{"id":23727,"date":"2016-04-27T09:21:45","date_gmt":"2016-04-27T09:21:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/?p=23727"},"modified":"2016-04-27T09:21:45","modified_gmt":"2016-04-27T09:21:45","slug":"future-low-energy-homes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/energy-news\/future-low-energy-homes\/23727\/","title":{"rendered":"The future of low energy homes"},"content":{"rendered":"

BSRIA highlight a recent event hosted on low energy homes and discuss what the future holds for the sector…\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

BSRIA recently staged an event on \u2018The Future of Low Energy Homes\u2019 as part of its Residential Network. It\u2019s been several months since the Government announced that there will no longer be the requirement for all new domestic build to achieve a zero-carbon standard from 2016. But what impact will this have on the future of the house building industry including quality and energy efficiency standards?<\/p>\n

The event demonstrated what the Government\u2019s plans now are following abandonment of its commitment to zero-carbon and an insight into what the scaling back of targets could potentially mean for the industry: specifically in context of energy efficiency, performance gap and quality.<\/p>\n

Paul DeCort, DCLG, presented \u2018the government view\u2019 and outlined the DCLG Single Departmental Plan, the key points were: increasing housing supply; increasing home ownership; devolving power and budgets to boost local growth in England; and supporting strong communities with excellent public services. He commented that this could be achieved via new build and existing stock.<\/p>\n

The DECC Single Departmental Plan covers: security and resilience to ensure the UK has a secure and resilient energy system; keeping energy bills as low as possible for households and businesses to secure ambitious international action on climate change; and reduce carbon emissions cost-effectively at home. Paul said: \u201cAn energy legacy will manage the UK\u2019s energy legacy safely and responsibly.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) requires that EU Member States report to the Commission on whether current energy performance requirements for new and existing buildings are cost optimal by June 2017. EPBD requires that energy performance requirements be reviewed at least every five years with a view to achieving cost levels. Paul said: \u201cTransparency is key.\u201d<\/p>\n

Part R \u2013 Broadband: sets requirements for in built building infrastructure for high speed networks and applies to all types of new building and major renovation work. It comes into force for all building work on or after 1 January 2017 and applies only to the fabric of building, not the external infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Tassos Kougionis, Technical Manager, Zero Carbon Hub, presented: The Way Forward and explained that for zero carbon targets, opportunities and risks must be adhered to:<\/p>\n