No New Carbon Emissions from Buildings in UK
Posted on: February 29th, 2008 by Emma YoungEvery new building put up in Britain will have to be zero carbon, emitting no pollution that contributes to global warming, the Government will announce this week.
Caroline Flint, the new housing minister, will commit herself to setting an “ambitious target” for eliminating carbon dioxide emissions from “non-domestic” buildings. This ranges from schools to supermarkets, health centres to hotels, and from libraries to light manufacturing industry.
Taken with a year-old government commitment to make all new housing zero carbon by 2016 – the most exacting target anywhere in the world – the move will set Britain on the road to a new energy age
At present buildings are much the biggest source of the pollution, contributing just short of half of all the country’s emissions of carbon dioxide. So far only a few hundred homes, and only a handful of other buildings, are zero carbon.
Ms Flint will be answering back to a landmark report by the industry-led UK Green Building Council which has been on ministers’ desks since early December. Written by a group of Council members that includes some of the country’s biggest developers and property companies – such as Arup, British Land, Hermes, Land Securities, Lend Lease, BRE and Fulcrum Consulting – it concludes that all new non-domestic buildings could be zero carbon by 2020.
www.ukgbc.org
