A recent report from the NHBC Foundation has highlighted the fact that in the UK there are just 165 Passivhaus buildings whereas in Germany the number stands at over 20000. With the heating load in a Passivhaus generally coming out at about half that required to meet minimum Building Regulations standards there is a huge CO2 emissions gain to be made here. So what's the problem?
The report highlights three key areas:
1) Social. The report argues that most UK building is speculative whereas there is much more self-build in Germany, utilising prefabricated kits. Also it suggests that Germans have a much greater propensity to concentrate on high product specification and attention to detail.
2) Political. Germans are more environmentally aware and active. Local governments (e.g. cities) often promote, or even mandate, Passivhaus standards.
3) Economic. The premium over building to minimum standards in Germany is not that great (3 to 8%). Although few data are available for the UK the perception is that the differential here is greater. Financial assistance is also much easier to obtain in Germany.
There are some important messages for DECC and DCLG (who seem to spend their time making their web presence harder to negotiate) in here. There need to be greater inducements to individuals to go for high specification homes, there need to be stronger pressures on the building inductry to offer such homes and Part L of the Building Regulations needs ratcheting up even further.
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