Green Summary

Climate change Kyoto Protocol and UK commitments
What the Government has done with Building Regulations
Heat Pumps Reducing CO2 Emissions
Code for Sustainable Homes
A new National Standard
A Standard which builds upon Existing Systems
How Does the Code Work?
Achieving a Sustainability Rating

1 Climate change Kyoto Protocol and UK commitments

Under the Kyoto Protocol, by 2008-2012 the UK must reduce its baseline emissions of six major greenhouse gases by 12.5 per cent from a baseline target set in 1990. Furthermore, the draft Climate Change Bill commits the UK to reductions in CO₂ emissions of at least 26% by 2020 and a long term goal of 60% by 2050.

Energy use in buildings accounts for 50% of all UK CO₂ emissions. Domestic dwellings account for 27% of all UK CO₂ emissions, some 152,000,000 tonnes annually, with 80% directly attributed to space and water heating. Consequently the government has put together changes to the building regulations to reduce the energy used to provide space and water heating.

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2 What the Government has done with Building Regulations

Part L1a (the conservation of fuel & power) of the Building Regulations sets out clear directives. The current standard requires that buildings must show a reduction of 20% in carbon dioxide emissions by 2010 compared to the previous levels.

This reduction increases to 25% in 2010, 40% in 2013 and zero carbon by 2016.

2006 - 20% reduction in CO₂ emissions
2010 - 25% reduction in CO₂ emissions
2013 - 40% reduction in CO₂ emissions
2016 - ZERO carbon or no CO₂ emissions

The new system requires the building to be designed as if it were built to the 2002 standard but with its carbon emissions reduced by 20%. The other major change is the requirement for air pressure testing on a dwelling to ensure that it was constructed properly. A building must beat 10m³ of air per m² per hour air leakage at an applied outside air pressure. The message to all UK house builders could not be clearer. eco hometec heat pumps and solar panels provide a cost effective and proven choice for architect's and building professionals, helping to lower the carbon emissions of buildings.

3 Heat Pumps Reducing CO₂ Emissions

Air, earth and water - the three most important elements in our life. In future, their significance will be even greater. They are, and few of us know, immense sources of free renewable thermal energy. Solar radiation from the sun heats the air, earth and water. This energy is the source of all life. It is also a source of energy we can use to heat our homes and buildings. The technology required to extract heat captured in the air, earth and water has been known for more than a hundred years. That technology is called a heat pump.

As a consequence of rising energy prices and increased emissions of CO₂ the interest in heat pumps has reached record levels. A heat pump, using electricity, is capable removing from either the air, earth or water this otherwise non-usable heat and converting it into heat suitable for heating our homes and other applications. The whole process is clean and simple and offers the most energy efficient solution to space heating available today.

eco hometec heat pump and solar systems offer a high quality, year round solution to space heating and hot water production that can reduce CO2 emissions by 100% and running costs by 60%. eco hometec offers to architect's and building professionals a complete system with the capability to meet both current and future building regulations.

4 Code for Sustainable Homes

As the Stern Review highlighted, there is now an overwhelming body of scientific evidence showing that climate change is a serious and urgent issue. In 2004, more than a quarter of the UK's carbon dioxide emissions - a major cause of climate change - came from the energy we use to heat, light and run our homes. So it's vital to ensure that homes are built in a way that minimises the use of energy and reduces these harmful emissions.

Construction and use of our homes has a range of other environmental impacts, created for example through water use, waste generation and use of polluting materials, which can be signiﬁcantly reduced through the integration of higher sustainability performance standards within the design of a home. More sustainable homes can also provide us with improved overall wellbeing and quality of life.

The Code for Sustainable Homes became mandatory from the 1st May 2008 has been introduced to drive a step-change in sustainable home building practice. It is a standard for key elements of design and construction which affect the sustainability of a new home. It will become the single national standard for sustainable homes, used by home designers and builders as a guide to development, and by home-buyers to assist in their choice of home.

It will form the basis for future developments of the Building Regulations in relation to carbon emissions from, and energy use in homes, therefore offering greater regulatory certainty to developers. And in this era of environmental awareness amongst consumers and increasing demand for a more sustainable product, it will offer a tool for developers to differentiate themselves.

