Net zero - passivehouseplus.ie

The familiar North Atlantic drizzle may be giving way to more forceful, building-battering rain. A new study warns of shifting patterns that will test the resilience of structures, writes Toby Cambray.

Passive house certification has been formally recognised as a deemed-to-satisfy route within the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard at practical completion, in a move which recognises the reliability of the passive house standard as a way delivering significant real world carbon savings.

A survey of 1,500 UK homeowners by the Social Market Foundation (SMF) – a cross-party think tank – has revealed government failure to make people feel confident in taking steps for the net zero transition, jeopardising its success.

A pilot version of the UK’s first cross-industry standard for net zero carbon-aligned buildings has been launched.

The Irish government has been called on to overhaul VAT structure in order to incentivise reuse and refurbishment, by construction industry body The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB), who say urgent action is needed to reduce the number of Ireland’s buildings being demolished if the country is to meet net zero targets.

At times the need to put roofs over the heads of vulnerable people and the need to tackle climate change and unsustainable resource use can seem in direct opposition. But one new Welsh scheme shows that doesn’t have to be the case.

System thinking will be key to radically reducing operation energy use in new housing without suffering unforeseen consequences, a leading sustainable building system supplier has said.

In the aftermath of COP26, Dr Peter Rickaby asks what is the government’s plan to deliver the deep, whole-house, quality-assured retrofits needed to get us to net zero by 2050?

Max Fordham House in North London has become the first residential building in the UK to be verified as net zero carbon. Located in the London Borough of Camden, this certified passive house was designed for, and lived in by, the late legendary engineer Max Fordham.

Leading precast concrete facade manufacturer Techrete has pledged to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2030.

The Climate Change Committee (CCC) envisages loft insulation and air source heat pumps as being among the primary tools to reduce the carbon footprint of existing buildings, in its newly published landmark plan for how the UK can move towards becoming a net zero carbon nation by 2050.