NZEBs - passivehouseplus.co.uk

Plans for over 33,000 net zero carbon new homes are underway across the UK, Passive House Plus can reveal.

Heat pumps rise, PV falls and fabric stands still.

It sounds like an impossibility: a high density, architectural, zero energy home on the tightest of back garden sites, adaptable to the needs of everyone from empty nesters to a family of six without opening a toolbox. But sometimes a project comes along that redefines what is possible.

High efficiency is a hugely important factor in choosing a heating system and this is a key priority for industry leading manufacturer Grant, whose wide portfolio of heating technologies has advanced over the years and now includes air source heat pumps, underfloor heating, pre-plumbed hot water cylinders, aluminium radiators and fan convector radiators.

NI still plans to tighten energy rules for new build

Heat pumps dominate & mechanical ventilation grows, but compliance risks emerge

The Climate Change Committee (CCC) envisages loft insulation and air source heat pumps as being among the primary tools to reduce the carbon footprint of existing buildings, in its newly published landmark plan for how the UK can move towards becoming a net zero carbon nation by 2050.

A rundown 1970s scheme of one-bedroom, single storey social housing units in Ballyshannon, Co Donegal, has been transformed into a pioneering development of cosy, A-rated, NZEB-busting homes. The pioneering project – the first completed under Ireland’s deep retrofit pilot scheme – also breathed new life into an unloved green area and is expected to help fuel a regeneration project in the town.

The health, comfort and monetary benefits of building to the nearly zero energy building (NZEB) standard offers an opportunity to help convince Irish people of the benefits of climate action, housing minister Eoghan Murphy has said.

A luxury new development in an exclusive Dublin location will achieve nearly zero energy building (NZEB) standards with help from Daikin Altherma air-to-water heat pumps and a highly energy efficient building fabric.

The inherent properties of the Amvic ICF system make it easier for developers to meet energy efficiency, airtightness, noise and other regulations, according to the company’s Pat Martin.

Saint-Gobain Ireland announced that its Build Better Roadshow would travel to the Clayton Hotel in Galway on 25 June, with trips to Waterford and Limerick following in October and November. This follows the success of the first two Build Better Roadshows which took place in Belfast and Cork during April and May.

A new research project at UCD will aim to uncover key early lessons from the design and operation of nearly zero energy buildings (NZEBs) in Ireland. The NZEB standard will become mandatory in Ireland for dwellings from November.

Concerns have been raised that proposed changes to Irish building regulations — designed to bring Ireland in line with EU requirements that new homes be ‘nearly zero energy buildings’ (nZEBs) from the end of 2020 — could encourage sub-standard approaches to ventilation and airtightness.

The Passive House Institute has announcd the launch of its two new certification categories, Passive House Plus and Passive House Premium, which recognise on-site renewable energy generation. 

Nearly a third of construction professionals did not know about the nearly-zero energy requirement for all new buildings by the year 2020, according to a survey of Passive House Plus readers.