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28-570: AECB may refer to: Association for Environment Conscious Building , UK Acute exacerbations of chronic bronchitis , a medical condition Atomic Energy Control Board , former name of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title AECB . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change

56-673: A Dwelling Emission Rate (DER) a certain percentage higher than the Target Emission Rate (TER) as set in Part L1A of the Building Regulations. The October 2010 version of the Code saw Part L 2010 TER standards rise equivalent to Code level 3. Following this change Code level 4 required 25% DER improvement over Part L1A 2010 TER standards and code level 5 required a 100% improvement i.e. thermally twice as efficient. It

84-533: A low energy building of what can be achieved, along with a detailed account of how it has been done. The database includes information on both refurbishment and new build projects, in both the domestic and non-domestic sectors. The database shows the performance of each building, in both figures and clearly presented graphs. Design intention can easily be compared with built reality, and projects can easily be compared with each other. For each project you can see detailed design strategies, descriptions and illustrations of

112-531: A way to achieve or beat the UK's 2050 CO 2 emissions target . This is based on more vigorous and systematic pursuit of energy efficiency throughout the economy; on technologies such as large-scale solar heat, piped to urban buildings; a road and air transport system synthesising liquid fuels in part from renewable electricity, supplementing the biofuel resource; a small electricity supply system, supplied largely by despatchable sources, assisting with network security; and

140-511: Is a mature technology in several of Britain's continental neighbours, and heats over 60% of Danish buildings, but remains uncommon in the UK. They include high-performance insulation systems that could significantly reduce losses in heat storage and distribution systems at all scales, along with renewable fuel production. Heat networks play a systematic role in the scenario, opening up access to large-scale solar, geothermal and waste heat resources at lower costs than new electricity sources and reducing

168-610: Is the leading network for sustainable building professionals in the United Kingdom . Membership of the AECB includes local authorities , housing associations , builders , architects , designers , consultants and manufacturers . The association was founded in 1989 to increase awareness within the construction industry of the need to respect, protect, preserve and enhance the environment and to develop, share and promote best practice in environmentally sustainable building. While

196-582: The Association for Environment Conscious Building for including "whole house" carbon emissions. Despite these positive reactions, even a zero carbon building would only achieve Level 1 of the Code unless further measures are taken to comply with other requirements. Other reactions were generally welcoming, but with some reservations. Views of the scheme were not always so positive; early drafts were heavily criticised by industry commentators, both for being unnecessary (due to it being apparently modelled on

224-430: The AECB recognises that all aspects of sustainability are important, it believes that climate change threatens to overwhelm its members' achievements in other areas. It is therefore currently focusing on trying to help reduce carbon emissions related to domestic and non-domestic buildings in the UK (around 50% of UK CO 2 emissions – excluding flying – relate to buildings). The association believes that

252-411: The Code is voluntary, with a long-term view for step-change increases. Landowners and agents sell sites with stipulations to build at certain Code levels. The extra-over cost of building to Code Level 3 was valued around £2000-3000. Additionally the Code assessment cost around £2000 for a small project. The total cost was typically under 5% of a standard build. Code levels pertaining to energy required

280-549: The Government's target of a 60% reduction in CO 2 emissions by 2050 is too little, too late, and that a reduction of at least 85% is required to meet the challenges of climate change . To promote low-carbon building, the association has developed three advanced energy standards, in order to provide three steps to low energy and low carbon buildings achievable by the UK over the next 40 years. These standards are largely based on

308-736: The Low Energy Buildings Database with the support of the Technology Strategy Board to show people what could actually be achieved in reality, as opposed to what people hoped they might achieve when developing the design. The database draws on the collective experience of AECB members, and now also the team’s involved in the Retrofit for the Future projects, and shares that learning. Almost uniquely, this database gives an honest account to anyone planning

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336-490: The New Building Standard, Retrofit Standard 1 and Retrofit Standard 2. The AECB has aimed these Standards at those wishing to create high-performance buildings using widely available technology at little or no extra cost. It estimates that these low-risk options, will reduce overall CO₂ emissions by 70% compared with the UK average for buildings of each type – a result it feels is highly significant given

364-409: The building type, the measures taken and technologies employed. As the monitoring figures accumulate, the database will offer increasing numbers of well-illustrated and robust benchmarks for the energy and carbon performance levels that can be achieved, across a wide range of building types. On 30 January 2012 the AECB released its report Less is More: Energy Security after Oil which was published at

392-513: The end of an unprecedented fifteen years in UK energy policy history. It began with the formal acceptance of the need for a climate change policy by the last Conservative Government in 1997 and culminated with the Climate Change Act 2008 and the 4th Carbon Budget. Less is More is a significant new contribution to the debate and offers an alternative to the emerging orthodoxy of large-scale electrification of heat and road transport as

