Book description
'Zero Carbon' is an abstract concept for most people, but we have
lived energy-profligate lifestyles for too long on finite fossil-fuel
resources. We now face potential environmental catastrophe from
climate change and global warming, with a continuing exponentially
expanding global population that doubles every four decades. The
capacity of the planet to reabsorb carbon dioxide is about two to
three tonnes of carbon equivalent per person at current population
levels of seven billion and therefore there is a desperate need for us
to reduce our carbon footprint. A way of helping to achieve this is to
live in a zero-carbon house, and this will become UK legislation for
new homes by 2016. This fascinating book covers all aspects of the
zero-carbon house, from its evolution to achieving carbon neutrality
in old and new homes as well as entire communities. Includes an
overview of zero carbon and how to achieve it on a global scale;
covers communities of zero-carbon houses and provides inspirational
examples of low-carbon lifestyles. Case studies show how principles
are put into successful practice to save energy, carbon, money and the environment.
Martin Godfrey Cook, MPhil (Cantab), RIBA, is a chartered architect,
conservationist and historian with three decades of experience in the
international property and construction industries. He has advocated
energy efficiency, conservation and sustainability in existing
buildings, and designed new environmentally-friendly buildings since the
last energy crisis in the 1970s. He was appointed to the Commission for
Architecture and the Built Environment's (CABE) Design Review panel in
2007, and is a founder member of the RIBA's Sustainable Futures
Committee and the Urban Land Institute's European Sustainable
Development Council.
