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I don't think this is getting the coverage it needs. Scottish government to require passivhaus standard for all new build homes. This is big. Really big. Growing out of lessons from the 70's oil crisis. Passivhaus buildings use very little energy to heat, or to cool. We've known how to do this for decades. It's gross negligence from all western governments that the same is not true of all new builds in the developed world.

thenational.scot/news/23197204

My first reaction to this is that it's about 30 years too late. But right now I'm just glad that at least someone has turned up to the party, even if it's later than ideal.

Building energy efficiency is something we really need to look into as we try to cut emissions here in the west. It's up there with reducing private car ownership for impact on emissions reductions. Imagine being able to live in a home that is warm, comfortable, and can be heated for next to nothing. Welldone Scotland.

Thinking about this some more. I find myself wondering if people have considered the full implications of what this means beyond the home itself. Having a home that you can heat for a few cents per day, but then parking a 3t death cage out front with a 100kwh battery in it seems to kinda defeat the point. As we divest ourselves of car dependence our future homes need to be built with this in mind, developers should be required to include public transport provision in their new builds too...

@quixoticgeek yes. Proximity and spatial planning that promotes the options for low envionmental/high social modes should be an integral part of it.

@Marrekoo Aye, I hope that we see a lot fewer "single family homes" and "executive homes". Passivhaus apartments, with good public transport and bike facilities please!

@quixoticgeek agree totally with all 3 toots.
About 10 years ago we bought a plot of land with a very derelict house on it.
Tried to get planning permission for 2 passiv-haus homes with enough solar to be energy self sufficient. Right at the end of a full separated cycle route to Leicester Uni and hospital.
Never managed to get planning permission. Opposite they took no action on a big set of alterations adding extra flats to a block, dozen car parking spaces on the cycle path.
Crazy!

@quixoticgeek ...and don't forget bicycles. For short distances biking is absolutely the best way to get around if you haven't time to walk and it helps keep you fit. Look at the Netherlands..

@JMacfie I would actually day walking should be the first choice for short distances (sub 2km). Cycling is great. But as I experience first hand here in the Netherlands, there can be scale issues when cycling truly takes off. Walking 500m to a shop for a loaf of bread is better than cycling. And also avoids the collection of bikes parked outside the bakery getting too large. Etc...

@quixoticgeek also the necessity for storage space for your range of bikes...some Dutch friends reeled off a list: cargo bike for shopping, off road exploration bike, fast road bike for commuting etc. But these are good problems to have.
I have a bike with no gears for tootling around as it's Thailand and I don't like exposing my fair skin to the sun a minute longer than necessary. Am already looking enviously at the guys with racer bikes as they whizz effortlessly past, though...

@quixoticgeek when I lived in Scotland I had no car and regularly walked 1.2km down a steep hill into the village. And back again. If it hadn't been for the traffic it would have been a delight. Walking is so good for you, especially in the dark - it sharpens the senses.

@quixoticgeek @JMacfie Biking is far more energy efficient. Indeed, we cycle 500m, and that is fine. Resolving all the parking problems takes time, and can never keep up with changing demand anyway. It will go away if we stop all starting work between 8-9

@JMacfie @quixoticgeek and look at Paris, and at US smaller cities, and Berlin, creating bike routes in metropolitan areas with lane separation between cyclists and traffic.

@quixoticgeek
The biggest reason most countries haven't adopted this is corruption.

It's the last thing oil companies and energy suppliers want, because it means we won't buy their products. Throw a million pounds at a few officials every election cycle, guarantee 100 billion revenue every year. Bargain!

It's a long overdue move, but I'm delighted my kids will see the benefit of it.

@quixoticgeek not supporting cars - but this car batteries can form a distributed electric storage grid one day. Public transportation is where we should be spending our energy, time and money. Unfortunately it’s far far behind on anyone’s list of climate action goals in the US.
Instead we subsidize the rich and the corporations for their fancy cars.

@quixoticgeek

Only a tangent but I find it notably amusing that we in 🇨🇭 use the term Minergie (minimal energy) while you use the German Passivhaus.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minergie

@quixoticgeek "Passivhaus..." passive house? I'm guessing that's a house designed for passive heating/cooling?

@quixoticgeek meanwhile everyone in Australia: 🥲

There are few requirements about energy efficiency wrt. heating/cooling here, and double glazed windows are unheard of. Instead of builders building efficient homes, the cost is passed onto someone living in there, as increased electricity cost.

@modrzew @quixoticgeek yes, I seriously wish Aus governments had done this 30years ago! Our last house we rented was incredibly energy inefficient with unshaded windows facing North. Shouldn’t be allowed to build like it, and I see similar developments going up still!

@modrzew @quixoticgeek luckily it did have internal blinds, but one room got so hot even with that closed we basically didn’t use it in summer

@modrzew @quixoticgeek FOR FOREVER or until a capital intensive and very likely subpar retrofit!

@quixoticgeek If they make this stick, that is brilliant, it is shameful that UK wide plans were abandoned back in 2015 theguardian.com/environment/20

@quixoticgeek Scotland is doing a lot of things right these days. It's reassuring to see.

@quixoticgeek @donmelton genuinely leading the way, this Green/SNP team and I am loving it

@quixoticgeek

Canada had a very efficient R-2000 house decades ago and could have made it the building code. But...no.

