Zero Carbon Development in the United Kingdom: Overall Carbon Emissions - Research Paper Example

 The current definition of carbon zero as it has been carefully set out in the most recent consultation is seen to state that for a home to be considered to be carbon efficient, the home’s energy use must have a net carbon output of zero over a time period of one year. This energy that is consumed in the home might be used for running various electrical appliances as well as for cooling, hot water, space heating, lighting and ventilation (NHBC foundation 2010). It should be noted that the term “zero carbon” excludes embodied carbon and is used to simply refer to emissions in use. The question of embodied carbon is not considered to be of vital importance and it is therefore not normally addressed (Architecture 2013). It found to be customary for most people to look at heavy industry, power generation and the transportation industry’s cars and planes as being the largest contributors of carbon dioxide emissions in the UK while overlooking the fact that family homes in the UK happen to contribute over 27 percent of all of the total CO2 emissions that happen to be recorded in the UK. According to the Zero Carbon Hub current chief executive Neil Jefferson, this is generally one of the chief reasons why homes in the United Kingdom need to try and change the manner in which they happen to operate. Building the energy sufficient zero carbon homes will serve to help the United Kingdom reduce its overall carbon emissions and thus be better placed to sufficiently meet its set carbon emissions reduction targets (theiet 2013). The Zero Carbon Homes Plan as Presented by the UK Government and its Effect on the Social Housing Sector The UK Government first set out its planned vision that was meant to ensure that the country had zero carbon homes in 2006. This vision was presented in a consultation document that the government entitled Building a Greener Future: Towards Zero Carbon Development. The reports was seen to seek views on the Government planned proposal that was aimed at reducing the current carbon footprint that was being released by the housing development projects in the country. The consultation document was seen to explore the existing relationship between the Code for Sustainable homes (gov.uk 2013), the planning system and various Building Regulations as it sought to effectively deliver its ambition of zero carbon homes in the UK (construction products 2013). The consultation document also provided a proposed timetable that sought to gradually tighten and revise the country’s building regulations starting from the year 2010 through to the year 2013 so as to ensure that the county is able to eventually achieve its aim of zero carbon homes development in all housing projects in both Wales and England by the year 2016. Soon after the launch of the target that was set for 2016, there arose a lot of debate as concerning what was the precise definition of a zero carbon home. The UK government’s original definition of a zero carbon home was seen to define a zero carbon home as being a home that effectively managed to deliver a carbon emissions reduction of up to about 70% as compared to the current homes in the UK. A combination of near or on –site, renewable energy and relatively high levels of energy efficiency would be required so as to ensure that this targeted reduction in carbon dioxide emissions is attained. After the 70% energy reduction is attained, the remaining percentage of 30 percent that comprised of mainly of new carbon emissions, and the non-regulated electricity that might be used by various appliances in the home would be accounted for by being supplied by using directly connected renewable (WWF 2007). This ambitious definition was soon to be widely criticized and recognized as being overly economically unattainable and currently a very small number of such social housing homes have been built in the UK (architectsjournal 2008). The UK’s government of zero carbon is seen to strongly imply that all the energy that is used by a given development must be entirely generated either at the development scale or at the building. This approach is however not believed to be the most effective approach that can be used both in terms of the project’s sustainability and the overall effectiveness of the project. It can be seen that the technical possibilities and potential costs of on-site power generation have continued to largely remain uncertain and as such, any advances towards the attainment of a zero carbon standards on a relatively small scale is predicted to prove uneconomical as a result of the access considerations and the cost. According to the view of some of the RIBA members, for a building site to be able to achieve full zero carbon and take into account the costs and access considerations, such a building site must have a development level that is host to over 250 social homes (Architecture 2013). In light of this, the UK government in association with various industry players set up the Zero Carbon Hub. This hub was mainly tasked with the responsibility of trying to deliver this very challenging target. Since its initial setup the hub has been seen to be tirelessly working towards trying to formulate the most cost-effective and achievable method that can be used in the delivery of these carbon emission reduction targets. In light of this challenge, the zero carbon target