Build with CaRe (Carbon Reduction)
Aberdeen City Council is a partner in a three-year EU Interreg project, Build with CaRe, which aims to mainstream energy-efficient building design across Northern Europe. Aberdeen City Council are working with partners from 5 other European North Sea Region countries. The project, which started in 2008 and concludes in 2011, is partly financed by the Interreg IV B North Sea Programme.
The challenge to reduce the human impact on climate change is now widely recognised and has been strongly prioritised by the EU. The EU has committed to cutting its greenhouse gas emissions by 30% of 1990 levels by 2020 provided other developed countries commit to making comparable reductions under a global agreement.
The buildings sector accounts for 40% of the EU's energy requirements and offers the largest single potential for energy efficiency. Despite tested and available technologies and pricing (in many European countries lower operating costs mean that building in an energy efficient manner is less expensive), energy use in the built environment continues to be higher than necessary. There have been examples of energy-efficient design for more than two decades. Interest in and demand for low energy buildings has increased over the last couple of years. Unfortunately the building industry still regards such buildings as 'unknown quantities', with prices that reflect risk. They are not yet mainstream. Build with CaRe (Carbon Reduction) aims to mobilise all forces in order to make energy-efficient building design the mainstream.
Work Package 3: Planning and Policy
There are four main Work Packages (WPs) to the project and Aberdeen City Council are leading Work Package 3 - Planning and Policy. A major objective for Build with CaRE is ensuring planners and policy makers facilitate mainstreaming energy efficient buildings by providing appropriate policy, planning and regulatory frameworks. Build with CaRe will engage with national and regional policy makers to develop a transnational strategy for increasing energy efficiency in buildings.
Objectives:
- Supply input to discussions surrounding EU directive on buildings
- Facilitate drafting of regional energy efficiency strategies
- Ensure local planning policies and building regulations encourage low energy building design
The expected outputs are to influence ongoing debate at EU level for forthcoming Directives, to draft regional energy strategies and to share in successful policy making.
Further information can be found on the Build with CaRe website http://www.buildwithcare.net/ .