Sustainable construction ''requires more than just insulation''

Posted by Andrew Marshall.

The country''s buildings need more than just green building products such as insulation to improve their environmental performance, an expert has pointed out.

According to Dr Scott Steedman, there are a number of new areas that should be looked at in order to address the issue of sustainability.

Speaking after the publication of a Royal Academy of Engineering report into the issue of more eco-friendly buildings, he commented: ''We need measures that go beyond the traditional solutions - new materials, new installation processes, new controls that are based on [an] engineering approach to the thermal upgrading of existing buildings.''

The subject of ''Building Engineering Physics'' is one key topic that the study addresses as a means of creating buildings which emit lower volumes of carbon into the atmosphere.

Meanwhile, the government''s energy and climate change secretary Ed Miliband also recently reaffirmed the UK''s ongoing commitments to lowering its present level of carbon emissions.