Development of the Kirklees renewable energy toolkit, UK

In today's modern built environment, the introduction of renewable energy technologies as part of new builds or refurbishments is increasing. Although national building regulations are starting to drive this through legislation, some local authorities are pushing boundaries further and championing renewable energy projects within their districts. Kirklees Council in Huddersfield, UK, is one such authority. Its policy for sustainable buildings encourages renewable energy technologies to be incorporated in non-domestic new builds and refurbishment projects once energy efficiency and energy conservation measures have been incorporated into the design. The key for successful implementation of such policies relating to renewables lies with the building designers. Therefore, a user-friendly renewable energy toolkit has been created to assist engineers and architects in the successful implementation of renewable energy technologies and, in turn, Kirklees policy within non-domestic building projects. The renewable energy toolkit consists of seven elements including a whole-life costing and carbon dioxide saving calculation tool, guidance checklists and a case study library to encourage the sharing of experience and best practice. An overview of the results of the testing phase of the toolkit provides an insight into the development process of the resource; brief examples utilising actual project data indicate the potential success of such a tool.