- By Content Coms
- In Useful Stuff
Government proposal deals blow to zero carbon homes
The Government’s suggestion to scrap the 2008 Planning and Energy act has been met with alarm across the domestic renewable industry, writes Energyzine.
The Act enables local authorities in England and Wales to set their own requirements for house builders to include renewable energy and low carbon technologies in new build properties (the so-called Merton Rule).
The suggestion to do away with the Act is part of the Government’s consultation on the Housing Standards Review.
While green energy advocates are angered by this proposal, house builders are welcoming it as a way of cutting red tape and increasing the supply of new homes in the midst of a growing housing crisis.
The Department for Communities and Local Government says it would like to use Building Regulations as the way to drive up energy performance standards. However, recent updates to Part L have been branded by many as “watered down” and a blow to efforts to achieve zero carbon homes.
