UK standards heading for zero carbon houses

The first zero carbon house built in the UK by a volume housebuilder was unveiled earlier this month. It has achieved a design rating of six stars (the highest level available) under the Code for Sustainable Homes, which stipulates that all UK homes built from 2016 must be zero-carbon. From this month, all new houses must have a rating against the code, which replaced the Ecohomes rating system for the assessment of new homes in England. Building standards will be made progressively tougher, leading up to the zero-carbon target date. The UK Green Building Council has defined when a house can be called zero carbon. The proposal is "that a zero-carbon house must produce almost all its energy on-site or very nearby in, say, a communal heat and power system". House builders have argued that this is too stringent and that off-site renewable power generation should be accepted.