Passivhaus: the route to zero carbon?

Authors: Nick Grant, Alan Clarke, Mark Siddall, Laura Soar

Recent reports have forecast that we now only have a few years left to reduce emissions enough to avoid a catastrophic rise in global temperatures.  Significantly reducing the emissions of our buildings is vital if the UK is to make a meaningful contribution and would lead by example when many countries are also struggling to understand how to reduce emissions sufficiently. Many cities and regions are moving towards a Zero Carbon goal for new housing to achieve genuine emissions reductions.

How do we ensure zero carbon targets result in zero emission buildings? This paper analyses the definition of a Zero Carbon building and compares a notional Building Regulations Zero Carbon building with a Passivhaus Classic and renewables.

The report highlights problems such as the performance gap, seasonal energy storage, and limits to deploying renewable energy via the current national grid; It shows that Passivhaus is the only realistic way to achieve Zero Carbon without massive renewable energy expansion coupled with a significant investment in grid capacity. 

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