Question reference: S5W-27261
- Asked by: Joan McAlpine, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 4 February 2020
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Current status: Answered by Kevin Stewart on 21 February 2020
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether accelerating the construction of new houses to certified Passivhaus standard would be a positive response to the climate crisis declared in Scotland.
Answer
The construction of new housing that has low energy use will reduce the associated carbon emissions and assist in mitigating against the impacts of climate change. A certified Passivhaus may be considered one example of such a low energy building.
As part of the global climate emergency we are further improving energy standards for all new homes for 2021 and have made a commitment that new homes should use only renewable or low carbon heat from 2024.
In response to a 2018 ‘call for evidence’ on review of energy standards set by building regulations, the Passivhaus Trust suggested that, as a proven low-energy standard, Passivhaus could be a useful tool for the Scottish Government to achieve its carbon reduction aspirations. However, they also recognised that simply setting Passivhaus as the required standard for all new construction was unrealistic. In response, we have committed to investigate how the principles of Passivhaus and similar low energy standards can be applied as part of review of energy standards for new homes from 2021.