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08 February 2007 / Stuart Pemble
Issue: 7259 / Categories: Features , Property
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Just hot air?

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Do the government’s plans for carbon-neutral homes stack up? asks Stuart Pemble

In his Pre-Budget Report, Investing in Britain’s Potential: Building Our Long-Term Future (Cm 6984), on 6 December 2006, the Chancellor Gordon Brown announced a brave new green world: all new homes are to be carbon neutral by 2010. However, by the time Ruth Kelly, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, launched the government’s consultation on the process—Building a Greener Future: Towards Zero Carbon Development—a week later, the timetable had already slipped to 2016. Everyone appears to agree on the need for change: in 2004, energy use in UK homes was responsible for a quarter of all of our carbon emissions. But what can be done in practice?

Regulation, regulation…

The most obvious change is that the Building Regulations 2000 (SI 2000/2531) (the regulations), the regime of statutory instruments which underpin the Building Act 1984, need to be changed. Once the government has decided on what constitutes a carbon-neutral home, any home constructed will have to comply with the regulations. Failure to

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