The requirements laid down by the Carbon Emissions Method are set out below. Paragraph numbers refer to Section 6.
Section 6 (non-dwellings) Carbon Emissions Method
JC 1. Carbon Emissions Requirement (paragraphs J8.7)
JC 2. Maximum U-value (Table J8.8) Requirement (paragraph J8.8)
JC 3. Thermal Bridging and Air Infiltration Requirements (paragraphs J9.1 & J10.1)
JC 4. Building Services Commissioning Requirements (paragraph J14.1)
The Carbon Emissions Requirement is set out in paragraph J8.7:
“To comply with this method the thermal insulation of the fabric and the efficiency of the building services systems must be such that the annual carbon emissions from the building are not more than from an equivalent notional building designed to comply with the Elemental Method.
Except –
When using this method the standards for building services systems in J11, J12 and J13 may be ignored.
Note:
This method allows much greater flexibility than either the Elemental Method or the Heat Loss Method. It is a calculation method that allows completely free design of the building using any energy conservation measure.”
The <Virtual Environment> offers tools for calculating carbon emissions based on simulated performance of the actual and notional buildings over a typical year. Carbon emissions calculations are not performed automatically by the Section 6 facility. Guidance on setting up the simulations required and determining carbon emissions is provided in TM32[4].
Further Requirements
Paragraph 8 of the Introduction to the Technical Standards document[1] stipulates that Section 6 should be read in conjunction with Part G (condensation), Part H (sound insulation) and Part K (ventilation), and refers to further documents covering these topics.
Overview of Section 6 interface features
The interface features in the Section 6 software are as follows.
Section 6 building and system data
This part of the interface deals with Section 6 data at the building or system level (for instance, whether the building is an office or a school, the characteristics of its heating system, etc.). It can be accessed either via the Building Regulations option on the <VE> Compliance view Settings menu or via the Section 6 analysis facility.
Building regulations building and system data may be stored in a database for future reuse.
Building regulations Space Data
Data specific to the building regulations relating to individual rooms (for instance, whether the room is heated) is entered via the Building Regs tab of Space Data, or via the <VE> Compliance view Settings menu.
Building regulations construction data
Building regulations data relating to constructions (for instance, whether a window is classified as display glazing) is entered via fields labelled ‘Building Regulations’ within the construction data dialogues in APcdb.
Data not required for Section 6
For testing Section 6 compliance using the Elemental and Whole-building Methods it is not necessary to enter
Building location or weather data
Space Data other than that appearing on the Building Regs tab
Profile data
MacroFlo data
ApacheHVAC data
However, the Carbon Emissions Method does require data in some or all of these categories to be entered as input to simulations of the proposed and notional buildings.
Section 6 analysis and results
The Section 6 analysis and results dialogue, accessed via dialogue on the lower edge of the <VE> Compliance view, is divided into two parts:
Section 6 (2005) – Scotland: facilities for specifying the Section 6 analysis to be performed
Results: facilities for viewing the results of the analysis
This dialogue also provides a route to the Section 6 building and system data.
