Carbon neutral

Housing contributes about one-third of all carbon dioxide emissions in the United Kingdom and there are major concerns that the current programme of proposed house building will make it even harder for the Government to achieve its own target of an 80 per cent reduction in CO2 emissions by 2050.

But the levels of growth expected present real opportunities for using economies of scale to develop more effective and cheaper means of localised energy generation and of insulation.

Global warming targets

As part of a drive to ensure that house building minimises its impact on global warming, the Government has set an ambitious target that all new homes will be carbon neutral by 2016 with interim targets before then.

These targets are set out in a leaflet

Greener Homes for the Future
download pdf (888 KB)

and they include targets on water use as well as energy efficiency.

All homes that are publicly funded through the Homes and Communities Agency are required to meet these targets. In England, this is not mandatory for private sector housing. The current rating of new housing is included in the Home Information Pack which people selling houses now have to provide for potential buyers and it is intended that this will help to drive up standards.In Wales, however, the Assembly has announced that all housing development – whether public or private – must meet these standards by 2009.

Sustainable housing resources

Links to information on sustainable housing organisations - under development