The state of green built environment in Britain

Hard on the heels of its confirmation that non-domestic new builds must be ‘zero-carbon’ by 2019 before last Christmas, Whitehall has this spring launched a Carbon Plan to tackle climate change. The latest plan highlights, among other things, the required changes in the way electricity is generated, in the way people travel as well as in the way homes and businesses are heated. Coupled with a hierarchy of national Acts, regulations and codes and guidance on built environment, Her Majesty’s Government are adopting a multi-pillar approach to meet the UK’s carbon reduction targets in punctuality. This chapter aims to introduce and briefly discuss the latest green build policies, regulations and assessment systems in the United Kingdom, which have a major part to play in driving the economy to an era of low-carbon growth.

Carbon reduction targets and the built environment

            In December 1997, the European Union signed the “Kyoto Protocol”, committing the then 15 member countries to cutting their carbon emissions by 8% relative to the 1990 baseline by 2012. Of no exception is the UK which even volunteered to reduce its carbon emissions by 12.5% before the same deadline. In 2008, the parliament passed the Climate Change Act, tabled by the then Energy & Climate Change Secretary, which mandates an 80 per cent cut overall in six Kyoto greenhouse gases by 2050 from the 1990 level. En route to this statutory goal, the Coalition Government are delivering robust policies with a view to achieving the ambitious 34 per cent (or 16% from 2005 level) reduction in greenhouse gases by 2020, by enhancing energy efficiency and promoting renewable energy generation.

            Currently, residential and non-residential buildings, including space conditioning, lights, appliances and equipment, contribute 47% of the UK’s carbon emissions.[1] As 70% of current British housing will still be standing by 2050 and the demand for new housing continues to surge, the sector is considered half the problem. Not long ago, in 2006, Whitehall unveiled its plan that all new homes in the UK will be ‘zero carbon’ by 2016. Last year, in 2010, it announced that all non-residential buildings be also ‘zero carbon’ by 2019. To strive to achieve these hard targets, the government attach great importance to the sustainable development of the building sector. A great deal of work has been done in tuning policies and regulations to the optimum for the green built environment in the UK.

Policies and regulations for the green built environment

            Britain is beyond doubt the pioneer of green buildings. As early as 1990, it introduced the world’s first assessment method and rating system for sustainable buildings – the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM), which brings far-reaching influence to the green building assessment systems in other countries. Generally speaking, the UK’s green building policies and regulations are such relatively consummate that accelerates the development of green building businesses. As an EU member state, the United Kingdom has formulated a package of green building policies and regulations underpinned by both international treaties and domestic law. International treaties include global covenants such as Kyoto Protocol and related agreements as well as EU directives; domestic law comprises the three-tier legal hierarchy of Act, Regulation, and Code & Guidance.

EU Directives

After multiple amendments to suit changing contexts, the EU directives applicable to the UK include “Boiler Efficiency Directive” (92/42/EEC), “Energy Labelling Directive” (92/75/EEC), “The Energy Efficiency Directive for Household Electric Refrigerators, Freezers and Combinations” (96/57/EC), “Energy-using Products Directive” (2005/32/EC), and the “Energy End-use Efficiency and Energy Services Directive” (2006/32/EC) [2], et cetera. The directive of utmost importance, inter alia, is the “Energy Performance of Buildings Directive” (2002/91/EC) [with the recast of which (2010/31/EU) effective year 2020]. It stipulates that all member states are obliged to develop the minimum standards of energy efficiency for buildings, technical guidance on building energy system, a monitoring system of building energy efficiency, and implement an energy performance certification system, which have brought substantial influence to relevant English law governing green structures.

Domestic law

            Transposed from the EU directives, the existing regulations governing the building sector in England and Wales include the “Climate Change Act 2008”, “Building Act 1984”, “Construction Products Regulations 1991”, “Home Energy Conservation Act 1995”, “Housing Act 2004”, “Sustainable & Secure Buildings Act 2004”, “Energy Performance of Building Regulations (Certificates and Inspections) 2008”, “Building Regulations 2010” and the “Code for Sustainable Homes 2006” (updated in 2010), etc.

(a)    The “Building Regulations”

            The sacred, guiding regulations for British construction industry, the “Building Regulations” set the minimum standards of energy performance, the use of renewable energy and carbon reduction of new buildings and some alterations to existing buildings. The Regulations cover the energy performance parameter of each building part such as the building envelope, heating, lighting and air-conditioning systems. Just last year, the Department of Communities and Local Government introduced changes to the energy efficiency standards for new homes under the “Building Regulations”, which would be further improved by 25% in 2010 and 44% in 2013 relative to 2006 standards, to be consistent with the Code for Sustainable Homes.  

