Task force gives housing the green light

The zero-carbon homes of the future should self-generate the vast majority of the energy they use, but a small amount of near-site or off-site renewable generation will also be allowed, a report says today.

The UK Green Building Council's (GBC) new report, The Definition of Zero Carbon, was thrashed out by a range of stakeholders trying to work out a blueprint for the provision of zero-carbon homes from 2016 mandated by the government.

The GBC's zero-carbon task force was chaired by Mark Clare of Barratt Developments. The company will this week unveil what it claims is the country's first zero-carbon house from a volume housebuilder.

Environmentalists and construction firms have been debating how to define zero carbon, with greens wanting each house to be zero carbon while the housebuilders argue that could be too expensive or impracticable. They want the flexibility to invest in offshore wind farms, for instance, as part of their commitment to renewable energy on their developments.

The GBC report rules that out, but does say some district heating schemes could be allowed or housebuilders could, in certain circumstances, pay into a community energy pot to fund local projects.

GBC chief executive Paul King said: "The government's level of ambition is spot on and should be supported 100%. This is not about dumbing down or abandoning the concept of zero carbon. This is about ensuring the same high level of carbon savings, but allowing.....continued below

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developers more flexibility."

He stressed that near-site schemes could be approved but only if there was proof that the project was a genuine addition to the country's renewable-energy provision, and that the energy would be used to power that specific development. Failing that, the developer could pay into a community fund that would ensure equal or greater net carbon savings through new installations.

"The price of paying into the fund should be set at a margin above the cost of community-scale solutions so as to clearly incentivise the installation of on-site or local measures first," says the report.

The report, which will feed into the government's consultation on the definition of zero-carbon homes this year, is likely to be approved as it has been agreed by a range of different interests. Clare said: "The value of this report is reflected in the high degree of consensus reached by many different stakeholders."

WWF, the charity that has been a key driver behind the government's zero-carbon homes initiative, said the 2016 target was "eminently achievable".

Simon McWhirter, WWF's homes campaign manager, said: "WWF is optimistic that the findings from the Task Group will dispel confusion over the definition of zero carbon, investing more developers with the confidence to build to the very highest levels of sustainability. We hope this will help deliver practical zero-carbon homes well ahead of the 2016 deadlines."

Zero-carbon homes will be so well insulated they will require very little heating. They would have appliances consuming minimum electricity to be provided by installations such as solar photovoltaic panels or combined heat and power (CHP) plants. The report's definitions will allow for a single CHP plant to power several adjacent homes.

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