Energy UK has criticised the government for planning to wait until 2024 before legislating on new rules to slash emissions from new homes.
The trade body’s response to the government’s consultation paper on the Future Homes Standard, seen by Utility Week, expresses concern that detail on the timetable is “lacking”.
The FHS, which was announced in the chancellor of the exchequer’s 2019 spring statement, is a set of tighter building regulations that aims to reduce emissions from new homes by up to 80 per cent when it is introduced. To meet the standard, new homes would have to be installed with low-carbon heating sources, like heat pumps, instead of gas boilers.
But the level of detail set out in the consultation paper, which it says does not go as far as last year’s spring statement, is “discouraging”, according to Energy UK.
It says: “Given the government’s legislative commitment to net zero and the work of the Committee on Climate Change, it is disappointing that government is proposing to wait until 2024 to consult on and introduce legislation for a FHS.”
“The government needs to provide further detail as to how it will be achieved.”
And while the government is right that some developers are not ready to build to the tighter proposed standards, this should not be a reason to delay putting them in place, Energy UK says: “By putting in place long term frameworks that set a clear trajectory, the government can provide industry with the certainty it needs to bring forward investment in supply chains and training or upskilling.
“The technology to build zero carbon homes already exists and adopting this early on will be significantly easier than retrofitting homes in years to come.”
The consultation welcomes the interim steps in the consultation paper to “uplift” the current energy performance requirements in building regulations for new homes but says these are “not enough” to make a material impact.
Given gaps between existing buildings’ anticipated level of energy efficiency when designed and their actual performance in operation, the response says a “more robust approach” to ensuring compliance and enforcement is also required when building regulations are tightened.
The proposed changes to compliance and performance in the consultation paper do not go far enough, says Energy UK, pointing to “lacklustre” compliance with the Boiler Plus policy standards.
Energy UK also states that 2020 is “too early” to phase out the use of gas-fired combined-heat-and-power units to supply heat networks, which it says can be an efficient “bridging” technology.