(b)    Energy performance certifications

Energy performance certification system is one of the milestones of the government in promoting green buildings. A great step forward indeed is the “Energy Performance of Building Regulations (Certificates and Inspections)” which provide the authority with a legal basis to assess and certify the energy efficiency performance of every new building in England and Wales. The Regulations mainly contain statutory systems of energy certificates for buildings (i.e. Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) for private buildings and Display Energy Certificates (DECs) for public buildings) and air-conditioning inspections.

(i)       Display Energy Certificates

As of October 2008, Display Energy Certificates (DECs) are required for all public buildings with a floor space over 1,000 m². DECs have a scale similar to EPCs, but are based on actual metered energy consumption for a preceding period of 12 months. Public buildings such as local government office buildings must display DECs in prominent locations for the authority’s and public scrutiny. DECs are currently optional for commercial buildings. (See Figures 1 for a sample DEC.)

(ii)     Energy Performance Certificates

Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) are required for all commercial and residential buildings prior to the sale or lease of the property as part of a transaction. EPC ratings are on a scale 1 to 100 (G to A), with 100 (A) being the most energy-efficient and carbon-neutral. The ratings represent the predicted energy performance of and amount of CO₂ emitted from a building relative to the benchmark. (See Figure 1 for a sample EPC.)

Figure 1  Samples of DEC and EPC

(iii)   Air-conditioning inspections

Air-conditioning inspections are required for all air-conditioning systems, installed before January 2008, which are over 12 kW. It is the responsibility of the owner or landlord of the building to ensure the equipment has been inspected. An inspection report examines the efficiency of the equipment and provides advice on performance improvement. Typically done alongside air-conditioning inspections are F-gas (fluorine gas) inspections, which examines A/C equipment against any leakage and advises repairs required to achieve certification.

(c)      Carbon Reduction Commitment (as a financial incentive)

As an integral part of the government’s strategy to tackle climate change at business level, the Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC), launched in April 2010, aims at reducing CO₂ from energy use in buildings through a type of ‘cap-and-trade’ financial mechanism. In brief, the more CO₂ an organisation emits, the more allowances it will have to purchase. An organisation, which can be a bank, supermarket or local council, is “qualified” to register and participate in the scheme if it has half-hourly meters and/or was supplied more than 6,000 MWh of electricity in 2008.[3] It is an important piece of legislation which has a significant effect on the built environment, although Whitehall announced details of simplification in June this year.

Added to CRC is a package of financial incentives to reduce UK’s carbon emissions, including the introduction of the carbon price floor, smart meters, Feed-in Tariff (FiT), Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) and Green Deal (to be implemented from 2012) to increase the uptake of energy efficiency and renewables generation equipment by domestic and/or non-domestic properties in broader communities, the effectiveness of which should produce a separate discussion paper.

(d)   Code for Sustainable Homes

To galvanise the construction industry in delivering energy-efficient designs for and alterations to buildings, the government have commissioned the Building Research Establishment (BRE) to develop the “Code for Sustainable Homes” (CSH) for assessing the sustainability of new residential buildings. It replaced “BREEAM Ecohome” and became operational in April 2007. Since May 2008, a code rating has become mandatory for new residential buildings in England and Wales as well as all self-contained social housing in Northern Ireland. The CSH covers nine categories of sustainable design:

• ·      Energy and CO₂ emissions (C);
• ·      Water (C);
• ·      Materials (C);
• ·      Surface Water Run-off (C);
• ·      Waste (C);
• ·      Pollution;
• ·      Health and Wellbeing (C);
• ·      Management; and
• ·      Ecology.

There are compulsory performance requirements in 6 categories (denoted by a C on the list), while all other performance requirements are flexible. A new home is to reach an overall level of between ‘0’ and ‘6’, dependent on the compulsory standards and proportion of flexible standards achieve. (See Figures 2 for a sample CSH certificate.)

