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Sustainability is the creation and maintenance of systems that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

There are three key interacting aspects to sustainability: economic, environmental and social.  If one of these is lacking, people will find it difficult to meet their needs.

The energy hierarchy places different energy services in order of their cost-effectiveness at curbing carbon emissions, and is key to our decision-making at Hockerton Housing Project.

• Conservation, or behaviour change, is the cheapest way to reduce energy use
• Energy efficiency, or ‘fabric first’ builds energy saving in, so energy savings are sustained over the life of a building or product for a relatively small upfront cost, More information available when we talk about choice of materials.
• Domestic or community-owned renewable energy can then be used to meet remaining energy demand; the less demand there is, the less you have to spend on renewable energy and heat systems
• The grid: the Government intends to decarbonise the national grid, but at present it is highly reliant on polluting fossil fuels.