• Housebuilders & Developers
• What You Need To Know
• Building Regulations
  • Part L – England & Wales
    • Part L1A – New Dwellings
    • The Dimplex Solution
  • SAP
    • SAP and Part L Compliance
    • The Dimplex Solution
  • Part J – Scotland
• Policy Initiatives
  • Planning Policy Statement 22
    • The Dimplex Solution
  • EcoHomes
    • The Dimplex Solution
  • Code for Sustainable Homes
    • The Dimplex Solution
• National Standards
  • NHBC Guidelines
    • Requirements for Heating Systems
    • The Dimplex Solution
  • EST Good Practice (GPG345)
    • The Dimplex Solution
  • DOM8 / DOM9
    • The Dimplex Solution
• Funding Programmes
  • Low Carbon Buildings Programme
    • Programme Funding – Phase 1
    • The Dimplex Solution – Phase 1
    • Programme Funding – Phase 2
    • The Dimplex Solution – Phase 2
  • SCHRI
    • Programme Funding
    • The Dimplex Solution

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The industry consultation on the Code for Sustainable Homes closed in March 2006 and the outcome of this consultation is now awaited.

Dimplex, through its membership of TEHVA (The Electric Heating and Ventilation Association), a trade association within BEAMA, responded to the Code for Sustainable Homes consultation. This stated in summary:

• The Code for Sustainable Homes is welcomed, but this must be in context with what is deemed to be sustainable during the stated building lifetime of 60 years. Current legislation is pushing housebuilders towards gas, which we believe is fundamentally unsustainable in the long term because:
  • Affordability
  • The real cost of ownership for gas systems, when taking into account annual safety checks, on-going maintenance and system lifetime can be credibly demonstrated to be much lower for electric systems (see: Housebuilders & Developers > Why use electric heating > Benefits to the Occupier > Lifetime Ownership Costs)
  • Uncertainty over future gas prices, given that these will increase dramatically in the medium to long term as we move towards imports of upto 80% of gas supplies
  • Carbon
  • The Energy Review (see: Energy – the issues > UK Energy Policies and Strategy > Energy Review) signals the Governments intention for lower carbon centralized plant, contributed to from a combination of renewables, nuclear and / or carbon sequestration.
  • The knock on effect will be reduced carbon intensity figures for electric heating and hot water systems, which by their nature are inherently 'renewables ready'.
  • It is highly questionable that buildings with low heat demand (in the region of 1-2kW), whether a gas system and its operational efficiency will provide efficiency benefits over well controlled and responsive electric systems
  • The carbon intensity figures for electricity should be aligned with those used in SAP 2005 (EcoHomes currently uses a figure some 23% higher)
• Dimplex disagree that the coverage of six essential elements and other optional elements is correct.
  • Although it is right that the base level for energy efficiency should be set at 2006 Part L levels and that there should be incremental steps to improve the efficiency of the fabric of the building, it is critical that back-stop u-values for fabric measures be defined to ensure that fabric measures are not traded against the energy performance of the services.
    
    This is critical point as the services will be replaced during the lifespan of the building, as may its use, but the fabric will determine its long term sustainable footprint.

Click here to download a copy of the BEAMA consultation response.