has effectively been broken down into three distinct units, these are (Sustainable homes 2013): The Fabric Energy Efficiency standard (FEES): This standard is intended to provide a well insulated building fabric that will be seen to adequately reflect the latest updates in the Code for Sustainable homes and the existing building regulations. Builders in the UK will have to meet the new FEES Levels by using a variety of carbon reduction measures which may vary from measures such as trying to improve the building fabric used to the installations of photovoltaic’s. The unit devised for use in measuring FEES are KWh/m2/yr. This unit is seen to adequately represent the normal heating demands that are required for a standard home while taking into close consideration various important factors such as thermal bridging, air permeability and fabric insulation. This unit has already been adopted for used in the Code for Sustainable for Homes. The government has set the levels that it hopes to achieve by 2016 at maximums of 46Kwh/m2/yr for homes that have a semi-detached, fully detached and end of terrace design while for those homes that have amid-terrace design and apartments the levels have been set at 39 kWh/m2/yr (Zero Carbon hub 2009). The Carbon Compliance Standard: Following the findings that found that the government proposed carbon compliance standards of 70% could not be easily achieved by the year 2016, a task group was formed that proposed that carbon compliance assessments should not be conducted on individual dwellings, but should be assed across an entire development site. Some of the methods that could potentially be used to ensure that there is adequate onsite contribution towards the zero carbon plan using zero carbon energy such as a common community heating network and low onsite carbon usage. An onsite community heating network is basically a system that has been designed to cater to both the space heating needs and the heat required for several commercial and residential houses all from one central location. This design is seen to drastically help in the overall reduction of the individual carbon footprints of the various individual homes (Zerocarbonhub 2013). Allowable solutions: This basically entails off-site, near-site or on-site carbon saving measure that has been generally approved for use on homes. Some of the basic off-site energy saving options include; making investments that target renovations that are made using various low carbon technologies, the development of low carbon cooling systems and the setting up of plants that can play a role in the turning of waste products into energy. Near options include; setting up local energy storage and wage management solutions and the development of local micro-hydro schemes. Possible on-site carbon saving measures include; measures such as the installation of a site based heat storage system and smart appliances and the use of a carbon saving grid injected bio-methane (Zero Carbon Hub 2012). Code for Sustainable Homes The Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH) a code that was introduced by the UK government as an initiative that was meant to try and work on improving the sustainability of any new homes within the Kingdom. When new dwellings are built, they are immediately assessed for their general sustainability and awarded a grade ranging from 1 to 6 with six being the most favorable grade as it represents a zero carbon home (planningportal 2013). After its development, the CSH code has been seen to play a very vital part in the UK Government’s agenda that has been actively advocating and trying to ensure that all the new homes that will be set up within the UK from the year 2016 onwards will be designed to be zero carbon efficient. This is in line with the UK’s carbon agenda. The CSH is also a useful indicator of the direction in which any potential revisions to the Part G and Part L of the current Building regulations of 2000 are to be made as pertaining to carbon dioxide emissions and energy (planningportal 2013). The new CHS code will result in an increase of the use of concrete in building as concrete is seen to offer several inherent benefits as pertaining to its thermal mass, fire performance, sound insulation, durability and design flexibility. If concrete is used to its maximum benefits, these attributes will serve to help it achieve a very wide range of favorable credits under the general umbrella of the CHS code (planningportal 2013). Under the code, new dwellings will be assessed based on nine categories with each category designed to adequately cover a different aspect of any sustainable construction activity. These nine categories are waste, materials, water use, energy/ carbon dioxide energy use by dwelling, ecology, wellbeing and health, management and pollution (concretecentre 2013). Each category includes a number of various issues that can potentially impact on the environment. The issues in each category are carefully assessed before they are finally awarded either one or more credits (Parekh 2000). These issues represent several best of good practices that are found to be technically feasible in addition to the fact that the building industry can be able to deliver them. However, it should be noted that these codes are found to not be applicable in Scotland. The Welsh Government adopted the use of this Code in 2008 and has since implemented policies that require any development