First zero emission home unveiled
June 11, 2007
A new house design that will be the first to meet the environmental standards all new UK homes must achieve by 2016 is being unveiled later.
Kingspan Off-Site's Lighthouse design is the first to achieve level six of the Code for Sustainable Homes.
The two-bedroom house is insulated to lose two-thirds less heat than a standard new home.
It features solar panels, a biomass boiler and water efficiency devices such as rainwater harvesting.
Chancellor Gordon Brown announced in his budget in March that zero-carbon houses would be exempt from stamp duty.
Biomass boilers run on organic fuels such as wood pellets and count as zero-emission because the amount of carbon dioxide they give off when they are burned is offset by the amount that was absorbed when the crop was grown.
The house has a waste separation system that allows combustible waste to be burned to help provide power.
There will be smart metering so that inhabitants will be able to tell if they are wasting any energy.
The Lighthouse will be unveiled at the Offsite 2007 exhibition in Watford.
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