Government announce zero-carbon standard

The government has announced the minimum standard for the energy efficiency of zero carbon homes, moving a step closer to all new homes being zero carbon by 2016.

Speaking yesterday at the Making Sustainable Development Happen conference, organised by Building and UKGBC, housing minister John Healey said that the new energy efficiency standards will be subject to the up coming consultation on the Code for Sustainable Homes, but it includes an energy efficiency standard of 46kWh/m2/year for semi-detached and detached homes and 39kWh/m2/year for all other homes.

Neil Jefferson, chief executive of the Zero Carbon Hub, said “The Fabric Energy Efficiency Standard is a critically important step towards the delivery of zero carbon homes from 2016.The group has agreed upon a performance level that it has judged to be stretching and appropriate for mass scale production in the UK."