New homes achieve government benchmark

The first homes in the country to be awarded 'Generation Homes' status by the government will be found at Kingsley in Hampshire, it has been revealed.

The environmentally friendly households have met the government's benchmark of cutting typical housing carbon emissions by 60 per cent, developers at Drum Housing Association have announced.

The homes have been refurbished and now feature the latest energy efficient technologies, Green Building magazine has reported.

"We have employed a mixture of technologies to meet the targets set. Every house has solar electric PV panels on the roof, which generate clean electricity on site," commented the firm's sustainability and innovations manager Paul Ciniglio, according to the magazine.

"Bore holes, 80m deep, were sunk in the gardens to allow ground source heat pumps to extract the earths natural heat via a looped pipe. We have even fitted heat exchangers on waste water pipes to recover about 60% of the heat normally lost down the drain," Mr Ciniglio added.

Homes which achieve a zero-carbon rating are to receive a stamp duty exemption, incoming prime minister Gordon Brown announced late last year.


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