420-466: The energy sector, paralleling as it happens the situation with some private US utilities and with utilities in Denmark. The report does not offer the prospect of an easy path to energy independence and decarbonisation. It makes it very clear that all options pose acute difficulties. But it warns policy-makers not to reject technologies just because they appear difficult without making sober comparisons with

448-630: The existing EcoHomes scheme) and due to its contents. In March 2011 the WWF representative on the Steering Group resigned "in despair" due to the failure of government to accept the Steering Group's advice and recommendations. The Construction Products Association criticised the original proposals as being confusing. The Sustainable Development Commission was keen that the standard was extended to cover existing homes, and covered this and other recommendations in its report 'Stock Take'. In March 2014,

476-450: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=AECB&oldid=948017406 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Association for Environment Conscious Building The Association for Environment Conscious Building (AECB)

504-613: The methodology and principles underlying the German Passivhaus movement, developed by the Passivhaus Institut, and are also informed by American, Canadian, Scandinavian and European energy standards and various successful energy efficient building programmes. The standards themselves lie at the centre of a developing education and training programme which the AECB has called the 'Carbon Literate Design and Construction Programme' (CLP). The AECB standards are :

532-401: The more vigorous pursuit of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) sequestration options, particularly in the biosphere. Less is More contends that an electric future is more costly and could be slower to deliver significant CO 2 reductions than the alternatives. Vigorous pursuit of energy efficiency, plus biosequestration , plus more focus on UK energy uses and the characteristics of energy systems, sets

560-447: The overall environmental impact. Level 1 was entry level above building regulations, and Level six is the highest, reflecting exemplary developments in terms of sustainability. The sustainability criteria by which new homes are measured are: There are simple and inexpensive methods of gaining credits, like specifying compost and recycling bins, and costly methods such as installing solar photovoltaics . Compliance with higher levels of

588-617: The reality of the other technologies under consideration. The AECB followed up Less is More with the Post-Fossil Fuel Building Construction and Materials report and continues to publish original material, training courses and podcasts. In 2022, it launched its own free magazine "Setting the Standard" which contains original commentary, analysis and thought pieces from the world of sustainable, green building. Code for Sustainable Homes The Code

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616-653: The relative ease and low cost with which these standards could be met. The AECB, believing that rigorous alternative approaches based on successful overseas' experience for sustainable design and construction have a complementary place alongside UK government initiatives, has been lobbying for the Government's Code for Sustainable Homes to be aligned with its CLP, or at least for the CLP (despite its methodological and base-line measuring differences) to be treated as an alternative official route for effectively designing and delivering low energy and low carbon buildings. The AECB has taken

644-411: The risk that the UK will be unable to keep the lights on. Less is More contains a critique of the dysfunctionality of UK energy markets. The authors note that water is supplied by vertically-integrated and regulated local monopolies, which have access to capital at near-public sector interest rates, especially if they are debt-funded. They pose the question of why such arrangements cannot be used again in

672-412: The stage for significantly cheaper and more secure energy supply options. Less-electric futures appear to have the capacity to deliver CO 2 reductions both more cheaply and more quickly than more-electric. Cumulative emissions to 2050 are at least as important as emissions in the year 2050. The report highlights key areas for technology, product and supply chain development. They include piped heat, which

700-444: The stance of inviting the design and construction industry to judge for itself, based on actual real world performance of the resulting buildings, which low carbon design codes and programmes best deliver genuinely low energy and low carbon performance cost effectively. A guiding principle of the AECB is to focus on what really works in practice, to deliver buildings with genuinely improved environmental performance. The AECB established

728-869: The technical contents of the Code standard for and on behalf of the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG). In 2015 with the winding down of the Government-owned Code for Sustainable Homes in England BRE launched the new consumer facing scheme the Home Quality Mark in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The Code works by awarding new homes a rating from Level 1 to Level 6, based on their performance against nine sustainability criteria which are combined to assess

756-469: Was also anticipated that the Building Regulations as well as the minimum mandatory Code level would continue to improve until the 2016 target of 'net zero CO 2 emissions' was met. Guidance was also available via the Code's simply explained published document to clarify the technical requirements. The scheme was welcomed by the WWF for putting zero carbon development at the top of the industry agenda, and by

784-655: Was officially launched in December 2006, and was introduced as a voluntary standard in England in 2007. It complemented the system of Energy Performance Certificates for new homes introduced in 2008 under the European Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, and built on recent changes to Building Regulations in England and Wales. The Government-owned scheme was a successor to the BRE EcoHomes scheme first used in 2000. BRE managed and developed

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