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By Veronica Oakeshott - 3rd August 2010
The government is considering watering down the standard for green homes, according to a written ministerial statement issued by housing minister Grant Schapps last week.
New houses are currently required to be 70 per cent more energy efficient than in 2006 if they are to qualify as "carbon compliant".
However the statement reveals the government is considering lowering this standard, arguing they needed to "be realistic and take account of costs."
The change could allow builders to put money into an environmental fund rather than actually make their homes more energy efficient. Around a third of all CO2 emissions in the UK come from housing.
The move has been criticised by environmental campaigners, a Green Party spokesperson said: "Any delay in implementing the target of zero-carbon homes by 2016 is unacceptable. If Shapps wants to water down the 70 per cent emissions reduction target, he doesn't understand the need for immediate action."
And shadow housing minister John Healey MP, who set the original standard said re-examining the 70 per cent level would create more uncertainty for the industry.
“The grand ambition to be the 'greenest government ever' is not matched by clear decisions and the action necessary to achieve it," he said.
The Zero Carbon Hub, which is partly funded by the government, has been tasked by the Department for Communities and Local Government with making recommendations on a new "appropriate level".
The Zero Carbon Hub welcomed the government’s statement, saying allowing building companies to pay extra into a fund, rather than ask them to build homes that meet the full 70 per cent green target was "strongly supported by many in the [housing] industry and is a welcome step to ensuring the Zero Carbon Time Line is kept on track."
Article Comments
The really important thing is the fabric of the actual homes, so they MUST be well insulated, airtight, and orientated to maximise solar energy. As long as this is done solar and heat recovery technologies can be fitted later. Indeed I have grave misgivings about active solar technologies being fitted when not explicitly ordered by the buyer, as they are likely to be abandoned as soon as a repair is required, as I believe happened at the Milton Keynes Energy Villlage in the 70s.
martin normanton
6th Sep 2010 at 9:46 am
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