Zero carbon buildings

The Code for Sustainable Homes measures the sustainability of a home against nine design categories, rating the entire dwelling as a complete package. The design category covering building fabric is energy and CO2 emissions.

Studies on typical residential apartments have shown that U-values down to 0.10 W/m2/K can be required to achieve a Code Level 3 rating without the need for additional low and zero carbon technologies.

It is generally accepted that a similar code will be extended to non-dwellings, driving the way forward to achieving zero carbon buildings by 2019.



Note:
Code level 3 (25% reduction) is the current standard required for all new public dwellings and a standard requirement of Part L in 2010.  ‘The code’ entry level will then become Level 4 (44% reduction).  It is anticipated that this step change approach will continue to the 2019 target.