Renewables clampdown

The government has revealed that homes using renewable energy provided through the national grid will not qualify as zero-carbon, contrary to previous expectations.

In recently published guidance on the government’s Code for Sustainable Homes, Communities and Local Government (CLG) decreed off-site renewable sources of energy such as wind farms would not be eligible unless directly connected to a scheme.

It was previously thought that developments would be able to purchase green power from UK offshore and remote wind farms.

Housing minister Yvette Cooper said: “The ambition for all new homes to be zero-carbon by 2016 is a challenging one. We need to work in close co-operation with housebuilders and the green technology industry to achieve this.”

John Alker, public affairs manager for the UK Green Building Council, admitted the council had not seen this most recent announcement coming.

“Off-site is going to have to contribute if we want this to happen by 2016, but we do sympathise with the situation the government is in,” said Alker.

“The need for the stamp duty deal to be fiscally watertight meant we had to do things this way. The idea of little eco island zero-carbon homes is far too restrictive, but it’s because the people at the Treasury hadn’t dealt with these issues before.”

Stamp duty exemption, as announced in this year’s Budget, now applies to zero-carbon homes that cost less than £500 000. Where the purchase price is greater, stamp duty will be reduced by £15 000.

“We think off-site should be included eventually, but we need to work together with the CLG to decide to what extent. We’re looking into how we can change the definition. We’re not asking them to scrap the current one.”

The council is currently in the process of setting up a UK Green Building task force to look into the matter in more detail.