last updated 21st April 05
by 4ecotips.com

Call for amendments to be strengthened

The National Home Energy Rating service is calling on ODPM to strengthen the proposed amendments to the Building Regulations in order to improve carbon savings and reduce fuel bills.

The NHER’s research, sponsored by The Pilkington Energy Efficiency Trust, shows that the draft proposed changes to the building regulations for dwellings may only realise savings of around 10% in carbon emissions compared to current practice. In their consultation document, ODPM anticipated that the overall impact of the revisions would be a saving of 25% in carbon emissions from new dwellings.

The NHER discovered that:

• Many dwellings are already designed to be better than current minimum standards
• A significant number of dwellings actually already perform better than the proposed new standards
• Requiring the use of the existing Carbon Index Method of compliance would achieve savings of between 16 and 20%, significantly more than will be achieved by the proposed approach

The NHER is concerned that continued uncertainty over the proposed methodology and standards may result in delays in implementing the changes and complying with the Energy Performance in Buildings Directive. A delay would undermine the Climate Change Strategy and damage industry confidence in the government's commitment to a low carbon future.

The NHER believe that consideration should be given to an amendment requiring the use of the existing Carbon Index method and standard by the end of the year, with scope for further tightening of the standard in future years. This would result in worthwhile improvements in energy efficiency of new homes and could be readily achieved with the wider adoption of existing good practice.