ZEMCH 2015 - International Conference Proceedings | Page 198

Figure 3 : Amount of emissions by buildings ( BIS 2010 )
Actions to reduce the impact of buildings on the surrounding environment have varied and from gov . uk , we can clearly read the main actions taken which can be summarized as follows :
• The government requires local planning authorities to ensure that new developments are energy efficient .
• The plan is to make sure all new homes to be zero carbon from 2016 and this extends to include all other buildings from 2019 .
• The government has initiated ‘ the green deal ’ to enable people to pay for home improvements over time using savings on their regular energy bills .
As a result to this legislative framework , there are many case studies which show that citizens have been able to cut down their energy bills to keep their homes warm in the long cold winter in England , by some home improvements that was financed by the green deal , ( total £ 60.76 million ) and in the same time help reduce the carbon footprint of their homes . It is worth noting that one of the methods of assessing and rating the sustainability of buildings was initiated in the UK , which is BREEAM ( Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology ), in 1990 , more than 250,000 buildings have been BREEAM certified in the UK and another 50 countries around the world . BREEAM sets the standard for best practice in sustainable building design , construction and operation ( BREEAM 2014 ).
A new national standard for the sustainable design and construction of new homes all over the UK was initiated . This code helps reduce carbon emissions and make all buildings more sustainable in design , more than what is set by just building regulations .
The aspects for this standardisation as mentioned in the publication by the UK government ( CfSH 2006 ) are ; energy / CO2 , water , materials , surface water runoff ( flooding and flood prevention ), waste , pollution , health and well-being , management , ecology . For the assessment , a star system is used to rate the sustainability performance , where 6 is the maximum . This code up till now is still voluntary , unlike regulations , and is separate from the zero carbon policy and the 2016 zero
196 ZEMCH 2015 | International Conference | Bari - Lecce , Italy