Renewable Energy - Zero-carbon home unveiled

29/02/2008

Eco-friendly boilers are likely to be at the heart of the zero-carbon homes of the future, it has emerged.

This week's EcoBuild Exhibition at London's Earl's Court featured what is claimed to be the first affordable carbon-neutral house, known as the ruralZed.

Fully compliant with level six of the code for sustainable homes, the house includes a solar heating system for hot water, a biomass boiler, solar panels for electricity generation and three times the level of insulation of a normal home.

ZEDfactory, the company which designed the property, claims the £150,000 house can last the whole year without having to use power from the national grid.

Bill Dunster, director of ZEDfactory, told the Guardian most previous attempts to build zero-carbon houses had not been financially viable.

He added: "The RuralZED … is, in addition to being the most ecologically sound housing option to date, affordable to build and desirable to live in."

The government has set a timetable for changes to building regulations under the code for sustainable homes, with the aim of new residential properties being zero-carbon by 2016.