See the light conf. announcement re: building regs

MOTM

Just got an email from phai about Fridays see the light conference. Apparently there's to be a "key announcement" about passive house and Irish building regs. Any idea what it might be anyone?

beyondpassive

Might be something to do with certified passivhaus without renewables as an acceptable means of demonstrating compliance with Part L.

Looks like a great conference. PM me boardsies for a group discount I secured for me best buds.

MOTM

beyondpassive wrote: »

Might be something to do with certified passivhaus without renewables as an acceptable means of demonstrating compliance with Part L..

That wouldn't tally with epbd, nzeb definition or part l regulation.

beyondpassive

MOTM wrote: »

That wouldn't tally with epbd, nzeb definition or part l regulation.

I'll await the legal interpretation. But Compliance has come into sharper focus with BC(A)R and we have to be open to alternative means of demonstrating compliance with the regulation rather than following the technical guidance prima facia.

here is a growing recognition that energy saved beyond the EPC target is equivalent to renewable energy produced. This is being incorporated in the non domestic Part L 2015, where you have a choice in compliance. 40% improvement with 10% renewable or 50% EPC improvement. You could even define certified Passivhaus as a 'renewable energy technology'.

"Part L 1 shall be met by:
Providing that the energy performance of the building is such as to limit primary energy consumption in so far as is reasonably practical.

When energy consumption is calculated using the DEAP procedure.

Providing that a reasonable proportion of the energy consumption to meet the energy performance of a building is provided by renewable energy sources."

This particular interpretation is important for large scale apartment developments, as it can be very difficult to get mid building units to comply with Part L 2011 regs. Passivhaus may be considered as an equivalent approach. For volume housing certified Passivhaus isn't ideal as orientation and plot separation have such a large impact.

MOTM

Looking at L3a in the regs, there isn't an alternative to DEAP. Looking at L3b, there isn't an alternative to the renewables reqt. I'm just reading the regs on this rather than TGD L.

beyondpassive

MOTM wrote: »

Looking at L3a in the regs, there isn't an alternative to DEAP. Looking at L3b, there isn't an alternative to the renewables reqt. I'm just reading the regs on this rather than TGD L.

Ya just got clarification on this, we can't avoid the renewables, but may be able to use a percentage of primary energy instead of heat energy per unit of floor area metric. The Renewables Directive means that mandatory renewables can't be avoided.

The preamble of the RES Directive (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32009L0028&from=EN) includes the following text:

(32) Passive energy systems use building design to harness energy. This is considered to be saved energy. To avoid double counting, energy harnessed in this way should not be taken into account for the purposes of this Directive.

So that's clear - this directive prevents member states from counting energy saving measures as renewable. End of discussion.

Then Article 13 includes the following:

4. Member States shall introduce in their building regulations and codes appropriate measures in order to increase the share of all kinds of energy from renewable sources in the building sector.
In establishing such measures or in their regional support schemes, Member States may take into account national measures relating to substantial increases in energy efficiency and relating to cogeneration and to passive, low or zero-energy buildings.

MOTM

And I don't see phpp referenced under si 259 L3a. Can phpp be legitimately used for calculating energy and co2 limits are met? Seems like DEAP is the only way to do this.

MOTM

Well what was the key announcement and how viable was given how the regs and epbd recast (not the TGD) are written?