Existing Housing and Climate Change

Existing Housing and Climate Change PDF Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Communities and Local Government Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215514417
Category : Climatic changes
Languages : en
Pages : 64

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Book Description
The UK contains more than 26 million homes which, collectively, emitted 41.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2004, representing more than a quarter of the UK's emission of the main greenhouse gas driving climate change. The Government plans that the three million more households to be added to the housing stock over the next 12 years will be as carbon-neutral as modern building methods, technologies and regulation can make them. But the Government must pay as much attention to reducing the carbon footprint of the existing housing stock, given the UK's challenging target of reducing carbon emissions by 60 per cent by 2050. Domestic energy efficiency measures taken since 1970 have halved what UK domestic energy demand would otherwise be, but the amount of energy used now needs to decline sharply if the target is to be achieved. Chapters examine: regulation and encouragement; financial incentives; energy performance certificates; breaching the barriers to change; newer technologies; older buildings. There are many existing means to achieve rapid reductions in carbon emissions. such as cavity-wall insulation, loft insulation, double-glazing, condensing boilers, more efficient lighting. One problem is that of engaging with a greater proportion of the population and convincing them of the need for action. The proposed Green Homes Service due in late 2008 should provide a one-stop source of information for householders to overcome this "information barrier" to quick, simple and cost-effective action in many homes. The Committee believes that substantial and rapid change is possible if millions of individuals and families can be encouraged to rise to the challenge.

Existing Housing and Climate Change

Existing Housing and Climate Change PDF Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Communities and Local Government Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215514417
Category : Climatic changes
Languages : en
Pages : 64

Get Book

Book Description
The UK contains more than 26 million homes which, collectively, emitted 41.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2004, representing more than a quarter of the UK's emission of the main greenhouse gas driving climate change. The Government plans that the three million more households to be added to the housing stock over the next 12 years will be as carbon-neutral as modern building methods, technologies and regulation can make them. But the Government must pay as much attention to reducing the carbon footprint of the existing housing stock, given the UK's challenging target of reducing carbon emissions by 60 per cent by 2050. Domestic energy efficiency measures taken since 1970 have halved what UK domestic energy demand would otherwise be, but the amount of energy used now needs to decline sharply if the target is to be achieved. Chapters examine: regulation and encouragement; financial incentives; energy performance certificates; breaching the barriers to change; newer technologies; older buildings. There are many existing means to achieve rapid reductions in carbon emissions. such as cavity-wall insulation, loft insulation, double-glazing, condensing boilers, more efficient lighting. One problem is that of engaging with a greater proportion of the population and convincing them of the need for action. The proposed Green Homes Service due in late 2008 should provide a one-stop source of information for householders to overcome this "information barrier" to quick, simple and cost-effective action in many homes. The Committee believes that substantial and rapid change is possible if millions of individuals and families can be encouraged to rise to the challenge.

Existing Housing and Climate Change

Existing Housing and Climate Change PDF Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Communities and Local Government Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215514424
Category : Climatic changes
Languages : en
Pages : 328

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Book Description
The UK contains more than 26 million homes which, collectively, emitted 41.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2004. This book includes chapters, which examine: regulation and encouragement; financial incentives; energy performance certificates; breaching the barriers to change; newer technologies; and, older buildings.

Housing, the Environment, and Our Changing Climate

Housing, the Environment, and Our Changing Climate PDF Author: Christoph Sinn
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
The climate is changing, and this book aims to capture both ways in which this is true. First, the global warming which is taking place, as our atmosphere is forced to absorb ever more man-made carbon dioxide, is now an indisputable reality. It is not too late to prevent the worst effects of such climate change, but in any event it will have a profound impact on the way we live and the kinds of houses we need. Second, the climate is changing - albeit slowly - in terms of the response by the housing world to the challenge of global warming. Government has instigated a radical approach to environmental standards for new housing, but has arguably been slower to realise the urgency of action to tackle poor environmental standards in the existing housing stock. This completely new version of the earlier book Housing and the Environment - A new agenda concentrates on the linked issues of climate change, fuel shortages and fuel poverty.

Gray to Green Communities

Gray to Green Communities PDF Author: Dana Bourland
Publisher: Island Press
ISBN: 164283128X
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 202

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Book Description
US cities are faced with the joint challenge of our climate crisis and the lack of housing that is affordable and healthy. Our housing stock contributes significantly to the changing climate, with residential buildings accounting for 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. US housing is not only unhealthy for the planet, it is putting the physical and financial health of residents at risk. Our housing system means that a renter working 40 hours a week and earning minimum wage cannot afford a two-bedroom apartment in any US county. In Gray to Green Communities, green affordable housing expert Dana Bourland argues that we need to move away from a gray housing model to a green model, which considers the health and well-being of residents, their communities, and the planet. She demonstrates that we do not have to choose between protecting our planet and providing housing affordable to all. Bourland draws from her experience leading the Green Communities Program at Enterprise Community Partners, a national community development intermediary. Her work resulted in the first standard for green affordable housing which was designed to deliver measurable health, economic, and environmental benefits. The book opens with the potential of green affordable housing, followed by the problems that it is helping to solve, challenges in the approach that need to be overcome, and recommendations for the future of green affordable housing. Gray to Green Communities brings together the stories of those who benefit from living in green affordable housing and examples of Green Communities’ developments from across the country. Bourland posits that over the next decade we can deliver on the human right to housing while reaching a level of carbon emissions reductions agreed upon by scientists and demanded by youth. Gray to Green Communities will empower and inspire anyone interested in the future of housing and our planet.

