ABSTRACT
In 2007, the UK government introduced its 'Code for Sustainable Homes' as a voluntary standard to continuously improve home building. In a more pragmatic move in 2010, the European Commission had mandated that all newbuild homes within the European Union should be 'nearly zero energy buildings' by 2020, under its Energy Performance of Buildings Directive. Key drivers for climate change mitigation in the building sector include reducing energy use, increasing energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy to 'decarbonise' the national power grid and the home. Different countries are at different stages of building regulation development for housing, although most have moved to performance-based codes rather than prescriptive ones. Domestic building regulations take account of minimum required daylight levels and acoustic performance in homes, as well as safe water provision, thermal comfort and ventilation. Housing performance depends on robust construction and services as well as built-in resilience to cope with future changes to our climate.
