A variety of renewable energy sources can be incorporated into buildings. These can help reduce a building’s carbon footprint and reduce energy bills. As well as these basic drivers, renewables are often incorporated as a means of achieving higher levels of compliance with environmental assessment schemes such as BREEAM, obtaining planning consent, or meeting the CO2 emission targets imposed on new buildings under Building Regulations.
As the UK and other countries move towards a net-zero-carbon economy, there will be further incentives to design buildings to be more energy efficient, and to get more of their energy from renewable sources. In particular, heat pumps are expected to play an increasing role in heating buildings in the UK in the coming years.
The guide is an effective and concise resource for people in the construction industry who need a broad understanding of renewables and their integration into buildings.
This new guide is an update on BG 1/2008. A lot has happened since then – technology has moved along, the energy landscape has changed, and climate change has become a more pressing issue.
The guide covers the renewable technologies most commonly used in buildings in the UK:
- Photovoltaics
- Solar thermal
- Biomass
- Combined heat and power
- Heat pumps, including air source and ground source
Less commonly used technologies, such as building-mounted wind turbines, and allied technologies such as energy storage, are also described. The guide also covers the policy and legislative background, and wider issues of energy supply, energy use and energy efficiency.