Low-carbon building specialist LowC Communities has warned that the UK Government's carbon reduction strategy for buildings is missing a trick in terms of easily-reached, cost-effective emissions savings.
Richard Griffin, chief executive of LowC Communities, claims that by focusing efforts on delivering renewable heat, such as heating and hot water generated by renewable sources such as biomass, building owners are failing to secure much-greater levels of carbon savings that are well within their reach.

'Although I applaud any initiatives that increase the uptake of renewable energy technologies in this country, by only focusing on heat, we really are missing a golden opportunity to make significant reductions in operational carbon emissions.' said Mr Griffin. 'The real carbon value is in electricity - the one commodity that we're all using more and more of, as our daily lives increasingly rely on technology.

'Put simply, there's approximately three times as much carbon associated with electricity consumption as compared to heat. The 2010 Building Regulations deems electricity from a grid connection to emit 0.517kg of CO₂ per kWh - compared to 0.198kg for heat produced from natural gas. By generating electricity from renewable fuels and capturing any waste heat produced, we can significantly boost this country's carbon reductions.'

Mr Griffin believes that one of the solutions is to use renewable CHP technology, powered by readily-available, British-grown fuel such as rapeseed oil.

For further information, visit: www.lowc.co.uk