Do the numbers stack up? Lessons from a zero carbon housing estate

Many countries are searching for ways to reduce the energy and carbon impact of housing. The terms net zero-energy home and net zero-carbon home have entered the policy lexicon, without clear definitions and without widespread understanding of the likely policy impact. Is the concept limited to bespoke architect driven buildings for specific green clients, or does it have relevance in the mainstream house building sector and for typical households? When we consider volume house building and contemporary lifestyles, what is the energy end-use reality of so called zero-energy homes? Can government policy instruments deliver housing estates that are thermally comfortable, energy efficient and powered by renewable energy?

[1]  Louise Crabtree,et al.  Sustainable Housing Development in Urban Australia: exploring obstacles to and opportunities for ecocity efforts , 2005 .

[2]  Wasim Saman,et al.  Lessons learnt from implementing intelligent metering and energy monitoring devices in a new housing development , 2010 .

[3]  Wendy Miller,et al.  Performance evaluation of eight contemporary passive solar homes in subtropical Australia , 2012 .

[4]  Simon Guy,et al.  Designing Urban Knowledge: Competing Perspectives on Energy and Buildings , 2006 .

[5]  B. Metz,et al.  Climate change 2007 : mitigation of climate change :contribution of Working Group III to the Fourth assessmentreport of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , 2007 .

[6]  Vítor Leal,et al.  Recent progress on net zero energy buildings , 2011 .

[7]  S. Svendsen,et al.  Residential and commercial buildings , 2012 .

[8]  N. Nakicenovic,et al.  Climate change 2007: Mitigation. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Summary for Policymakers. , 2007 .

[9]  Hefa Cheng,et al.  Planning for sustainability in China's urban development: status and challenges for Dongtan eco-city project. , 2010, Journal of environmental monitoring : JEM.

[10]  Adrian Smith,et al.  Translating Sustainabilities between Green Niches and Socio-Technical Regimes , 2007, Technol. Anal. Strateg. Manag..

[11]  T. Chance.  Towards sustainable residential communities; the Beddington Zero Energy Development (BedZED) and beyond , 2009 .

[12]  Elizabeth Shove,et al.  Users, Technologies and Expectations of Comfort, Cleanliness and Convenience , 2003 .

[13]  Wasim Saman.  Towards zero energy homes down under , 2013 .

[14]  Karsten Voss,et al.  Net zero energy buildings: A consistent definition framework , 2012 .

[15]  Ian Ridley,et al.  Post Occupancy Evaluation of buildings in a Zero Carbon City , 2012 .

[16]  J. Schot,et al.  Regime shifts to sustainability through processes of niche formation : the approach of strategic niche management , 1998 .

[17]  Gill Seyfang,et al.  Community action for sustainable housing: Building a low-carbon future , 2010 .

[18]  Transformational Role of Lochiel Park Green Village , 2013 .

[19]  Simi Hoque.  Net Zero Energy Homes: An Evaluation of Two Homes in the Northeastern United States , 2010 .

[20]  Karsten Voss,et al.  Goal: Zero Energy Building Exemplary Experience Based on the Solar Estate Solarsiedlung Freiburg am Schlierberg, Germany , 2009 .