A pilot version of the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard (NZCBS) has been launched. The free-to-access methodology defines what ‘net zero carbon’ means for buildings in the UK, and has been developed so that the built environment stays true to the country’s carbon and energy budgets.
The pilot version contains technical details o f how a building can comply with the standard , including limits and targets it must meet, the evidence needed to demonstrate this, and how it should be reported. CIBSE will test the standard at its new Saffron Hill head office in London, and the wider industry is being encouraged to use the pilot to prepare for the process of verifying buildings as net zero carbon aligned.
More than 350 experts from across the sector supported the Technical Steering Group (TSG) during the standard’s development. Its mandatory requirements for building performance and construction cover areas such as upfront carbon, operational energy use, avoidance of fossil fuel use on site, renewables, and refrigerants.
Katie Clemence-Jackson, chair of the TSG, said: ‘ It has been created not only by using data on what is achievable, but also by cross-referencing this with modelling of what is needed to decarbonise in line with 1.5°C-aligned carbon and energy budgets.’
Read about the pilot version at www.nzcbuildings.co.uk/pilotversion