project in Wales that seeks to develop either 5 or more houses must ensure that it attains Code Level 3 (planningportal 2013). Costs and Benefits of the Carbon Zero Homes Plan The UK housing industry has been subject to various numerous government initiatives and reports in recent years. These have resulted in the need for the country’s home building industry to try and improve on the general affordability of the homes it builds while all along ensuring that effectively increases its current production rates up to an average of about 240,000 homes by the year 2016 (DCLG 2007). In regards to the UK’s low carbon development, there are several key drivers that can be identified that affect the perspective that is shared by home developers in the country in their attempts to provide more social housing, these include; Cultural Drivers Although the demand for sustainable low carbon housing by customers in the UK market is currently very limited and low (Carter 2006), this is identified as being a potentially growing area of interest and market (Darnton 2005). Various studies carried out have found that among the UK public, there is a growing desire for the adoption of positive sustainable lifestyles (Dobson 2005). This will serve to further prompt homebuilders to try and adopt more sustainable developments in any future developments (Sponge Sustainability Network, 2007). In order to further support and develop this growing preference for a sustainable lifestyle, the UK government can be able to provide incentives such as integrating various sustainability factors in the evaluation of properties, and the provision of several fiscal incentives to the customers (Lutzkendorf and Lorenz 2007). Other government measures and initiatives such as the Energy white paper, existing government polices and the enactment of policies (DCLG 2005) such as the planning policy statement that are perceived to be favorable to the housing industry are seen to likely serve to further enhance the promotion and integration of a low carbon culture(DTI 2003). Business Drivers The culture of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has increasingly been growing within the construction industry in the UK. This has lead to a situation where a recent survey of some of the UK’s largest home and housing developers revealed that approximately 65% of them have developed and implemented a corporate sustainability policy and 70% of them have made public their approach on sustainability (WWF 2007). Studies indicate that the construction industries supply chain is currently more motivated to try and develop an array of green practices and products as a result of recent market differentiation benefits and objectives. This will serve to act as a relatively strong drive towards the promotion of zero carbon development projects (Keeping and Shiers 2004). By exceeding the minimal industry set standards as pertaining to sustainability factors, construction companies stand to further enhance their reputation and brand recognition. This is in line with the WWF (2005 report that found that by companies attaining relatively high standards of social and environmental performance, the developers are seen to stand at a good advantage in the attraction of high caliber employees and customers (WWF 2005). Legislative Drivers The potential enactment of future legislation that will support the development and attainment of zero carbon homes by 2016 is also a major drive (Sayce, Ellison and Parnell 2007). Although the CSH is currently a voluntary scheme at present, it is projected that it will potentially become one of the mian drivers for property and housing developers when it is eventually enacted and becomes legislation in the country. Property developers who are quick to adapt the policy will stand to gain extensive practical knowledge on the development of low cost carbon housing buildings. This will serve to aid them in getting financial benefits that will accrue to them as a result of their being able to effectively meet all the laid down building requirements at costs that will be perceived as being relatively cost effective (Carter 2006). Barriers Impeding the Successful Implementation of the Carbon Zero Homes Plan There are several numerous barriers to the designing and development of energy efficient homes in England. Some of these principal barriers include cultural, legislative, technical and design and financial barriers. The Technical and Design Barriers Design and technical barriers are one of the main challenges in the consideration of the overall feasibility of the zero carbon homes within the UK (DCLG 2006). One of the most integral challenges facing the construction of zero carbon homes in the UK is the integration of renewable technologies which are often quite expensive into small scale developments. It is currently widely believed that such technologies are extremely unreliable (Williams and Adair 2007) and their installation is perceived as seriously reducing a developer’s profit margins in addition to reducing the outside space and aesthetics of a building project (Sullivan, Mark and Parnell 2006). Another key design barrier is the fact that most developers within the UK have formulated a system that has seen them use a set range of social housing standards across their various development projects. This is seen to help them effectively avoid defects and reduce the buildings costs, as such it stands that they