SprintBio new build - Distibutors of environmentally friendly boilers, burners and heat pumps

CAMPAIGNERS fighting the proposal for an ‘eco-town’ at Ford will lobby Parliament next week (June 30). A delegation from Communities Against Ford Eco-Town (CAFE) will make the journey to London to make their views known on the proposal to build at least 5,000 houses on greenfield land at Ford in West Sussex.

read the article on the parliamentary lobby to prevent Eco-Towns

Wednesday, 2.30pm - THREE major landowners have submitted plans detailing how the former RAF Newton airbase, near Bingham, could be developed into an “eco-town”. The Crown Estate, Defence Estates and Newton Nottingham LLP have submitted the plans to the Department for Communities and Local Government, which plans to build 10 such towns around the country.

read the article on Eco-Town planned and put forward

The Better Accessible Responsible Development (Bard) group is opposed to 6,000 new homes near Long Marston. Bard has applied for a judicial review of the government’s eco-town process, claiming the programme is “unlawful” and lacks “adequate consultation”. A Communities and Local Government spokesman said it did not believe there was any basis for a legal challenge. Ministers say the towns would be low energy, carbon-neutral developments.

read the article on acting against Eco Towns

Every year for the next 40 years, half a million UK homes will need extra insulation, new windows and other energy saving features if we are to fight climate change and fuel poverty. The vast majority of our homes were built decades, if not centuries, ago and leak hot air. Eight-five per cent of these draughty, leaky homes will still be standing in 2050, by which date we must have cut carbon emissions by 80 per cent.

read the article on cutting heat emissions in homes

As part of the government’s plan to build energy efficient, affordable housing in Britain, Manby or Strubby could be chosen to house a new eco town of 5,000 homes after being shortlisted by the government.

read the article on more plans for eco-towns

TheToyota Yaris has been named Green Car of the Year 2008 by the Environmental Transport Association. The car named and shamed as the least green car is the Dodge SRT-10 sports car.

read the article on Green car of the year

Germany has fully adopted the renewable heating approach and has even taken it a step further. Instead of just using domestic ground source heat pumps, it has developed geothermal power plants.
Werner Bussmann, CEO of the German Geothermal Association said “Geothermal sources could supply Germany’s electricity needs 600 times over,”

read the article on the German geothermal power plants

Councillor Ed Turner - Deputy Leader Labour - Oxford City Council has tried to put forward the ‘pro-eco-town’ argument in the Oxford Mail. However his statements have provoked a quick response from the readers and these are represented on the website article.

read the article on the councillor’s comments

Prospective residents of the proposed eco-town at Long Marston, should the site make it into the government’s shortlist, could pay less than £100 per year in domestic heating bills according to a leading authority on energy conservation.

Ian Ward, one of the directors said “I would go as far as saying that it will be possible to heat a family home for less than £100 per year, perhaps as low as £50 in the best circumstances.”

read the article on the Long Marston site

Lord Coe , the chairman of the London Olympics organising committee, is in talks with the National Grid over a deal intended to make the London 2012 games carbon neutral.

Blue-ng, a joint venture between National Grid and the Bath-based clean-energy company 2oc, has developed a technology to exploit the unused energy created when natural gas pressure is reduced at various stations around the gas grid.

read the article on the London Olympics

The first plans for one of Gordon Brown’s flagship eco-town sites have been submitted – but without the environmentally friendly features the Government has promised.
Planning documents seen by The Sunday Telegraph reveal that the proposed 5,000 homes development near Lichfield, Staffordshire, does not include some special measures required to reduce its impact on the environment.

read the article on the Lichfield eco-town here

Under current UK government legislation all new-build homes must be zero-carbon after 2016. However, some of the major builders are trying to get a head-start on this deadline and have begun developing designs and prototypes already.

One such company is Barratt Developments - one of the UK’s largest firms - which this week unveiled designs for what will become the country’s first zero-carbon house built by a volume builder. The first examples of these homes will be available from 2011, in a 200 unit batch at the site of Hanham Hall hospital, near to Bristol.