Figure 2   A sample of CSH certificate (Front and Back)

                                         

Assessment systems

           

In addition to the mandatory energy efficiency standards under relevant policies and regulations and such quasi-mandatory one as CSH, Britain boasts a variety of assessment systems developed by different independent institutions. They are basically composed of two parts: (1) assessment standards that regulate the minimum operation levels of each building part; and (2) calculation tools that illustrate calculating models. Of the huge number of calculation models, the more important ones should include the standard assessment tools used in the “Code for Sustainable Homes” and the “BRE Domestic Energy Model” (BREDEM). Likewise, there are plenty of assessment standards: PassiveHaus UK, CarbonLite developed by the Sustainable Building Association, the National Calculation Methodology and the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) benchmarks, to name a few.

Of the most extensive and credible use in the green building market is BREEAM developed by the Building Research Establishment. As its structure is relatively mature, this assessment method is highly regarded in the field of sustainable buildings. BREEAM represents a comprehensive assessment on the sustainability of buildings in ten categories: management, health and wellbeing, energy, transport, materials, waste, water, land use and ecology, pollution and innovation. Nowadays, over 115,000 buildings in the world have achieved BREEAM certifications whereas around 700,000 buildings are in different stages of application process. The assessment method (2011 version) provides various schemes to suit different building types such as BREEAM New Construction (including offices, education, healthcare and courts, etc.), BREEAM In-Use, and BREEAM International.

            Starting with BREEAM, the world has seen a collection of quantitative, scientific and objective assessment systems for green buildings being developed, recognised and applied extensively in the UK and internationally. The British green building assessment systems are, in short, characterised by their -

• ·     objectivity guaranteed with quantitative indicators;
• ·     reliability ensured with third party BRE-monitored management system;
• ·     high market share due to strong government support;
• ·     close linkage to green build policies and regulations; and
• ·     timely updates to steer the green build market.

Strength of the UK’s policies and regulations

            An overview of the UK’s policies and regulations regarding the green built environment could give prominence to their multitude of strengths in the government’s carbon-cutting strategy. With clear but underlying goal of mitigating and adapting into climate change, they serve to assure the healthy development of British sustainable building businesses. The advantages identified from the jigsaw puzzle of green build policies and regulations are as follows:

(1)     A set of acts and regulations ensuring clear accountability

Since 1990s, HM Government have formulated an optimal set of national acts, regulations, codes and guidance which are the cornerstones of promoting the development of green structures. Ensuring accountability, their smooth interaction helps clarify the monitoring responsibilities of each party involved as the law defines unambiguously the scope of responsibilities of regulatory agencies. It provides the protection and policy certainty the industries need for their sustainable development.

(2)     Providing financial incentives for business energy saving

Whitehall leverages public finance to provide long-term financial incentives which encourage the construction of low/zero-carbon buildings and the uptake of installations for energy efficiency and renewables generation. Creating a market in energy-efficiency products and services, the ‘cap-and-trade’ financial mechanism for public and private sector organisations, CRC, together with other measures like the energy-saving loans from the Carbon Trust and lower VAT rate on energy-saving materials, is bringing the fight against climate change to the boardrooms of British businesses.

(3)     Promoting energy efficiency on a household basis

By encouraging zero-carbon, distributed generation of electricity and heating, the introduction of Feed-in Tariff, the world’s first Renewable Heat Incentive and the Green Deal helps make energy efficiency become a part of everyday life of British households. Credits are also given to the government’s Energy Saving Trust which offers interest-free loan and subsidies for households taking up energy-saving, retrofitting or renewables equipment. These measures facilitate decarbonising the existing residential buildings which are one-third of the carbon problem.

(4)     Steering the market with government-supported certifications

The government endeavour to promote the market of green buildings with energy certification systems. For example, displaying a DEC required of all public buildings is conducive to public scrutiny of their energy consumption on an annual basis. It is no doubt that a government-backed certification system can drive the industrialisation of green buildings and hence, fashion a truly green built environment.

Have the government done enough?

            Notwithstanding the impressive picture that the green built environment policy and legislation paint, there is currently plenty of work that the government should do, because the existing energy efficiency policy is not going far enough. For one thing, the integrity of some codes and guidance has been questioned by the construction industry. Not long ago, some housebuilders have branded the government’s aim for all new homes to be ‘zero-carbon’ by 2016, announced by the former Housing Minister in 2006, as “high risk” and “unrealistic”.