If we build the homes we need, then by 2050, as much as one-third of the total housing stock will have been built between now and then. Current house building plans therefore offer an important opportunity to build high standards of sustainability into the homes we will use in the future. The Code for Sustainable Homes will play a key role in enabling us to seize this opportunity, and to build a future housing stock which both meets our needs and protects the environment.

This next part explains what the Code for Sustainable Homes is and how it works. It also includes tables showing the criteria that assessors will use to measure achievement of sustainability performance under the Code.

5 A new National Standard

The Code for Sustainable Homes has been developed to enable a step change in sustainable building practice for new homes. It has been prepared by the Government in close working consultation with the Building Research Establishment (BRE) and Construction Industry Research and Information Association (CIRIA), and through consultation with a Senior Steering Group consisting of Government, industry and NGO representatives.

The Code is intended as a single national standard to guide industry in the design and construction of sustainable homes. It is a means of driving continuous improvement, greater innovation and exemplary achievement in sustainable home building.

The Code will complement the system of Energy Performance Certificates, which is being introduced in June 2007 under the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD). The EPBD will require that all new homes (and in due course other homes, when they are sold or leased) have an Energy Performance Certificate providing key information about the energy efficiency/ carbon performance of the home. Energy assessment under the Code will use the same calculation methodology therefore avoiding the need for duplication.

In the short-term, Code compliance is voluntary but home builders are encouraged to follow Code principles set out in this publication because the Government is considering making assessment under Code standards mandatory in the future.

6 A Standard which builds upon Existing Systems

The Code for Sustainable Homes has been developed using the Building Research Establishment's (BRE) EcoHomes System, which has already achieved success in reducing the impact of affordable housing projects, in particular within the social housing sector.

The Code builds upon EcoHomes in a number of ways, for example:

The Code introduces minimum standards for energy and water efficiency at every level of the Code, therefore requiring high levels of sustainability performance in these areas for achievement of a high Code rating;
The Code uses a simpler system of awarding points, with more complex weightings removed;
The Code includes new areas of sustainability design, such as Lifetime Homes and inclusion of composting facilities;

BRE will continue to maintain and operate the EcoHomes scheme during the transition to the Code. The Code sits alongside the planning system which guides sustainability in broader locational and aesthetic issues.

7 How Does the Code Work?

The Code uses a sustainability rating system - indicated by 'stars', to communicate the overall sustainability performance of a home. A home can achieve a sustainability rating from one (☆) to six (☆☆☆☆☆☆) stars depending on the extent to which it has achieved Code standards. One star (☆) is the entry level - above the level of the Building Regulations; and six stars (☆☆☆☆☆☆) is the highest level - reﬂecting exemplar development in sustainability terms.

8 Achieving a Sustainability Rating

The sustainability rating which a home achieves represents its overall performance across the nine Code design categories. Minimum standards exist for a number of categories - these must be achieved to gain a one star (☆) sustainability rating. Energy efficiency and water efficiency categories also have minimum standards that must be achieved at every level of the Code, recognising their importance to the sustainability of any home.

Apart from these minimum requirements the Code is completely ﬂexible. Developers can choose which and how many standards they implement to obtain 'points' under the Code in order to achieve a higher sustainability rating. A heat pump and solar thermal system from eco hometec, coupled with other energy saving methods, can help architects and building professionals achieve their targets

	Achieving a sustainable rating
	Minimum standards
	ENERGY
Code Level	Category	Minimum Standard
1(☆)	Percentage improvement over	10%
2(☆☆)	Target Emission Rate (TER)	18%
3(☆☆☆)	as determined by the	25%
4(☆☆☆☆)	2006 Building Regulation	44%
5(☆☆☆☆☆)	Standards	100%
6(☆☆☆☆☆☆)		A 'zero carbon home'
		(heating, lighting, hot water
		and all other energy uses in
		the home)

Please browse our website for more information about eco hometec and our range of Underfloor Heating, Ground Source & Air Source Heat Pumps, Solar Panels & Condensing Boilers then contact us on Freephone 0800 8620278 to speak to one of our team or e-mail on sales@eco-hometec.co.uk.