The government will miss its target of making every new school building in England zero carbon from 2016, schools secretary Ed Balls admitted today.
Responding to a technical report from the Zero Carbon Task Force (ZCTF), which is led by architect Robin Nicholson, Balls said the government had a moral duty to get as close as it could to the “aspiration” of zero carbon school buildings.
The government is now aiming at a target of 2018, with at least four pilot zero carbon schools operational in each government region before 2016.
A spokesman for the Department of Children Schools & Families said: “They [the ZCTF] have said that to do all schools by 2016 isn’t feasible. The experts have said it just isn’t possible.
“The majority of new schools will be zero carbon by 2016… hence 2018 is hopefully the target we’ll meet.”
Balls was speaking at the Pimlico Academy in London, the school replacing the John Bancroft-designed building, which was controversially demolished after the government opted not to list it.
He said: “The independent experts from the Zero Carbon Task Force tell me that although current technology makes building zero-carbon schools expensive and challenging, we have a clear moral responsibility to future generations to get as close as we can to that aspiration – it would be a dereliction of duty if we didn’t.
“So we will look to build pilot zero-carbon schools across the country as model examples for others to follow – it will set the bar high for all schools to reach.
“It’s not just about making new buildings green – existing schools can be adapted to make them more efficient.”
A new target announced today will be to reduce CO2 emissions from new school buildings by around 80% on 2002 building standards by 2013 – an increase on the department’s current requirement to reduce emissions by 60%.
The government also wants to monitor energy use in schools more closely through the widespread introduction of energy meters.
Schools in England contributes around 15% of the country's public sector emissions, equal to all the energy and transport emissions of Birmingham and Manchester combined.
Comment: Amanda Baillieu
Typical isn’t it. After banging on about how he had a “moral responsibility” to make all new schools zero carbon by 2016, the schools secretary Ed Balls now admits 18 months later that it’s impossible.
This news of course was buried in a press release with a whole load of new targets that are less ambitious. The government is now planning four new “pilot” zero-carbon schools in every region before 2016. I don’t believe it. Zero carbon is expensive to deliver and the government has failed to put enough money into researching low-energy design.
The Tories will want to pursue a more pragmatic policy which accepts that some schools – particularly refurbs – will never make Breeam excellent. But so what. There are other ways of measuring a school’s green credentials including the all important embodied energy issue, which is being ignored.
And it’s ironic isn’t it that the so called green flagship school where Balls made an appearance this morning, is the new Pimlico Academy. Many architects will remember the campaign to save Pimlico School, the pioneering and much loved school the government refused to list despite a massive campaign to save it. Pimlico Academy‘s so called “eco features” include using rubble from the 1960s school but that, it seems, is about as green as it gets.
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