South Wales will soon have one of the world’s first net-zero carbon neighborhood with 35 homes, Parc Hadau, thanks to an approval by the Neath Port Talbot council. The development of the £8m project in Pontardawe will be able to generate more clean energy than they use and is going to begin construction this spring.
Since the development will be using a variety of technologies to generate clean electricity, the residents of Parc Hadau won’t have to pay any energy bills. The homes will have energy-storing batteries, innovative ventilation systems, ground-source heat pumps and solar panels.
Sero homes, founded two years ago in Wales, claims Parc Hadau will provide affordable, high-quality housing through long-term leases. On cold winter nights, when Parc Hadau needs to draw electricity from the grid, Sero will measure the carbon of the imported power and later export clean energy to balance the overall carbon emissions. The neighborhood will be the first to meet the UK Green Building Council’s (UKGBC) definition of net-zero carbon.
UKGBC’s policy adviser, Richard Twinn, warned:
Meaningful action over the next ten years will be critical to help avoid the worst impacts of climate change. The energy used in homes accounts for around 20% of the UK’s emissions, so if we’re going to radically reduce emissions, we need all of our new homes to be net-zero carbon in operation by 2030 at the latest.
Parc Hadau will have 22 three-bed homes, 11 two-bed homes and two four-bed homes. Rather than putting the homes up for sale on the open market, Sero will offer the homes on long-term, index-linked leases to provide residents with security.
Sero Homes managing director, James Williams, said:
The principles underpinning our vision for housing are simple – people’s homes should minimize the harm done to our planet, and they shouldn’t cost the earth to run. The current housing market is failing to achieve this, and Parc Hadau will bring to life, at scale, this vision for better homes for future generations.
In 2006, the chancellor at that time, Gordon Brown, set a policy for all new homes to be carbon neutral from 2016 onward. Recently, the labor party’s election manifesto recommitted the party to net-zero carbon housing, with a bold pledge that by 2022 all new homes will be made carbon neutral.