are reluctant to adopt policies that might require them to implement excessive design changes in their work (Williams and Adair 2007). Cultural Design Barriers There exists some cultural barriers toward the development of successful zero carbon homes projects in the UK. Recent studies have shown a general unwillingness among most UK developers for them to try using sustainable products and materials that is either new or untested. This can mainly be attributed to the attitudes that have traditionally existed within the housing sector in the UK. These traditions are seen to restrict any uptake in new innovations (Nelson, Peterhansi and Samphat 2004). To further ground this unwillingness in the uptake of new building innovations (Poyton 2003), social housing building clients do not currently exhibit any demand that require developers to implement any sustainability requirements (WWF 2005). Builders also exhibit a wide misconception that among the general public, there is no demand for sustainable properties. Financial Barriers Builders have been noted as having perceived that they stand to suffer increased costs if they are to attempt to achieve any of the relatively high building standards that are commonly associated with erecting zero and low carbon homes. Studies have shown that most housing developers are very reluctant to try and instigate any innovations that happen to be geared towards the attainment of high sustainability standards as a result of the perceived and real costs involved in the implementation of these standards. These perceived elevated costs have become more apparent with the introduction of CHS (Cato 2008). The problem is further compounded by various studies that have been key in showing that costs that will potentially be incurred as a developer tries to achieve the different levels as categorized by the CSH (Sweett 2005). These will greatly vary based on the construction methods that are employed by the contractor and the various economies of scale that might happen to be available to the given contractor (Maunsell 2007). Legislative Barrier Considering the fact that there currently exists no construction financial data on the proposed zero carbon homes coupled with the existing technological and cultural concerns that hamper the development of sustainable homes, it is found to be evidently clear that the UK government stands to face a myriad of challenges as it attempts to achieve its objective of developing zero carbon homes in the country. Studies have shown that home builders in the UK respond well to the laid down legislation and are rarely affected by policies developed by the government (Banfill and Peacock 2007) As such, it can be perceived that the current excess of energy efficiency policies (BRE 2005) that have been laid down by the government if they are not further enforced by concrete legislation (Adeyeye, Osmani and Brown 2007) (Baiche, Walliman and Ogaden 2006) (CIOB 2007). According to the RIBA, two thirds of all local authorities are currently not ready to try and implement the new Code for Sustainable homes. It should be noted that on average, it is only one in every five authorities that are currently struggling to ensure that they try to implement the recent ne Part L Building Regulations. The non-compliance and ease with which Part L was enforced by most local authorities recently caused the Environmental Audit Committee to express alarm and call for the UK Government to conduct an extensive review in an attempt to try and establish the possible extent to which the problem has spread. Research that has recently been conducted by the Environmental Agency has shown that close to about 30% of the new homes and social housing built happen not to comply with the established building regulations. The actual figures are thought to potentially be much higher than this (Architecture 2013). Achieving Carbon Zero Government Measures that Will aid in the Attainment of Zero Carbon Homes in the Social Housing Sector In the UK, although it is the developers and the house builders are the two main bodies that are responsible for the eventual delivery of zero carbon homes to the general public, it is the UK Government that is mainly responsible for formulation and instigation of guidelines that have been designed to target the UK and turn it not only zero carbon but also into an emission free country (NHBC 2009). The main policies that were set up by the government to attain its carbon emissions reduction targets mostly centered on legislation that aim to cut on the UK’s carbon emissions by approximately 34% by the turn of the year 2020 and to achieve an overall greenhouse gases emissions target of 80% reduction by 2050 (uk.gov 2013). Some of the various actions that the UK government taken to ensure that it attains these targets include setting up a community based energy saving program that trail the “whole house” in various low income areas. The UK government is also keen to amend its current Building regulations so as for them to have improved energy efficiency of about 44% by the year 2013. This is as compared to he current building regulations that were set out in 2006. The proposed building regulations will seek to introduced a fuel based target emission rate that will serve to effectively deal with the problems that are commonly associated with part L of the building regulations. Part L is seen to focus on the emissions generated as opposed