bcd02_structuralelements_2 29/1/10 11:00 Page 11
Politicians ‘Easy Win’
Bill Butcher, Green Building Store Director, said: "The timescale for action on climate
change is too short to reinvent the wheel or experiment with untested low energy
construction approaches. We need to work with effective and proven Passivhaus
approaches which focus on retaining heat within buildings. We believe that investing in
the energy efficiency of the building fabric is a much more cost-effective way of reducing
CO2 emissions than the current obsession with bolt-on micro-renewables."
W
hile world leaders grapple
with setting binding targets
for CO2 emissions at the
Copenhagen Climate talks
and scientists call for up to
90% cuts, a small building project in West
Yorkshire is demonstrating how these tough
targets could easily be met by the majority of
UK homes and buildings.
The Denby Dale Passivhaus, currently under
construction, will require minimal heating and will
use 90% less energy to heat 15 kWh/m
2
/annum,
as opposed to 139 kWh/m
2
/annum for the UK
standard. Passivhaus buildings can achieve 90%
cuts in heating bills for their occupants, with the
heat generated from the sun through windows,
occupants’ (and pets’!) body heat, cooking and
showering activities often all that is needed to
warm a Passivhaus home. Built to a tight budget
of £140K, the 118m
2
three-bed detached house
aims to be an exemplar of how Passivhaus that require minimal heating. also the sector where radical action is most easily
construction can be achieved inexpensively by a Passivhaus design is already popular in achievable. Building and retrofitting buildings to
small, skilled construction team. continental Europe but is still relatively unknown Passivhaus standards would also offer politicians
Passivhaus design was first developed in in the UK. The Denby Dale Passivhaus will be a relatively easy win as few voters would object to
Germany almost 20 years ago and is based on one of the first certified Passivhaus buildings in cosier homes and vastly reduced fuel bills, as
well researched and proven building physics. the UK and is expected to be the first to be built opposed to the radical changes needed in the
Instead of complicated design and expensive in the UK using traditional cavity wall construction. more controversial transport and aviation sectors.
bolt-on renewables, Passivhaus design relies on a The construction company believes Unlike the overwhelming majority of buildings
simple tea cosy effect of maximising the use of Passivhaus design offers the most effective, and currently being constructed, the energy
super insulation and stringent levels of air cost-effective, way the construction industry can consumption of Passivhaus buildings is carefully
tightness. By combining this with optimum levels respond to the urgent threat posed by climate modelled and monitored, providing politicians
of passive solar gain and mechanical ventilation change. Buildings, in construction and use, are with concrete evidence of the reduction of CO2
and heat recovery systems, Passivhaus design responsible for a emissions. Unless low energy buildings are
can create healthy and comfortable massive 50% of properly monitored and measured, politicians will
buildings all UK CO2 never know, and would not be able to say with
emissions, but any confidence, whether CO2 targets in the
this is building sector are being met.
There is a belief that urgent action is needed to
integrate Passivhaus standards into UK targets for
low and Zero Carbon buildings in the UK,
through the energy elements of Code for
Sustainable Homes and upcoming revisions of
the Building Regulations. According to Bill
Butcher, project leader at the Denby Dale
Passivhaus; “We believe that the Code for
Sustainable Homes in its current form (and in
particular SAP 2005) is proving an obstacle to the
introduction of Passivhaus buildings in the UK, as
it is not sophisticated enough to accurately
predict the actual energy use of Passivhaus and
low energy homes. We would like CSH to
replace SAP with the much more accurate
Passivhaus Planning Package (PHPP) as its
energy calculation methodology.”
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