@quixoticgeek
It's encouraging. Do we know the implementation date?
And as some have commented, the logistics (supply, standards, training etc.) will need close attention.
In #GreaterManchester, developer lobby are squealing about a 2028 net zero buildings policy, now in a policy climb-down subject to that get out of jail card, "viability".
And what will Scotland do about existing housing stock?

@markhburton @quixoticgeek thank you for pointing the issue with existing home stock. I live in such a building and it’s definitely not easy, nor cheap (!!) to renovate to Passivhaus standards, especially if you have to incur addt’l costs for asbestos removal or installation of heat pump heating in lieu of previous underfloor electric systems
This unfortunately indicates there will be an “energy divide” against poorer families.

@PaulWeber @markhburton @quixoticgeek
It is not mandatory to have an underfloor heating to benefit from heatpumps in existing older houses. However, a very good and state-of-the-art insulating would be necessary at least.
And yes, that will not cheap at all, indeed.

@PaulWeber @markhburton @quixoticgeek I'll take a minute to celebrate that someone else wont face these same problems in a poorly built house. But yeah, this move doesn't solve all the horrendous builds ever built and the shit that tenants and owners put up with.

@quixoticgeek
Yep, "Really big."
Are any other jurisdictions making this move? (In the US? Anywhere else?)

@gfriend @quixoticgeek In the Netherlands the rules and regulations are very strict, and they continue to evolve to what we call zero-on-the-meter (lit. translation).

@dutchart @quixoticgeek
Thanks, Dutchart. Any PassivHaus requirements in the Netherlands?

@gfriend @quixoticgeek its not my field perse, but the legal requirements are now ‘almost energy neutral’, in terms of energy usage, and use of sustainable materials. The aim is towards zero. There is a lot of online info but mostly-of course- in Dutch. 🤷‍♂️

@dutchart @quixoticgeek Thanks Dutchart. Here in California we're trying to shift from the older energy neural" standard to an arguably more relevant "climate neutral" standard, recognizing that increased use of renewable energy may be need to replace some fossil uses.

@quixoticgeek this seems amazing but I’m wondering how it would look here in San Francisco where every excuse is made not to build housing. There’s some trade off here where the more requirements you put on housing the harder it is to build. And the harder it is to build in the city, the more housing gets built in the periphery, leading to higher emissions.

We’re so fed up here with NIMBYs it feels like building *anything* is a victory.

@quixoticgeek Wow. Hard to believe this isn’t the standard everywhere, given that it’s been around for decades!

@quixoticgeek this'll be on my to do list for my home.
We aquired it. We found a leak, so at this point since we're repairing we can upgrade it.

@quixoticgeek If only our government had the initiative to follow suit. Building standards are ridiculously low here and have been for decades.

@quixoticgeek without a reform to change the housing market, only the rich will be able to afford those new expensive houses to rent them out.

@quixoticgeek Leapfrogging the woeful state of insulation in many British houses. Or is that better in Scotland?

@quixoticgeek

Wow! Well done, my ancestral homeland. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

@quixoticgeek Some questions about passivhaus. Reliance on mechanical ventilation which has to be maintained for the life of the building. Not necessarily built to best orientation to the sun. Not maximise passive solar potential.

@quixoticgeek this is huge! Heating is such a major factor in energy usage, especially in cooler climates.

@quixoticgeek So, how much will this add to an average new home? It must be a lot if people haven't flocked to this standard just to save on their heating and cooling bills. Have they compared the cost savings against a well insulated well constructed home with a heat pump which is what most places have around me. Will they still be able to make low cost homes? Does it really work?

@quixoticgeek
Years of links to developments in and examples of net zero energy buildings at zeronetenrg.blogspot.com which is also a listserv

#energy #net zero

@quixoticgeek in theory it’s good news, but will they be built properly? Some supposedly A rated homes, have cold rooms, draughts etc in the winter as they weren’t finished correctly (but someone still certified them as air tight!)

@quixoticgeek I missed this and I live here. Great move. Now let’s get grid connected storage working. Green hydrogen or molten salt thermal. We have big mountains we can hollow out. Cruachan.

@quixoticgeek Well said! When we consider the effects on the planet, not to mention on our bills, this was always criminal. Even the latest UK building standards are woeful in comparison to what can be achieved. The whole damned system needs to be turned over and given a good shake. Same old will not do from now on.

@quixoticgeek … did the English-language people just use the German word Passivhaus as-is? 😼

@quixoticgeek I would note that a lot of national energy standards already use *less* primary energy than Passivhaus. The EU's NZEB standard is generally ahead of it (although there's variation between member states). A Passivhaus in Ireland will fail the regs for using too much primary energy.

I like PH as a personal comfort standard but not convinced about its use as a national standard. It's too restrictive and focused on spaced heating.

@quixoticgeek I love it, but I suspect the reaction from builders will be simply to not build. Same as if sensible room sizes (and numbers - separate kitchen and living space!) were mandated. Or alternately the full cost will be pushed onto the buyer. We need a lot of houses and the need for those seems in at least partial conflict with these (great!) standards.
I don’t know how to resolve this though.

@natureworks

Insulating the present housing stock will make the biggest gains and reduce more bills. Who can afford a passivhaus and why just that one standard?

While we're on it, let's get community heating systems in, support solar, battery systems with discounting and kill VAT on it all too!

#InsulateBritain

@quixoticgeek

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