It wasn’t long ago that the idea of zero-energy, sustainable housing on a multi-unit scale was as pie-in-the-sky as intergalactic shopping. Today, carbon-neutral communities have become a reality, at least for some of the nation.
Power-efficient dwellings set in green spaces, equipped with recycling facilities, water saving features and legally-binding green transport plans are taking root. As every industrial sector clamours to commandeer the term ‘sustainable’, the construction industry continues to balance the inherently complex challenge of a mammoth array of interacting variables that are often contradictory.
In helping the housing industry on its sustainable path, proposals for new houses incorporating the latest technological innovations are being considered, along with redevelopment of our current housing stock, which brings it up to date by retrofitting energy-saving devices. A debate about which to prioritise is in full swing.
 In July 2008, the government closed its consultation process on 15 potential
eco-towns earmarked for sites across Britain comprising substantial country settlements of up to 20,000 homes each. As the first new towns to be built in Britain for more than 40 years, each targeted the highest standards of sustainability, with low and zero carbon technologies, state-of-the-art recycling, water systems, and good public transport – with 30-50 per cent of units allocated for social housing.
However, some critics, and not just local objectors, claim the ‘green card’ is merely a way for speculative housing projects to obtain government approval. If the initiatives are really all about saving the planet, they argue, why is Britain’s countryside being carved up for developer-led housing projects? Surely building lots of new houses in isolated rural enclaves will lead to an increased dependence on cars and private transport unless affordable and efficient public transport systems are in place? Tony Burton, Director of Policy and Strategy at the National Trust, said of ecotowns: “It doesn’t matter how much energy efficiency and water resource management it has, that can’t make a development that’s in the wrong place suddenly be in the right one.”
So what about retrofitting? Around twenty-seven per cent of CO2 emissions come from people’s homes, prompting the government to announce plans in February to retrofit seven million households across the UK as part of an ambitious project to slash fuel bills and cut global warming. This follows on from a 2007 budget announcement by the then Chancellor Gordon Brown that zero-emission homes  would be exempt from Stamp Duty. Later that same year, the UK’s first zero emission home was unveiled: a two-bedroom house insulated to lose 60 per cent less heat than a normal home, as well as water harvesting and energy generation from solar panels and a biomass boiler. The energy-efficient design counts as zero-emission because the CO2 produced by the organic-fuel-burning biomass boiler is offset by the amount absorbed when the fuel crop was grown.

 The Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) remains committed to urging the government to consider transforming existing UK communities into ecotowns. Turning ordinary housing estates into green and prosperous housing can be achieved, it claims, simply by adding well-planned public transport and some environmentally friendly facilities. The SDC has pushed the retrofitting agenda as priority, emphasising the need to cut emissions from older houses and warning that while it was ‘hugely encouraged’ by the way sustainability was being discussed at government level, new construction is not necessarily the answer. Although retrofitting entire cities requires a complex approach, even the smallest steps, such as swapping traffic light bulbs for
low-energy alternatives, can deliver large benefits without the need for radical makeovers.
Bringing the UK’s 21 million homes up to 21st century standards of energy efficiency is an enormous task, admits the Sustainable Development Commission’s Andrew Lee, but not unachievable: “Our homes account for over a quarter of our energy use, and a quarter of our carbon emissions. Getting it right with new builds is important, but it is the older housing stock that will still account for 86 per cent of country’s housing in 2050, so it’s crucial that we make them as energy-efficient as possible in the bid to tackle climate change.
“Retrofitting existing housing stock offers real potential to help every householder, including low-income families.”

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