With all the doom and gloom of government cuts to the pre registration of Feed in Tariffs Reading Sustainabilty Centre have some good news. They have been planning to develop a hydro power scheme to supply renewable electricity generated by the fall of water at Caversham weir in Reading and they are moving
Near Zero Energy renovation
A new multimillion euro research project which will demonstrate how buildings can be renovated to use ‘near zero energy’ has launched at Brunel University London. Featuring 17 partners from nine European countries and funded by Horizon 2020, the €8.4m project brings together academia and industry to develop a ‘Retrofit Kit’ that can be used to reduce energy consumption by 60-95% in renovated buildings.Read more
The Retrofit Kit will bring together a number of advanced, cost efficient, and energy-saving technologies – including smart windows with pre-heating and cooling technology, ventilation heat recovery, photovoltaic panels, and nature-based technologies – which can be fitted 30% quicker than typical renovations. It’s hoped that implementation of the technologies would have a payback period of under 15 years. Four demonstration sites will be created as part of the project, including one at Brunel, which will offer practical, real-world examples of ‘Near Zero Energy Buildings’ or ‘nZEBs’ retrofit.
Carbon assessment guidance
The RICS has published a Professional Statement entitled “Whole life carbon assessment for the built environment”. The mandatory and regulated guidance, authored by ASBP member Sturgis Carbon Profiling, is the result of 2 years work by an industry wide team, funded by InnovateUK, with the aim of providing consistency and reliability to industry wide carbon reporting. Read more
The guidance explains the methodology for assessing all building related carbon emissions including: sourcing of materials, fabrication, construction, repair, replacement, in use, demolition and disposal, as well as reuse and recycling. It sets out specific mandatory principles and supporting guidance for the interpretation and implementation of EN 15978 methodology. It will be the point of reference for all those involved in the UK built environment industry, such as clients, consultants, contractors, local authorities, software developers and many others. The numeric assumptions are based on UK locations and standard practices. However, geographic adjustments are highlighted to enable the requirements and guidance to be applied in other countries. For more information, visit www.rics.org.