SELFBUILDER SURVEY: BUILDING A LOW CARBON HOME
SURVEY FINDINGS O
f the 138 respondents we spoke to, 28% were self-builders underway with a ‘low carbon’ build and 31% are aspiring to do one. 14% were aspiring to do a
low carbon retrofi t, and 11% were actively doing their own construction. Over half (58%) had employed an architect and 11% were project managing their build, while 13% were actual architects.
The most common target for emissions for our respondents was ‘very low emissions,’ with 40% saying this was their goal. By contrast, only 24% of respondents said they were seeking ‘fairly low emissions,’ which demonstrates a strong level of low carbon ambition among our sample. ‘Passivhaus-level’ performance was an aspiration for 24%, however only 2% were actively seeking Passivhaus certifi cation. In terms of ‘key reasons for building to high energy
effi ciency levels,’ top of the list was cheaper bills (69% of survey respondents). Second was minimising their ‘contribution to climate change’ (63%). An element of comfort came in third – for 61% of readers – namely ‘warmth,’ but possibly also feeding into the concerns around the increasing costs of heating in 2022 and beyond. Then came ‘reducing your overall carbon footprint’ (57% of respondents), air quality (44%), and reducing reliance on gas (37%).
Further down the list, ‘maximising use of healthy natural materials’ was a key reason for 26% of respondents, and
‘benefi tting from incentives’ only a key motivator for 20%, suggesting the relative failure of incentives to drive uptake thus far. Reducing embodied carbon was only a key reason for 17%, and earning income from the grid was a goal for 11%.
The survey data were encouraging on self-builders’ assessment of their current understanding of how to build low carbon homes. A total of 45% reckoned they had a ‘strong’ level of understanding, whereas 17% thought their level was ‘very strong,’ suggesting they might be even able to undertake a large part of overseeing the carbon reduction aspects of the project themselves. Only 8% put themselves in the ‘weak’ or ‘very weak’ categories. Self-builders surveyed were however fi nding it hard to make ‘substantial reductions’ in carbon emissions in their builds, with 11% saying it was ‘very diffi cult,’ and 40% saying it was ‘moderately diffi cult,’
Part of this may be down to the fact that calculating the carbon footprint of their scheme – in order to understand just how it compares with the targets and other examples, and establish where the reductions are needed – was also a challenge overall for survey recipients. It was cited as a ‘moderately diffi cult’ challenge for 42% of respondents to the survey. Only 6% picked ‘very diffi cult’ however, and 4% ‘extremely diffi cult.’
SOLUTIONS T
he ‘green’ product industry has been in existence for many decades, but essentially developing non-standard, often fairly esoteric solutions such as sheep’s wool insulation, for a small but devoted band of eco-home builders. However in the past few years, this kind of product innovation, or at least claims of green innovation, has become mainstream. As with everything related to house design, performance is about a combination of specifi c parts all working together in a specifi c design, in a specifi c location. They need to not only be designed with this holistic approach, but also installed properly, for everything to work as planned, and the energy levels to be delivered. Understanding how to combine and apply the variety of solutions isn’t simple, and requires a lot of investigation to get right, as confi rmed by our survey.
Another common decision that self-builders need to make, and made more acute by the rigour required to pursue low
How would you describe your current understanding of low carbon/ low energy homes?
carbon builds, is how much professional help to bring in, for example calculating your design’s potential heat losses. If you are confi dent enough, thermal bridging software can show you what needs to be dealt with, but you will still typically need to draw up your own designs for details on junctions, for example, which you’ll probably want to get a professional to check.
PRODUCED IN ASSOCIATION WITH
26
www.sbhonline.co.uk
may/june 2022
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