[Committee] Representation received. ID:943

[Cambridge City Council]

Thank you for using our LDF online system to submit your representation,
which we recieved as follows:

Representation Number: 943
Document: Sustainable Design and Construction SPD
Section: 13.2 Submission requirements, table 13.1
Support/Object: Comment

Design of the policy implementation
As pointed out above, and illustrated with the example of passive houses,
highly energy-efficient buildings can be constructed at common market
prices. We esteem it crucial that the Cambridge City Council shall
establish the highest economically viable energy efficiency as a required
standard for all new buildings.
Such a policy implementation should not privilege a specific design
approach, but rather favour independent measures for energy efficiency to
leave room for new innovations in construction and engineering. Such a
measure is given by the annual energy consumption per square meter of
heated residential surface, given in kWh/m2a of electricity. This
converts into equivalent CO2 emissions via an average CO2 emission of
400g/kWh for Britain (check number!).
The target efficiency should be around 10kgCO2 /m2a, which was
proven technologically feasible and economically viable in the CEPHEUS
study. However, this number is necessarily subject to revisions, as future
technology may well be able to exceed even this target. Furthermore, the
requirement may be slightly less stringent in the initial years of taking
action, such as to enable to local construction industry to train their
employees and acquire experiences with the new technology. This implies
that the council might prefer to postpone major large developments for some
years, until higher standards have been reached.
While it is an obvious policy goal to trigger an improved planning and
design for new buildings, it is as important to improve upon current
practice of inspection of completed buildings and the enforcement of
regulations. It is frequently pointed out that a large number of buildings
fail to comply even with the weaker present building standards.
\cite{CABE:www.cabe.org.uk/default.aspx?contentitemid=1769} In order to
improve this circumstance, it would be helpful for the council to establish
his own service for carrying out inspection, rather than to rely on private
contractors.
Ideas for possible mechanisms
In the present document, we cannot develop the local policy to the degree
of detail provided in the initial draft of the SPD, however, some possible
mechanisms for increasing energy efficiency shall be discussed now, and
some specific comments about the draft document added in the following
section.
As technologies are available today, standards for energy efficiency can be
raised quickly to their target-value of 15 kWh/m2a, say in 5-8
years. Essentially, the design and all components required to realize such
constructions are available today, so the fastest possible route to
achieving a full marked penetration should be taken. One advantage of such
a rapid progression of local standards is that the Cambridge initiative
could act as a model and stimulator of innovation on the national level.
Given that these plans are totally in line with current national government
plans, it is very unlikely that they would object to an outstandingly local
quality initiative.
To speed up the development of new concepts, the council could establish an
annual competition for the new building with the highest efficiency. The
price should be given to buildings that were constructed the previous year
and which can provide a year’s worth of data on the actual energy consumed
in the dwelling. A price of some £10000 would be a cost-effective measure
to stimulate innovation. Alternatively, the price could be granted in terms
of a reduced council tax for buildings satisfying the highest standards.
This contest could be used to gather example designs for efficient houses
that could then be made available by the council to spread these concepts
more widely. Such a library of best practice could prove very valuable to
local developers. It should be kept in mind however, that such information
is already available elsewhere, which can already be pointed out in the
final version of the SPD.
It could then be mandated that all future constructions should remain
within some tolerance of the efficiency demonstrated in the contest in the
previous year, in order to affirm progress achieved so far. 
A similar contest could also be established for the renovation of existing
buildings.


SUMMARY

Cambridge City Council should establish the highest economically viable
energy efficiency (10kg CO2/m2)as a required standard for all new buildings



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