South Oxfordshire Policy DES10: Carbon Reduction

Hi we have just been writing an energy statement for a site in South Oxfordshire.  This is a quick blog post to run through the requirements of South Oxford District councils carbon reduction requirements for new buildings. If you read through the guidance document DES10 there are a lot of different percentages mentioned in there which can be a bit confusing for example:

• the 31% which comes from national requirements compared to building regulations 2013 and then;
• 27% for non-residential buildings also;
• 9% for reductions to 2021 building regulations and then;
• 13% carbon reduction carbon emissions compared with 2021 building regulations for non-residential developments! :-/

So this is all gets a bit confusing and so it’s best to use the below matrix to decide what you need to do and this clearly states that as of tend to December 2020 you need to prove a 40% reduction which is actually reasonably easy to do.

South Oxfordshire Policy DES10: New Dwellings

Policy DES10: Carbon Reduction this is applicable to:

“All new build residential dwelling houses”

Who must prove a:

“40% reduction in carbon emissions (compared with a code 2013 Building Regulations compliant base case, which is equivalent to a 9% reduction in carbon emissions compared with a Code 2021 Building Regulations compliant base case) from renewable energy and other low carbon technologies and/or energy efficiency measures.”

South Oxfordshire Policy DES10: U-Values

You will have to meet a minimum u value as described in the building regulations and that will get you a reasonably energy efficient house.

However, in order to make the 40% carbon reduction you can either reduce the energy demand which can be done with air tightness or extra insulation or reducing cold Bridges.

If there’s any requirement to create more carbon savings then you probably be your best to do this with renewables the heating system also has an effect on the overall dwelling emission rate and so they’re all these things together which can be used to get down to the 40% saving that’s required by policy de S10 from South Oxfordshire.

Environmental Research Ideas & Topics

I our day to day report writing and in conversations with clients, we hear of topics for which we then subsequently find gaps in available data. We have listed these Environmental Research Ideas & Topics below. So if you are conducting research at any level, and in any part of the world you might pick one, and advance our understanding.

We will update this post with new topics as we think of them.

5 – Over Application of Nutrients (Added October 2024)

We have heard in some instances that industrial farms (in this case in the UK) are over applying nutrients to Farmland. The example we heard about was a poultry farm where the volumes of poultry manure being produced were very large and these were then being spread to surrounding Farmland without following the guidance on nutrient balancing as provided in our RB209 for example and this is lead to in effect sterility in the land owning to an over concentration of macaroni nutrients this is entirely unsubstantiated claim coming from a phone call but it might be that there is some truth in there somewhere.

4 – Suitability of Compost Regulation in the UK (Added October 2024)

Regulations relating to composting i the UK and very confused. This comes from the waste / non- waste split. Which some producers manage to avoid, and others not so. This can lead to huge commercial enterprising circumnavigating requirements for an environmental permit, and then small farm sized operations requiring very complicated environmental permits.

3 – Export vs Recycling vs Incineration Rates for Plastic (Added October 2024)

Every week we hear of wildly differing claims with regards to “recycling” rates. The recent lawsuit between California and ExxonMobil, aims to provide that recycling has been pushed by producers as a “cure-all” for plastic waste. When in fact no more than 9% is recycled.

And that basis there is plenty of research to be done in your area to see what happens to plastic wastes. Do they get recycled or not. Where do they go. In the Uk we saw how our segregated (not recycled) waste gets exported to countries where it is not recycled.

2 –  Microplastics from Sewage Sludge (Added October 2024)

When sewage is treated at a sewage treatment works, or a smaller treatment system, a sludge is created. How much microplastic is in this sludge? And what happens to it? WHich types of treatment create the most, and is ther a way of reducing it?

1 – Microplastics from Car Tyres (Added October 2024)

Over the lifetime of a tire, whilst is wears down, it loses about 30% of its weight. These tiny abraded particles end up where? What is there volume? Where can we do to stop this? Are there additional materials that we could use that are better than materials at present?