to the energy efficiency (Osmani and O’Reilly 2009). In accordance to the adherence of Part L, all design stage documents and blue prints that are submitted for approval will be required to be accompanied by a copy of the building’s design specifications. The government will enforce regulations that will require all building designers to use software that will list all the features in a building that will help it in meeting the energy performance targets that have been set. Various low and zero carbon technologies, modified lighting designs and pumps will be included in the in the building changes that are to be implemented so as to effectively limit any heat gain by the buildings. This new designs will mainly be aimed at ensuring that both the new naturally ventilated buildings as well as the air conditioned ones effectively manage to avoid the excessive solar gains that are a common occurrence in winter. By the year 2016, there will be a net carbon target of Code 6 that will be set for all sustainable homes in the country (planningportal 2013). The mode of calculation of the energy efficiency in the country will also be amended to shift from the standard assessment procedure (SAP) that focuses on establishing annual energy calculations to a more accurate format were the energy calculations will be conducted on a monthly basis. This measure will serve to ensure that any social building projects strictly adhere to the government carbon zero homes development project (DECC 2013). The government of the UK has also taken several actions that are geared towards the delivery of energy savings, this move is seen to helping people meet the costs incurred during a transformation as well as raising the zero carbon measures in addition to helping communities living in social housing that will be facing an increased 6% cost to their housing bills by the year 2020. The Government seeks to ensure that by the year 2011, there will be an average of about six million homes within the UK that will be well insulated under the directives imposed by the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target. The energy cash-back scheme that was developed by the government will serve to further promote the use of low carbon sources for heat generation in the country. After the year 2011, sale of the traditional light bulb in the UK will also be stopped. According to Cambridge University’s professor Michael Kelly, approximately more than 60 percent of all building in the UK will still be standing come the year 2050, as such there is an urgent need to extensively tackle the existing stock of houses and convert them to a carbon zero state. A radical transformation program needs to be implemented that will tackle transformations targeted at about one million individual houses as opposed to the current strategy where only about an average of about 100 homes are transformed at a time. This is mainly because the UK only has the chance of doing one or two makeover on a relatively significant scale before the year 2050 (BSRIA 2012). In order effectively counter the situation that has seen several local authorities neglecting to stringently implement the proposed building codes the Royal institute of British Architectures (RIBA) has proposed that the government should ensure that it implements a post construction inspections and assessment system that will play a vital role in the evaluation and ascertainment of whether a new building is found to be compliant with the expected energy usage levels. This has been prompted by findings that most new buildings are found to be substantially underperforming once constructed, this is in comparison to the way they had been designed to perform in their original plans. Fine-tuning of these buildings by implementing the recommendations that will be made by the assessment team will serve to further help the buildings reach their efficiency potential (Architecture. 2013). RIBA is also keen to propose that wherever possible, local authorities should be encourage to adopt zero carbon standards that are generally higher than those set out for implementation by the government (Architecture 2013). Bibliography BSRIA. Review of the BSRIA Briefing - achieving zero carbon. Accessed on 14th Feb 2013 from http://www.bsria.co.uk/news/briefing08-review/. Architecture. 2013. Building A Greener Future: Towards Zero Carbon Development Comments by the Royal Institute of British Architects. Accessed on 14th Feb 2013 from http://www.architecture.com/Files/RIBAHoldings/PolicyAndInternationalRelations/Poli cy/PublicAffairs/responseToBuildingAGreenerFuture.pdf. theiet. 2013. What makes a zero carbon house? Accessed on 15th Feb, 2013 from http://eandt.theiet.org/magazine/2011/11/zero-carbon-house.cfm/. WWF. 2007. WWF -World Wide Fund, Building a sustainable future: UK home-builders progress in addressing sustainability, WWF-UK, Surrey, 2007. Keeping M., Shiers D. E., 2004. Sustainable property development: a real guide to real estate and the environment. