Talking About Green

With the growing government and societal push towards a greener society, we discuss what compliance will mean for your home and the effect changing your door can have on your ‘greenness’ not to mention your wallet.

The latest report from the Zero Carbon Hub suggests a hierarchical approach to ensuring ‘0 Carbon’ homes is required.

I know, I know, this all sounds extremely exciting; in short the recommendations suggest that there are three stages which must be referenced when trying to adhere to the governments strict timescale of reaching a ‘0 Carbon’ society. Meaning new regulations and standards need to be devised and policed.

It is of course the ‘bigger picture’ these regulations are working towards. But as a home owner or potential buyer you need to know how adhering to ‘0 Carbon’ regulations will affect how you improve or the impact it will have on buying a house.

0 carbon isn’t 0 carbon though is it?

The ultimate definition of ‘0 carbon’ has changed over the years when applied to housing. In 2007 the governments plan was that by 2016 all new homes built would meet a 0 carbon standard; meaning that all CO2 emissions to be mitigated on-site. However in 2008 the UK-Green Building Council deemed this to be unachievable by the majority and proposed an alternative definition structure.

The alternate structure focuses on a hierarchical approach, suggesting the use of three tiers to achieving ‘0 carbon’. The first and potentially most important is that every new house be designed and built with energy efficiency in mind. Secondly where possible LZC (low or zero carbon energy/technology) should be utilised. Finally to achieve full ‘0 Carbon’ status the remaining CO2 emissions should be mitigated using a number of solutions.

I already own my house, how can I go greener?

For those of you who already own your house and are focused on reducing your carbon footprint there are a number of options available to you. The five main points on which to focus are walls, floor, roof, windows and doors.

For the majority of you, updating your walls, flooring and roofing will provide too substantial an outlay to consider immediately as part of your ‘0 Carbon’ strategy. Windows and doors are thus it would seem the most obvious elements to update. Windows have been governed by industry standards in regards to energy efficiency for a while now – being required to meet a U value of 1.8 or less. However come October 1^st new doors will have to adhere to these strict regulations too.

U Value? And how it is applied to doors

U Value is a measure of the rate at which heat transfers through a building element over a given area; which basically translates to it being a rating of how energy efficient/green your element/door is. Owning a door which performs below a U value of 1.8 does not make it illegal, however all new door purchased or installed after October 2010 must meet this standard.

The buzz in the industry surrounds the fact that most door manufacturers it seems will struggle to adhere to the new ratings. Door-Stop composite door manufacturer seem to be the only manufacturer willing to state their U value doors compliance, providing a U value certificate with every door produced. It would seem that composite doors will be potentially the only door types which can comply due to their insulation properties; it will be interesting to see how wood and UPVC manufacturers react.

Buying a new build property, will it be green?

Fortunately buying a new build property will be a lot less complicated than trying to update an existing one. All new build properties will have to adhere to the for mentioned UK-Green Building Council recommendations. It therefore comes down to you as a consumer to demand the level of compliance which your new property reaches.

It is worth remembering that adhering to the strictest level of compliance will not just benefit your conscience, but will also offer dramatic financial benefits too – with the most compliant new build homes being potentially self sufficient.

It seems that meeting a ‘0 Carbon’ point is closer than it has ever been before. But I think the two key points to answer will be: 1. How will the government ensure that the minimum standard box isn’t just ticked every time by developers? 2. Can it be made more attractive for home owners to decrease their carbon footprint by a value bigger than the cost of the changes?

This article was written in association with Door Stop, Composite door manufacturers who are leading the way in providing U Value doors to the trade and construction industry.