HELPING DELIVER OUR ZERO NET CARBON TARGET
Green Business Hub is building a network of environmentally focused businesses that are invested in 'going green', want to collaborate, work together and refer projects to each other. We are here to help promote sustainable 'built environment' initiatives in the new build and retrofit space, connecting businesses and helping them reap the commercial benefits in the process.
The 'built environment' will play a critical role in meeting the UK's legally binding zero net carbon objectives by 2050...
With 29 million existing residential homes - accounting for around 15% of total UK co2 emissions - and annual stated 300K new homes build target - our zero net carbon objective simply won't be met without the near-complete elimination of greenhouse gas emissions from all UK buildings. New homes have to be built to be low-carbon, energy and water efficient, and climate resilient. The costs of building to tighter sustainable specifications are not prohibitive, and getting the design right from the outset is far cheaper than retrofitting later.
Future homes should be heated using low-carbon energy sources, have ultra-high levels of energy efficiency alongside appropriate ventilation, and be sustainably sourced timber-framed where possible.
The construction industry must also therefore invest in new support to train designers, builders and installers of low-carbon heating, and measures to improve energy and water-efficiency, ventilation, thermal comfort and property-level flood protection in new buildings and for retrofit.
Finally, existing homes must also make far greater use of low-carbon sources of heating such as heat pumps and heat networks, and the uptake of energy efficiency measures, such as loft and wall insulation, must be accelerated and domestic customers encouraged to do so.