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford. WWF - World Wide Fund, 2005. Investing in sustainability: progress and performance among the UK’s listed house-builders, WWF-UK, Surrey. Carter, E., 2006. Making money from sustainable homes: a developers guide. CIOB Publications, Ascot. Darnton, A., 2005. Public Understanding of climate change. Futerra & DEFRA. Sponge Sustainability Network, 2007. Eco chic or eco geek? The Desirability of Sustainable Homes, Sponge Sustainability Network, 2007. A. Dobson, Environmental citizenship: towards sustainable development, Sustainable Development 15 (2007) 276-285. Lutzkendorf, T., and Lorenz, D., 2007. Integrating Sustainability into Property Risk Assessments for Market Transformation, Building Research and Information 35 (6) (2007) 644-661. DCLG. 2005. Department of Communities and Local Government, Planning Policy Statement 1: delivering sustainable development , HMSO, London. DTI –Department of Trade and Industry, Energy White Paper: Our energy future -creating a low carbon economy, TSO, Norwich, 2003. Adeyeye, K., Osmani M., and Brown, C., 2007. Energy conservation and building design: the environmental legislation push and pull factors, Structural Survey 25 (5) 375-390. Baiche, B., Walliman, N., and Ogden, R., 2006. Compliance with building regulations in England and Wales, Structural Survey 24 (4) 279-299. CIOB. 2007. -Chartered Institute Of Building, UK Policy handbook , CIOB, Ascot. Sayce,S. Ellison, L., and Parnell, P., 2007. Understanding investment drivers for UK sustainable property, Building Research and Information 35 (6) 629-643. DCLG, 2006. Department of Communities and Local Government, Code for Sustainable Homes: a step change in sustainable home building practice, HMSO, London. Williams, K., and Adair, C., 2007. What is stopping sustainable building in England? Barriers experienced by stakeholders in delivering sustainable development, Sustainable Development. 15 135-147. Sullivan, L., Mark, B., and Parnell, T., 2006. Lessons for the Application of Renewable Energy Technologies in High Density Urban Locations, in: Proceedings of the 23rd Conference on Passive and Low Energy Architecture (PLEA2006), Geneva, 6-8th September 2006. Poyton, P., 2003. Perspectives on innovation: housing, Zedfactory, Surrey. Nelson, R., Peterhansi, A., and Sampat, B., 2004. Why and how innovations get adopted: a tale of four models, Industrial and Corporate Change 13 (5) 679-699. WWF, 2004. World Wide Fund, Building towards sustainability: performance and progress among the UK’s leading housebuilders, WWF-UK, Surrey. Cato, I., 2008. Carbon zero homes UK style, Refocus 9 (2) 28-29. Sweett C., 2005. Putting a price on sustainability, BRE Press, Watford. Maunsell, F., 2007. Supporting and delivering zero carbon development in the South West, South West Regional Assembly and Taunton Dean Borough Council. BRE, 2005. Building Research Establishment, Reducing carbon emissions from the UK housing stock. BRE Press, Watford. Banfill P. G., and Peacock, D., A., 2007. Energy Efficient New Housing – The UK Reaches for Sustainability, Building Research & Information 35 (4) 426-436. Parekh, A., G., 2000. Energy Efficiency and Indoor Air Quality in R-2000 and Conventional New Houses in Canada, ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings. 1 1.101-1.112. DCLG, 2007. Department of Communities and Local Government, The Callcutt review of housebuilding delivery, HMSO, London. sustainablehomes. 2013. 2016 Zero Carbon Target: Government welcomes interim recommendations. Accessed on 15th Feb 2013 from http://www.sustainablehomes.co.uk/blog/bid/51556/2016-Zero-Carbon-Target -Government-welcomes-interim-recommendations. zerocarbonhub. 2013. What is Zero Carbon? Accessed on 14th Feb 2013 from http://www.zerocarbonhub.org/definition.aspx. architectsjournal, 2008. Government's 2016 zero-carbon homes target 'too unrealistic'. Accessed on 14th Feb 2013 from http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/news/governments-2016 -zero-carbon-homes-target-too-unrealistic/875504.article. gov.uk. 2013. Sustainable New Homes – The Road to Zero Carbon Consultation on the Code for Sustainable Homes and the Energy Efficiency standard for Zero Carbon Homes. Accessed on 14th Feb 2013 from https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/8557/141 5525.pdf. NHBC. 2009. Zero carbon homes – an introductory guide for housebuilders. IHS BRE Press on behalf of the NHBC Foundation. Constructionproducts. 2013. Zero Carbon Homes. Accessed on Feb 15th 2013 from http://www.constructionproducts.org.uk/sustainability/buildings/zero-carbon-homes/. NHBC foundation, 2010. Carbon compliance for tomorrow’s new homes. A review of the modelling tool and assumptions. Zero Carbon Hub, 2009. Defining a fabric energy efficiency standard for zero carbon homes. concretecentre. 2013. Code for Sustainable Homes. Accessed on 14th Feb 2013 from http://www.concretecentre.com/codes__standards/code_for_sustainable_homes.aspx. M. Osmani, and A. O’Reilly . 2009. Challenges Facing Housing Developers to Deliver Zero Carbon Homes in England. World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology. Zero Carbon hub 2012. Allowable Solutions for Tomorrow’s New Homes An introduction. planningportal 2013. Code for Sustainable Homes. Accessed on 15th Feb 2013 from http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/buildingregulations/greenerbuildings/sustainablehom es/. DECC. 2013. Standard assessment procedure.Guidance on how buildings will be SAP energy assessed under the Green Deal and on recent changes to incentivise low carbon developments. gov.Uk. 2013. Reducing the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050. Accessed on 14th Feb 2013 from https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/reducing-the-uk-s-greenhouse -gas-emissions-by-80-by-2050/supporting-pages/carbon-budgets. Read More