Hips and the important Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) will be rolled out to 3 bedded properties from Sept 10th with the government making further announcement on rolling out Hips and EPCs to other properties very soon.
Will the EPC’s will start to address the carbon issues surrounding existing stock? and will EPC’s be applicable to non domestic properties in time?
Reported on Guardian Unlimited today:
Housebuilders are trying to persuade the government to ditch a key policy designed to cut carbon emissions through constructing green homes.
Britain’s renewables industry and many local authorities are concerned that intense lobbying may have persuaded the government to rethink.
It is assumed the housebuilders in question do not include those commiteed to the 2016 Commitment to zero carbon housing (see Communities and Local Government website)
2016 Commitment
Housing minister Yvette Cooper has urged house-builders, councils, and others to sign the 2016 Commitment to zero carbon housing.
More details on the Communities and Local Government website
List of signatories can be downloaded from here. A quick scan shows some 100 plus signatories to date – but none from the north west??
Time to make that commitment to working together and addressing the 2016 target challenge
The Cooperative Bank has teamed up with Living Space 21 to provide a new green solution to housing. From the press release (7th August):
Co-operative Bank sponsors ground breaking green housing initiative
Tackling climate change and providing affordable housing for first time buyers are the biggest challenges facing the British housing market today. With this is mind; the Cooperative Bank has teamed up with Living Space 21, a new housing developer, to offer homes that are not only eco-friendly but, also within reach of those starting out on the property ladder.
This exciting new partnership directly addresses the Government’s promise to increase the UK’s house-building programme by 20%, which would provide an additional 3 million homes by 2020. Furthermore, with the Housing Green Paper 2007 setting targets to reduce property carbon emissions by 25% by 2010, these new homes, which have inbuilt eco features will be well placed to help meet this objective.
The eco benefits of these homes include timber frames, sourced from sustainable forests, rain water capture and recycling, plus sloped roofs which maximise solar efficiency. However, these features do not in any way comprise the quality or design of the build. The contemporary apartments have been designed by Living Space 21 and their pioneering building techniques enable them to be tailored to almost any location, leaving the lightest environmental footprint possible for the price.
The government has launched an inquiry into dealing with the existing hosuing stock and its contribution to climate change. (The UK’s domestic building stock is responsible for around a quarter of all carbon emissions in the UK)
It will be considering the extent to which current measures to adapt existing housing, whether owner occupied, rented privately or social, have been successful and how improvements might be achieved. Evidence is invited from interested individuals and organisations on a range of topics, including:
More details and information on submitting evidence at www.parliament.uk
The Committee invites to submit written memoranda addressing these topics by Wednesday 26th September 2007.
From the Communities and Local Government website:
The Code measures the sustainability of a new home. It went live in England as a voluntary standard in April 2007. This consultation document follows on from the positive response received to Building a Greener Future: Towards Zero Carbon Development, where we asked if rating against the Code should be mandatory.
Consultation is aimed at Housing development industry, architects, construction companies, planners, energy efficiency specialists, environmental stakeholders and academics.
In comparison to the news that the UK housing sector is to be invetsigated, and with the media quick to pick up on the numbers that only 3 in 4 (76%) of people buying new homes are satisfied with quality, I was intrigued to get news from the USA on the emerging Slow Homes Movement.
This movement is similar to the slow food movement that kicks back against the fast food industry, kicking back as it does against the fast home industry – as the worldchanging website states:
Brown (founder of SHM) makes the increasingly known correlation between suburban living and obesity, indicating that fast food and fast housing not only have comparable results within their respective industries, but literally the same result: a declining state of health across a huge swathe of the North American population.
The movement is based on an interesting, worthwhile and common sense set of 10 principles – which may ring a few bells in our own hosuing sustainability / carbon zero agendas – or maybe not :-
1. GO INDEPENDENT Avoid homes by big developers and large production builders. They are designed for profit not people. Work with independent designers and building contractors instead.
2. GO LOCAL Avoid home finishing products from big box retailers. The standardized solutions they provide cannot fit the unique conditions of your home. Use local retailers, craftspeople, and manufacturers to get a locally appropriate response and support your community.
3. GO GREEN Stop the conversion of nature into sprawl. Don’t buy in a new suburb. The environmental cost can no longer be justified. Re-invest in existing communities and use sustainable materials and technologies to reduce your environmental footprint.
4. GO NEAR Reduce your commute. Driving is a waste of time and the new roads and services required to support low density development is a big contributor to climate change. Live close to where you work and play.
5. GO SMALL Avoid the real estate game of bigger is always better. A properly designed smaller home can feel larger AND work better than a poorly designed big one. Spend your money on quality instead of quantity.
6. GO OPEN Stop living in houses filled with little rooms. They are dark, inefficient, and don’t fit the complexity of our daily lives. Live in a flexible and adaptive open plan living space with great light and a connection to outdoors.
7. GO SIMPLE Don’t buy a home that has space you won’t use and things you don’t need. Good design can reduce the clutter and confusion in your life. Create a home that fits the way you really want to live.
8. GO MODERN Avoid fake materials and the re-creation of false historical styles. They are like advertising images and have little real depth. Create a home in which character comes from the quality of space, natural light and the careful use of good, sustainable materials.
9. GO HEALTHY Avoid living in a public health concern. Houses built with cheap materials off gas noxious chemicals. Suburbs promote obesity because driving is the only option. Use natural, healthy home materials and building techniques. Live where you can walk to shop, school and work.
10. GO FOR IT Stop procrastinating. The most important, and difficult, step in the slow home process is the first one that you take. Get informed and then get involved with your home. Every change, no matter how small, is important.
Comments???
Housing Construction that both heats it self and cools itself. An interesting innovation from the States can be found at Enertia House
Enertia Building System, named as the 2007 Modern Marvel of the Year is described as
innovative new homes of remarkable strength, economy, and beauty, brought to life by an elegant new architecture and the discovery of a new source of pollution-free energy.
with a built-in “biosphere,” in gradual but constant motion, draws energy from the sun, and geothermal stability from the ground, creating a temperate climate that buffers the primary living space.
The site provides plenty of science ‘background’ which is worth checking out.
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