Code for Sustainable Homes- A Step Change in Sustainable Home Building Practice

In 2004, Some scientist from the environmental authority of UK made a survey on sources of carbon dioxide. The environmental scientists were very serious about the negative impacts of climate change on human lives. During this survey, they found that a quarter of carbon dioxide is coming from the energy that we use to heat, light and run our homes. Thus the code for sustainable homes was introduced to maintain sustainable home building practices. It became operational as a nationalized rule in whole UK in 2007.

The code for sustainable homes measures the sustainability of every new home against the nine categories of sustainable design. The nine categories are Energy/CO 2, Water, Materials, Surface Water Runoff (flooding and flood prevention), Waste, Pollution, Health and Well-being, Management and Ecology. Based on these categories, every home is given one to six star ratings. The code for sustainable homes has set minimum standards for the use of energy and water at each level. Compliance to these standard is must for each person residing in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

From the launch of Code for sustainable homes, ecological consultants came in demand. They are qualified ecological scientist who knows arboriculture. Based on client’s requirement, they conduct surveys and provide resolutions. Ecological consultants also measure the sustainability of client’s homes and release the ratings. If a person’s home is not falling under the standard rating then they can guide the land owner to higher their rating. Apart from measuring sustainability of homes, ecological consultants various surveys like tree survey, reptile surveys, otter surveys, ecological scoping surveys, Bird surveys, etc.

People residing in regions other than UK, may not aware about the code for sustainable homes but adopting eco friendly home schemes they are indirectly following the same sustainability standards for home design. Because of the negative impacts of global warming, eco friendly homes are most preferred in all continents of the world. The goal behind code for sustainable homes and eco friendly home schemes is same which is to reduce carbon emission and create homes that are sustainable.