All of this sounds great, except for one snag - the cost of the homes. Though Barratt have not specified the exact value, their chief executive, Mark Clare, has said that it will be ‘difficult to reduce the cost of the current prototype to commercial levels’.

Now, it’s all very well having lots of zero-carbon homes, but not so great if they all lie empty because nobody can afford to buy one… The question is; what can be done to avoid this situation from developing?

Well the simple fact is that such projects will require quite a degree of government assistance to succeed quickly. No doubt Barratt and other developers will do what they can do drive building costs down - but ultimately there is only so far this can be taken before we are left with a zero-carbon, but ugly and low quality home that nobody wants to live in.

In the first few years after 2016 (maybe even before) it will be crucial that the government subsidises the cost of such homes so that they can compete with the older properties on the market. Some measures have already been introduced, such as a stamp duty waiver until 2012 on zero-carbon homes worth over £500,000 (homes under that value are eligible for a £15,000 stamp duty discount).

This is a start - but hopefully only the beginning of a series of similar moves.

Barratt’s prototype for example utilises solar panels, rain-water harvesting, and an air source heat pump. It is these features, along with its super-insulation and triple-glazed windows, that have earned it the best possible energy use rating of grade 6 (signifying a completely zero-carbon home). Perhaps the industry sectors producing this technology could do with a few tax cuts, or incentives in return for helping reduce costs.

It is true that a zero-carbon home will face only very minimal running costs and hence a case for the higher asking price could be made on these grounds. The problem is that, if would-be buyers cannot even secure a mortgage for the house, the rest becomes irrelevant.

This is where banks have a part to play - by introducing a different mortgage option for buyers purchasing such homes they could be instrumental in the success of zero-carbon housing. With the current credit problems many banks have reigned in their mortgage options of late - but those buying a zero-carbon home in the future will have a greater ability to repay a big mortgage - due to the lack of gas and electricity bills. A bigger loan could therefore be repaid in the same time as a smaller one on a non grade 6 property.

There are many other potential measures currently being discussed - but the main point is that the government needs to seriously consider further legislation (or funding for buyer-assistance schemes) in order to ensure that the initial mandate of zero-carbon by 2016 is the success it has the potential to be. If this can be effectively managed then the (positive) consequences could be far reaching indeed - from the inherent environmental benefits, to reducing the cost (while raising the standard) of living in the UK. Let’s hope those involved can get it right, for we all stand to reap the rewards of this effort.

(A detailed image of Barratt’s design can be found here).

Dejan Levi

This weekend has seen a great amount of talk about the eco town proposals with public meetings, letters to Government Ministers and plans being rejected by councils.

Public meetings have been called to discuss plans to build a new eco-town in North Yorkshire. Fourteen sites in the Leeds City Region (LCR) were originally shortlisted as possible locations for one of the first new towns in England in 40 years. Those have now been whittled down to four possible sites in Selby, including Willow Green near Eggborough. But the plans have proved controversial in some areas with campaigners saying the idea is a way to evade planning controls.
Read the article on the public meetings

Campaigners against proposals to build an eco-town on a site near three villages in Selby district have urged residents to send a letter to a Government Minister asking that the bid be withdrawn.

Selby District councillors John and Mary McCartney, who both represent Eggbrough, are leading the battle against GMI’s proposals for a 15,000-home eco-town.
Read the article on the letters to Government Ministers

Plans for new “ecotowns” across the country suffered a setback on Monday when councillors in the home of Shakespeare unanimously rejected an earmarked site.
Hundreds of banner-waving protesters gathered outside the meeting in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwicks, to voice their disapproval of a proposed settlement for up to 20,000 people at nearby Middle Quinton. The plans for 10 towns, the first to be built in Britain for 40 years, have led to nationwide protests.
Read the article on the Stratford rejections

In an article on www.building.co.uk eco town supporter Wayne Hemingway and eco-town protester Myles Pollock go head-to-head over everything, from the definition of an eco town to what the 12 panelists should be looking at in each bid and, um, where to find Dartford on a map.
read the eco town article