ADF05_22-30 6/3/08 10:17 AM Page 29
From Here to ‘Zero’!
By promoting Passivhaus design principles, the AECB’s new CarbonLite Programme offers a
simple, cost-effective approach to ‘Zero Carbon’ buildings.
nergy Performance Certificates,
E
BREEAM, Code for Sustainable
Homes, and Zero Carbon Homes
CarbonLite Useful space Primary Co2 Reduction Reduction in
targets are some of the drivers
STEPS heating energy
emissions
in primary CO2 emissions
which are making architects look
energy consumption energy
compared to the
carefully at cutting CO
compared to UK
2 emissions in buildings.
UK average
average
Amidst all the current confusion and rhetoric
surrounding the subject, one organization
believes it can help architects make low STEP 1
40kWh/m
2
yr 120kWh/m
2
yr 22kg/m
2
yr
carbon buildings a reality in the UK in an Silver
70%
70%
achievable and cost-effective way. The AECB
(the sustainable building association) has just
STEP 2
launched its CarbonLite Programme (CLP)
which promises a ‘crash course in low
carbon buildings for the design and
Passivhaus
15kWh/m
2
yr 15kWh/m
2
yr no explicit
construction industry’. limit
CarbonLite Programme STEPS
Passivhaus for 15kWh/m
2
yr
78kWh/m
2
yr 15kg/m
2
yr 80% 80%
To help promote Passivhaus design in the UK,
CLP has developed three STEPS to improved
a UK context
building energy performance – STEPS One,
Two and Three - corresponding to the higher STEP 3
levels of the Code for Sustainable Homes.
15kWh/m
2
yr 58kWh/m
2
yr
4kg/m
2
yr
85% 95%
Houses built to CarbonLite standards would
Gold
be extremely cost-effective to build, would
require very little energy to heat and could cut
energy use by between 70-95% compared to
the UK average.
CLP’s three energy targets are all
expressed in kWh/m
2
/yr. This is because
building occupants receive energy bills
expressed in kWh for all their energy use and
can use this measure to compare their
building’s performance against real world
benchmarks. The CLP STEPS apply at the
whole building level, including not only the
energy for space and water heating but for
lighting, appliances and cooking too.
CLP also encourages designers and
developers to commit to delivering two years’
worth of post-occupancy data.
STEP 1 (Silver)
This relates to the best performance currently
possible in the UK using readily available
technology. It achieves very good energy
performance without use of any
‘bolt-on’ renewables.
STEP 2 (Passivhaus) STEP 3 (Gold) offers the rigorous approach required for the UK
CarbonLite Programme’s Passivhaus standard Buildings meeting CarbonLite STEP 3 are still to achieve genuinely low carbon buildings by
corresponds to the best international practice rare in the UK but the Pines Calyx conference 2016. The AECB hopes that CLP will influence
in the design of building envelopes. centre in Kent was designed with Gold as its the current debates about zero carbon buildings
There are thousands of Passivhaus buildings benchmark for energy performance. and for its standards to be widely adopted in the
in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, The design target for energy consumption of UK. CLP offers a comprehensive package of
including houses, offices, blocks of flats the Pines Calyx is 35kWh/m
2
yr - the lowest of training and design guidance and is working
and schools. any commercial building in the UK. with the supply and manufacturing industries to
The standard has not yet been widely deliver the high performance products and
applied in the UK, but a number of projects The Way Forward building elements required for CLP buildings.
are currently underway. The AECB believes the CarbonLite Programme
190
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29
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