The Power of Existing Buildings

The Power of Existing Buildings PDF Author: Robert Sroufe
Publisher:
ISBN: 164283050X
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 234

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Book Description
In The Power of Existing Buildings, academic sustainability expert Robert Sroufe, and construction and building experts Craig Stevenson and Beth Eckenrode, explain how to realize the potential of existing buildings and make them perform like new. This step-by-step guide will help readers to: understand where to start a project; develop financial models and realize costs savings; assemble an expert team; and align goals with numerous sustainability programs. The Power of Existing Buildings will challenge you to rethink spaces where people work and play, while determining how existing buildings can save the world. The insights and practical experience of Sroufe, Stevenson, and Eckenrode, along with the project case study examples, provide new insights on investing in existing buildings for building owners, engineers, occupants, architects, and real estate and construction professionals.

Mitigating Climate Change

Mitigating Climate Change PDF Author: Anshuman Khare
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3642370306
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 281

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Book Description
With ever increasing trends in urban consumption and production practices, a call for action to mitigate Climate Change is often seen as a way to foster sustainable development. Considerable attention is now being paid to determine what urban sustainability would include. Today there is a pressing need to broaden our knowledge and apply new concepts and frameworks to development of modern cities. Building on the foregoing, this book attempts to bring together and discuss concepts, tools, frameworks and best practices to cope with the emerging challenges faced by cities today. The book will be of use to policy makers, city planners, practitioners and academics who are starting to project what modern cities would need to do in terms of energy efficiency, mobility, planning and design of habitat and infrastructure and adapting to climate change.

Beyond decent homes

Beyond decent homes PDF Author: Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Communities and Local Government Committee
Publisher: The Stationery Office
ISBN: 9780215544988
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 116

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Book Description
The £40bn Decent Homes Programme has had a positive effect on the living conditions of most social housing tenants, this report finds, but the Government has failed to invest enough resources in the parallel programme to improve homes occupied by vulnerable people in the private sector. The Government must also clarify future funding: it is still unclear how the elimination of the remaining backlog of disrepair (around 3 per cent of social homes) will be funded; and how much will be available to maintain standards in the future. The Government must prevent another backlog of disrepair from building up after the current programme comes to an end in 2010. Carbon emissions reduction targets mean that the entire UK housing stock must be made more energy efficient. The decent homes standard has an important part to play and should be updated to enable this. The use of arm's-length management organisations (ALMOs) to manage council housing has led to improved standards and better planning, though not all councils were able to follow this model. The decent homes standard remains a low benchmark, however. The target for decency applied to private housing should be retained and strengthened by creating a National Indicator for private sector accommodation. A clear long term target should be set at a national level to bring all private sector homes (not just those occupied by vulnerable people) up to the decent homes standard.

Housing Sustainability in Low Carbon Cities

Housing Sustainability in Low Carbon Cities PDF Author: Ralph Horne
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1315519356
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 214

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Book Description
Housing affordability, urban development and climate change responses are great challenges that are intertwined, yet the conceptual and policy links between them remain under-developed. Housing Sustainability in Low Carbon Cities addresses this gap by developing an interdisciplinary approach to urban decarbonisation, drawing upon more established, yet quite distinctive, fields of built environment policy and design, housing, and studies of social and economic change. Through this approach, policy and practices of housing affordability, equity, energy efficiency, resilience and renewables are critiqued and alternatives are presented. Drawing upon international case studies, this book provides a unique contribution to interdisciplinary urban and housing studies, discourses and practices in an era of climate change. This book is recommended reading on higher level undergraduate and taught postgraduate courses in architecture, urban studies, planning, built environment, geography and urban studies. It will also be directly valuable to housing and urban policy makers and sustainability practitioners.

Planning for Climate Change

Planning for Climate Change PDF Author: Simin Davoudi
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 113657400X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 345

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Book Description
Climate change is changing the context of spatial planning and shaping its priorities. It has strengthened its environmental dimension and has become a new rationale for coordinating actions and integrating different policy priorities. This book sets out the economic, social and environmental challenges that climate change raises for urban and regional planners and explores current and potential responses. These are set within the context of recent research and scholarly works on the role of spatial planning in combating climate change. Addressing both mitigation measures for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adaptation to the effects of climate change, the book provides an overview of emerging practice, with analysis of the drivers of policy change and practical implementation of measures. It scopes planning issues and opportunities at different spatial scales, drawing on both the UK and international experiences and highlighting the need to link global and local responses to shared risks and opportunities.

An Urban Politics of Climate Change

An Urban Politics of Climate Change PDF Author: Harriet A Bulkeley
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317650107
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 270

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Book Description
The confluence of global climate change, growing levels of energy consumption and rapid urbanization has led the international policy community to regard urban responses to climate change as ‘an urgent agenda’ (World Bank 2010). The contribution of cities to rising levels of greenhouse gas emissions coupled with concerns about the vulnerability of urban places and communities to the impacts of climate change have led to a relatively recent and rapidly proliferating interest amongst both academic and policy communities in how cities might be able to respond to mitigation and adaptation. Attention has focused on the potential for municipal authorities to develop policy and plans that can address these twin issues, and the challenges of capacity, resource and politics that have been encountered. While this literature has captured some of the essential means through which the urban response to climate change is being forged, is that it has failed to take account of the multiple sites and spaces of climate change response that are emerging in cities ‘off-plan’. An Urban Politics of Climate Change provides the first account of urban responses to climate change that moves beyond the boundary of municipal institutions to critically examine the governing of climate change in the city as a matter of both public and private authority, and to engage with the ways in which this is bound up with the politics and practices of urban infrastructure. The book draws on cases from multiple cities in both developed and emerging economies to providing new insight into the potential and limitations of urban responses to climate change, as well as new conceptual direction for our understanding of the politics of environmental governance.