New Energy World™
New Energy World™ embraces the whole energy industry as it connects and converges to address the decarbonisation challenge. It covers progress being made across the industry, from the dynamics under way to reduce emissions in oil and gas, through improvements to the efficiency of energy conversion and use, to cutting-edge initiatives in renewable and low-carbon technologies.
Mixed picture for carbon-cutting action in UK buildings
29/6/2022
6 min read
Feature
Government support for efforts to reduce the amount of energy used in UK buildings is unimpressive, particularly measures to improve performance of the building fabric. But there are some schemes to support low carbon heating technologies, reports Andrew Mourant.
There’s never any lack of government announcements about schemes to tackle climate change. More have surfaced recently and, at face value, there are things to applaud, for instance grants to householders encouraging them to ditch gas boilers and invest in heat pumps.
Moreover – and long overdue – are regulations that came into force his month (June 2022) aimed at developers. In future they must ensure CO2 emissions from newbuild homes are 31% lower than current standards while those from other buildings, such as offices and shops, must be 27% below.
The rules relate to planning applications made on or after 15 June 2022, but not to those beforehand if ‘substantial’ building work begins before 15 June 2023. They are, in effect, a stopgap to improve things before 2025 when the Future Homes and Buildings Standards will require more significant cuts to carbon emissions.