AECB, the sustainable building association, welcomes the Chancellor's statement that in ten years it is the government's ambition that all new homes will be 'zero-carbon', meeting the highest Code standard for energy efficiency. Chris Herring, AECB chair said 'Building zero carbon homes is a huge challenge for developers, architects, builders, engineers, building control officers - all those involved in trying to improve the energy performance of our homes'. 'We believe that for this target to be achieved there has to be a significant investment in both research and training to produce an industry capable of producing homes that are both carbon neutral and a delight to live in.' The AECB has already published its Gold Standard for the energy performance of buildings and is planning to publish a suite of guidance to help developers achieve it.

The Standard can help the government meet its target of zero carbon new homes as it represents a 95% reduction in CO2 emissions compared to the average UK home.

Its Silver Standard is easier to achieve, representing a 70% reduction in CO2 emissions, at the same or only slightly higher cost than the average new build.