'Delivering a low-energy building' report calls for widespread adoption of Passivhaus
UEA’s Adapt Low Carbon Group has produced a report entitled ‘Delivering a low-energy building’. The report is the result of a four year study into building performance in Sweden, Germany, and the UK.
Delivering a low-energy building, the final major report from Build with CaRe, reveals that energy bills for new homes are likely to be higher than anticipated and that occupant health may suffer from poor indoor air quality. It shows that today's quality standards for construction could leave us unable to meet climate change targets, and makes recommendations for radical changes in construction practice.
The report highlights the energy performance gap identified in the UK for new buildings over many years. It is likely that similar issues are present in many other EU countries. Continuing to build in the way we do today is likely to create a legacy over many decades of higher bills and poorer health with climate change targets made impossible to meet.
The reports makes clear that mere setting of building codes and standards for new buildings (for example “Zero Carbon Homes” in the UK or the EU’s Energy Performance of Buildings Directive) cannot guarantee delivery of low-energy buildings that perform as designed or as Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) would indicate. The “traditional construction model” is inadequate to the task.
Lack of affordable homes has given rise to a housing crisis in the UK. The energy performance gap means that there is a second, hidden, housing crisis that, if not tackled, is likely to create a legacy over many decades of higher bills and poorer health more widely across the EU. But setting new passive house energy standards will make new homes and buildings better and cheaper over the long term. Building new homes to the Passivhaus standard will have a cascade of beneficial consequences including a high-performance and competitive construction industry and associated supply chains.
Bruce Tofield, author of the report said: ‘Building to the Passivhaus quality standard is the route to better homes, lower bills, and better returns. Far-sighted developers now realise that this is more cost-effective because maintenance will cost less, prices will be stronger, and rental streams better protected.’
10th October 2012
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