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Carbon Trust supports AECB's CarbonLite

Posted: 29/06/2007

The UK's design and construction industry needs a crash course in carbon literacy - and that's the AECB's CarbonLite Programme", according to Andy Simmonds, Executive Officer of the AECB.(Association for Environment Conscious Building). The AECB is delighted by the news that The Carbon Trust is funding the CarbonLite programme under its Networks Programme, allowing CarbonLite to be developed faster, reaching a wider audience than it would otherwise.

Additional funding for the Programme is coming from the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation. The Programme has an advisory board of the RIBA, CIBSE, the Construction Products Association, the Construction Industry Council, National Energy Services, National Energy Foundation and the Bartlett School of Architecture at UCL. The Home Builders' Federation is also involved.

The CarbonLite Programme capitalises on the expertise of AECB members in delivering buildings with vastly improved energy and CO2 performance. The programme draws on experience acquired in practice in the UK and abroad. At the heart of the programme are three Steps to improved energy performance in buildings, which provide robust solutions to the CO2 targets at levels 4, 5 and 6 of the Code for Sustainable Homes.

These steps offer extremely cost-effective ways of creating genuine CO2 emissions reduction in new buildings. They are founded on a detailed understanding of energy use in buildings, a whole building approach, energy-efficient construction techniques and the importance of closing the feedback loop by monitoring building energy use post-occupancy and sharing the results with built environment professionals.

The AECB has spent a year developing this integrated programme of information, design guidance and software tools, training and feedback.

The AECB's Executive Officer Andy Simmonds said: "The Carbon Trust and Esmee Fairbairn funding will allow us to share our expertise with a wide range of built environment practitioners - many of whom have expressed their delight that the Programme is starting to be rolled out".

The programme director, Liz Reason, is a long time campaigner for energy efficiency in buildings. Announcing the development of the programme, Liz Reason said "Clarity, transparency and simplicity are our watchwords. By giving designers and builders meaningful feedback about design and construction decisions during the design process, we can give building owners and users a degree of confidence in the likely real-world performance of their buildings. And with widespread adoption of the Steps in the Programme, the UK government can have confidence that climate emissions from new buildings will reduce measurably and significantly."

For more information on the AECB CarbonLite programme and the Energy Standards see the AECB web site www.aecb.net

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