbon construction.

However most of the buildings we will have in 2050 are already standing. So reducing the energy use in these existing buildings is crucial. Several organisations provide resources and tools to help with this process. The Carbon Trust (CT) website has a wide range of information for businesses and the public sector with energy-in-buidlings related information, publications and useful links about a specific technology under a variety of topic headings. The Energy Savings Trust also provides information on energy in existing homes.

Links to a variety of external tools are provided on the Resources page.

Producing energy from renewable and lower carbon sources can also make an important contribution: see Lower footprint energy production

A typical household could reduce its carbon footprint by at least 25% with measures that pay back in 4 years or less: the Energy Saving Trust’s Domestic Energy Primer – an introduction to energy efficiency in existing homes gives a helpful overview of the savings different measures can achieve in different housing types.

Planning can be a powerful tool to promote lower energy construction. The Climate Change Supplement to PPS1 empowers local planning authorities to set higher energy efficiency standards (and low carbon energy requirements) than national standards (for example in building regulations). Oxford City Council's Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) on Natural Resource Impact Assessments requires proposers of major developments to consider measures for energy efficiency, renewable energy, materials and water and submit their proposals in a matrix with the planning application. The SPD warns that the Council will 'rarely' approve proposals that do not achieve at least the SPD's desirable minimum stardard in each section and a total score that would higher performance in at least some sections.

Case Studies

Green Homes Concierge Service

The London Development Agency’s Green Homes Concierge Service aims to tackle one to the main barriers to retrofit – reluctance to face hassle and uncertainty – by not only giving householders advice about energy saving measures but also recommending suppliers and project-managing installation.

Showcasing Green Homes

Radical energy refits can typically reduce energy use by 60%. This is prohibitively disruptive and expensive as a one off, but less extra cost and hassle if done when a property is undergoing major refurbishment anyway. The challenge is therefore to find ways to motivate householders and landlords to build thorough footprint reduction in when refurbishing property.

Thermal Imaging

Some authorities are using thermal imaging to identify poorly insulated homes and provide vivid pictures of heat loss.

Key priorities