Despite the UK Green Building Council (GBC) having acknowledged this target earlier, the challenges the industry faces mainly lie in the details of the assessment system – the Code for Sustainable Homes. At present, it is rare for the new buildings to attain Level 6 (‘carbon-neutral’) in CSH and most new homes are being built to Level 3++, which equals only a 70% reduction of carbon emission as opposed to ‘zero carbon’. The Code does a good job in answering the ‘what’ question (describing the standards), but not the ‘how’ question (giving the details of construction). For example, the industry is concerned about getting building tightness and ventilation systems right to avoid building “sick houses”. It is a “huge task” for new homes to attain Level 6 unless massive investment is made in the industry.

In spring this year, Barratt Homes chief executive Mark Clare, who also chairs the government’s low-carbon construction working group for housing, said firms would not be expected to meet 2016 government target until 2018. The two-year delay can be attributed to the absence of a clear definition of ‘zero carbon’ that is supposed to be given by the government when the first announcement was made in 2006. That’s why the industry may have had no confidence of what standards to which they are actually building. Whitehall had not yet finalised the meaning of ‘zero carbon’ homes until March this year when the Treasury published its policy paper entitled “Plan for Growth”. Nonetheless, the official definition of ‘zero carbon’ comes with disappointment, as it was diluted, without consultation, from one which included both regulated and unregulated energy use within the home to one that only takes into account regulated energy. What this means is carbon emitted by cooking and electrical appliances, which together accounts for around a third of a home’s total emissions, are neglected. Meaning that new homes may have additional electricity capacity requirements, the shifted goal posts are sending a negative message to companies having planned investments based on the original, previously envisaged policy. It is expected that a similar definition would be used for non-domestic buildings to be carbon-neutral by 2019.

Often, a policy tends to have a lower impact than forecast. Recently, critics in Cambridge Econometrics say the UK is set to miss its 2020 renewables and carbon targets which are legally bound to meet. The country will narrowly miss carbon budget up to 2017, but by wider margins in the third and fourth carbon budget periods, i.e. 2018-2022 and 2023-2027. Although emissions from the government’s own activities in Whitehall, Westminster and across the country have fallen by some 14% in a single year, the emissions from the nation as a whole actually grew during 2010 and thus fell short of the statutory target last year, as the economy began a modest recovery, which puts the UK off the trajectory required to stay within its carbon budgets. Does it in reality show the challenges the green built environment policy has to face?

The Committee on Climate Change has warned that existing government policies would not be adequate to meet the carbon budgets. This autumn, Cambridge Econometrics forecasts that emissions from electricity generation and road transport would fall over the next couple of years, whereas a number of sectors, especially aviation and commerce, would discharge increasing quantities of CO₂, which is due to rising energy demand. To focus on the built environment, the Committee’s analysis report 2010 suggested that there were scopes for a 35% and a 16% reduction in buildings and industry emissions by 2020 respectively, mainly through intensified improvements in energy efficiency and increased deployment of renewable heat. In spite of progress made on achieving targets of 15-25% emissions cut on the central government’s own estate by 2015, they have not demonstrated this momentum on policies affecting the wider building stock.

While there has been a range of policies and legislation being developed or implemented to improve energy efficiency in businesses and public sector buildings, strength of existing policies needs to be increased if carbon budgets are to be met. Apart from realising a major shift towards green taxes (which has not happened yet), in terms of reducing emissions, Downing Street should be as ambitious as in delivering spending cuts. Over the next 12 months, considerations should be given to (1) fully rolling out EPCs and DECs across the non-public sector buildings; (2) making carbon reporting by business mandatory; (3) making it compulsory for homes to be retrofitted; (4) introducing life-cycle assessment (LCA) labelling to buildings; and (5) inserting specific emissions reductions targets into the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Department of Energy and Climate Change and all local councils. These proposed measures, if taken urgently, will deliver the energy savings necessary for the UK to meet its carbon budgets.

Read the full book chapter - Mak, W. (2011). The state of green built environment in Britain. In M. Kennet, The Green Built Environment: A Handbook. Reading: Green Economics Institute.

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[1] In the UK, the built environment is a £100 billion market, accounting for 8% of GDP and employing 3 million workers, according to the government.

[2] In June 2011, the European Commission submitted a proposal for a new Energy Efficiency Directive and repealing Directives 2004/8/EC (Cogeneration/CHP Directive) and 2006/32/EC (Energy Services Directive) [COM(2011)370, 22/06/2011].

[3] Some organisations with half-hourly meters might be exempt from having to purchase allowances, if they are not large energy consumers.

Email me at winstonkm.mark@googlemail.com