Energy, Sustainability and Carbon – Page 6

Refrigerant choice and global warming potential in planning

Refrigerant is a greenhouse gas and systems leak. Which inputs a whole life carbon assessment must state, how safety classification drives plant location, and what a condition can secure.

Safeguarding a future heat network connection

Authorities ask major schemes to safeguard a future heat network connection even where no network exists. The physical reservations, the hydraulic decision and the obligation wording.

Passivhaus and what a planning condition can require

A planning condition can secure measurable Passivhaus outcomes but struggles to secure the certificate. How to draft conditions that work and where Part L and Part O still apply.

What an energy statement can claim for a green roof

A green roof helps with overheating and can lift photovoltaic yield, but it does not improve a Part L U-value. Sorting the energy claims from the drainage, habitat and greening ones.

EV charging load and substation capacity in planning

Charging provision rarely gets refused. It eats electrical capacity, and that turns into a substation on your site plan and a reinforcement lead time longer than the determination period.

Standby generators and how the carbon is accounted

A standby generator barely registers in Part L compliance. It decides the noise assessment, the air quality case and the conditions you live with. Here is how to build the planning case around that.

Combined heat and power after the Part L 2021 uplift

Gas combined heat and power no longer displaces high-carbon grid electricity, so it tends to raise regulated emissions on new residential schemes. Here is where it still has a case and how to evidence it.

Solar thermal against photovoltaic in an energy strategy

Solar thermal only offsets hot water, which is modest and seasonally mismatched in modern dwellings. The exception is buildings with large, steady hot water loads, and that is the case worth arguing properly.

BREEAM energy credits a planning condition can secure

A condition requiring a BREEAM rating looks strong and is usually the weakest instrument available. The credits worth conditioning are the ones fixed by a calculation, a study or a specification.

Whole life carbon modules C and D at end of life

Module C is the carbon of taking a building apart. Module D is the benefit claimed beyond the system boundary. Here is how to assess both and why a net figure is not a reportable output.

Whole life carbon module B and replacement cycles

Module B is driven by two assumptions rather than measurements: component service life and the reference study period. Here is how to set both, and how to report them so a reviewer can test the result.

Energy, Sustainability and Carbon8 min read

Closing the gap between designed and as-built performance

The approved energy strategy and the finished building diverge for reasons that are mostly documented somewhere. Verification conditions work when they name the evidence, the parameter and the person producing it.

Energy statements for refrigerated warehousing

Refrigeration is process energy, so it sits outside Part L and outside the percentage a carbon policy asks for. A cold store energy statement that ignores that is answering the wrong question.

Heat pump siting limits under Part 14 Class G

Class G permits most domestic air source heat pumps without an application, provided the planning standards noise test passes and the property is not listed.

Part L transitional arrangements on a phased permission

Part L transitional provisions attach to individual buildings, so plots on the same consented site can be built to different standards depending on when work started.

Grid connection capacity as a planning constraint

An all-electric scheme with heat pumps and charge points asks far more of the local network than a gas-heated one. Find out what is available before the energy strategy is fixed.

Roof area arithmetic: photovoltaics against everything else

Energy statements routinely claim a photovoltaic array that the roof cannot hold once plant zones, green roof, maintenance access and edge protection are drawn. The arithmetic is worth doing before the policy commitment is made.

Sustainable drainage and carbon: the overlap

Attenuation is a volume problem, and manufactured volume carries a carbon cost. Comparing tanks, basins, swales and permeable paving across construction and thirty years of maintenance.

Metering and submetering strategies for mixed use

A metering strategy proves the energy strategy was delivered, which is why it appears in conditions. Here is how to split supplies on a mixed use scheme and what the submission should show.

Heat loss from glazing ratio and design policy

Glass loses heat faster than the wall it replaces, and Part O caps how much of it you can have. Here is how to settle the glazing ratio and the shading strategy together rather than after permission.

Retrofitting flats: fabric works and consents

A flat is not a dwellinghouse for permitted development purposes, so external retrofit work needs permission. Here is what each consent covers and how to sequence them.

Battery storage on a development site

Fire separation and night-time noise shape a battery storage application more than the energy case does. Here is how to site the enclosure, assess the plant and evidence the fire position.

Overshading and solar access for photovoltaic arrays

Photovoltaic yields quoted without a shading factor are the weakest number in most energy statements. Here is how to model overshading, space rows on a flat roof and evidence the figure you submit.

Concrete, steel and timber: the structural carbon choice

The structural frame and substructure carry most of a building's upfront carbon, and ground conditions can invert the ranking. How to build a comparison that survives review.