The settled text of the Fingal Energy Standards being adopted in all new Local Area Plans is below. This text has been included in Local Area Plans at Portmarnock, Kinsealy and Donabate. It is in keeping with the standards adopted for plans at Cappagh, North-West Balbriggan and Castlelands, but is more detailed and specific.
Approach
Fingal County Council is committed as a priority to
encouraging more sustainable development through energy end use
efficiency, and increasing the use of renewable energy, in all new
building projects in the designated area within the Portmarnock Local
Area Plan.
It will achieve this by:
· Encouraging responsible environmental management in construction
·
Promoting sustainable approaches to housing developments by spatial
planning, layout, design and detailed specification
·
Ensuring high standards of energy efficiency in all housing
developments under its remit, and encouraging developers, owners, and
tenants to improve the environmental performance of the building stock,
including the deployment of renewable energy
· For housing,
specifically applying an improvement of 60% relative to prevailing
norms as represented by the Building Regulations Part L
·
For other buildings, specifically applying an improvement of 60%
relative to prevailing norms as represented by the Building Regulations
Part L
· Anticipating the operational implementation of the
EU Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings (EPBD) by
encouraging the energy rating and labelling of building energy
performance, so as to give visible recognition to such improvements.
The
specific approach proposed for developers is to set a target,
accompanied by a menu of design and technology options, including
renewable energy technologies, as a means of offering flexibility
towards meeting that target in the most technically and economically
feasible manner on a case by case basis.
As an initial step
towards achieving greater environment sustainability, Fingal County
Council is proposing the introduction of a performance based CO2
Emissions Target (CET) for new buildings being constructed within the
Portmarnock Local Area Plan.
Targets
All new buildings
within the designated area will represent a significant improvement in
energy and associated environmental performance relative to prevailing
practice. The following conditions apply:
Housing:
A
collective average reduction of at least 60% in CO2 emissions deriving
from energy usage for space and water heating within the housing
development, relative to a baseline of prevailing regulatory and design
practice. This initial baseline of comparison is to be represented by
the provisions of Technical Guidance Document L (TGD L) to the Building
Regulations, 2002 using a conventional gas fired heating boiler with an
assumed seasonal efficiency of 75%. The calculation is to be carried
out for the time being using the Heat Energy Rating Method in TGD L,
pending adoption of the official national methodology for determining
energy performance of housing for the purposes of the EU Energy
Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD).
In meeting this CO2 performance target, the development shall include:
·
A collective average reduction of at least 60% in energy consumption
for space and water heating , relative to the baseline of existing
regulatory and design practice and using the methodology outlined
above; and
· A contribution of 30% by renewable energy
supply systems to meet the collective space and water heating
requirements within the housing development.
Non-residential:
A
collective reduction of at least 60% in CO2 emissions deriving from
total energy usage (space heating, water heating, lighting, other)
arising from all services within the development, relative to a
baseline of existing regulatory and design practice. This initial
baseline of comparison is to be represented by the provisions of TGD L
to the Building Regulations, 2006. In the absence of an official
national methodology for determining the energy performance of
non-domestic buildings, this calculation is to be carried out using a
method compliant with the draft European Standard prEN 13790.
In meeting this CO2 performance target, the development shall include:
·
A collective average reduction of at least 60% in energy consumption
for all services , relative to the baseline of existing regulatory and
design practice and using a methodology as outlined above; and
·
A contribution of 30% by renewable energy supply systems to meet the
collective energy requirements within the development.
To
illustrate the above, using the Heat Energy Rating methodology, the
baseline energy performance of new housing is typically 125 kWh/m2/year
for space and water heating when constructed to the minimum
requirements of Building Regulations, 2002, and using a boiler with a
seasonal efficiency of 75%. This translates into a CO2 performance of
23.7 kg/m2/year using a gas fired heating system.
Fingal
County Council requires that new housing developments should achieve a
60% reduction in CO2 emissions associated with space and water heating
(i.e. to below 9.5 kg/m2/year), which must include a reduction in
energy use for this purpose (i.e. to below 50 kWh/ m2/year) and a
contribution of at least 30% by renewable energy systems to meet the
collective space and water heating requirements within the development.
Menu of options
In pursuit of these targets, a strong menu of superior design and specification options will include the following:
· Site layout and associated bio-climatic/ passive solar design measures
· Enhanced levels of insulation in walls, roofs, floors, glazing and doors
· Reduced uncontrolled air infiltration losses
· Use of healthy and controllable ventilation systems
· Heat recovery systems
· Use of daylight
· Water conservation measures
· More sustainable building materials
· Improved heat generation appliance efficiency, e.g. condensing boilers
· Intelligent heating system configuration and time/ temperature/ zone/ function controls
· Efficient provision of domestic hot water
· Fuel switching to low or zero CO2 emitting fuels
· Energy efficient lighting systems
· Incorporation of renewable energy systems, e.g. active solar, heat pumps, biomass
· Provision of appropriate group or district heating systems.
In the case of non-domestic buildings, additional options include:
· Heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems and controls
· Electrical energy use including motive power
· Efficient lighting systems and controls
· Building Energy Management Systems
· Occupancy controls
· Monitoring and Targeting systems
· Combined Heat and Power (CHP).
Other measures which can contribute to the energy efficiency and renewable energy targets can also be considered.
This
menu approach enables specifiers and developers to adopt approaches
which are responsive to site and client circumstances and constraints,
and offers the flexibility to explore and employ different mixes of
options on a case by case basis, to maximise technical and economic
feasibility.