Net Zero Carbon Advice Note
What is the Net Zero Carbon Advice Note and who is it for?
After declaring a climate emergency in 2019, the Council made a commitment to work with our local communities and partners to identify opportunities to make the borough carbon neutral. This included actions surrounding housing, development and infrastructure.
As part of this, the Council have adapted a ‘Net Zero Carbon Toolkit’, originally produced by West Oxfordshire District Council, Cotswold District Council and Forest of Dean District Council via a license that enables others to use it. This document is called a ‘Net Zero Carbon Advice Note’.
Aimed at building professionals, the Net Zero Carbon Advice Note will help to provide guidance on how to achieve net zero for new builds and via retrofit.
What does it include?
The Net Zero Carbon Advice will help guide users on approaches to achieve net zero carbon homes, including lower operational carbon but also with some pointers on reducing embodied carbon. The note outlines guidance specifically on new housing, retrofit, key products and materials, and advice on how to specify key elements. Guidance on the retrofit of existing homes is split based on those properties built pre or post 1950 to reflect heritage matters within the borough. It also provides a checklist of key actions at each design stage to meet performance indicators for new homes, signposts to additional resources, and refers to matters beyond energy including efficiency use of water and supporting biodiversity.
Why use it?
Implementing the measures laid out in the new toolkit will help reduce the carbon footprint of new and existing buildings. Making significant reductions to a home’s carbon emissions also means lower energy bills for homeowners, more people out of fuel poverty and homes that are comfortable and healthier to live in.