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The Construction Products Association has welcomed the announcement by Housing Minister John Healey MP that all new homes must be zero carbon as a matter of law from 2016.
Over the past year the CPA has been heavily involved with the Zero Carbon Hub which has been working to develop a workable definition of zero carbon for new homes.
John Tebbit, industry affairs director at the Construction Products Association said: “A typical home built to today’s standards emits about 2 tonnes of CO2 from regulated uses such as heating, hot water and fixed lighting and about another 1.5 tonnes from unregulated uses such as electricity for cookers, TVs and other appliances. A zero carbon home will have to take all of that down to zero.
‘This is done in three stages. The first stage is to set a very high standard for the energy efficiency of the the walls, roof, floor and. The next stage is known as ‘carbon compliance’ and it covers all the heating, hot water and lighting. It includes on site renewable energy such as solar thermal and photo voltaics.
“The final stage is ‘allowable solutions’ which covers a number of options although none have been confirmed as yet”
The Association believes that much confusion has been caused by the term ‘zero carbon’ and that ‘no new carbon’ would be a clearer and more accurate term.
