Zero carbon schools – are they possible? Not with the current targets that expect every school to become a miniature power station, argues Richard Brailsford. But the targets are achievable if we take a holistic approach, Richard says – and encourage whole towns to work together to meet their energy needs with renewables.
The EU has committed to a carbon emissions reductions target of 80% by 2060. Our government is committed to reaching that target by 2050. There is also a commitment to 20% reduction in both energy use and emissions by 2020 - and 20% of our energy must be provided by renewables.
In the UK, buildings are responsible for around 45% of total C02 emissions. It is arguable that it would be most economical to improve existing stock. But the government is only setting targets for new buildings. These are, presently, that new schools should be ‘carbon neutral’ by 2016, other new government buildings by 2018 and other new buildings by 2019.
The biggest single area of government spend on buildings is the “Building Schools for the Future” programme, which will replace, refurbish or remodel every secondary school in England. The ”Primary Capital programme” for the refurbishment/remodelling or occasionally the replacement of the country’s 23,000 primary schools is also coming “on stream”. Energy use is only one part of sustainability - but the energy targets for primary schools are predicted to be even tighter than for secondary schools.
What will be achieved by 2016? This question is still out for consultation. The most ambitious target would be for energy targets to apply to schools which open on January 1st 2016. The least would be for schools which start design on or after December 31st