scholarly journals Climate repair through built environment: Decarbonising UK’s building sector through energy efficiency and natural materials

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramit Debnath ◽  
Ronita Bardhan ◽  
Darshil U. Shah ◽  
Antiopi Koronaki ◽  
Aurimas Bukauskas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Building Sector ◽  
Insulating Materials ◽  
Working Paper ◽  
Net Zero ◽  
Royal Institution ◽  
The Uk

This working paper is an evidence submitted to the Royal Institution for British Architects that makes the case that the built environment must drastically reduce its carbon emissions to work towards net zero. Here we advocate for climate repair through the built environment by decarbonising UK’s building sector through both improved energy efficiency of buildings and the use of nature‐based solutions, such as engineered timber and natural insulating materials. The UK has the opportunity to lead by example at the upcoming United Nations COP‐26 conference and beyond, as we implement the solutions in the coming years.

Net zero carbon: Energy performance targets for offices

2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 349-369
Author(s):  
Robert Cohen ◽  
Karl Desai ◽  
Jennifer Elias ◽  
Richard Twinn
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Minimum Energy ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Consultation Process ◽  
Net Zero ◽  
Extensive Consultation ◽  
Operational Energy ◽  
Legislative Framework ◽  
Zero Carbon ◽  
The Uk

The UKGBC Net Zero Carbon Buildings Framework was published in April 2019 following an industry task group and extensive consultation process. The framework acts as guidance for achieving net zero carbon for operational energy and construction emissions, with a whole life carbon approach to be developed in the future. In consultation with industry, further detail and stricter requirements are being developed over time. In October 2019, proposals were set out for industry consultation on minimum energy efficiency targets for new and existing commercial office buildings seeking to achieve net zero carbon status for operational energy today, based on the performance levels that all buildings will be required to achieve by 2050. This was complemented by modelling work undertaken by the LETI network looking into net zero carbon requirements for new buildings. In January 2020 UKGBC published its guidance on the levels of energy performance that offices should target to achieve net zero and a trajectory for getting there by 2035. This paper describes the methodology behind and industry perspectives on UKGBC’s proposals which aim to predict the reduction in building energy intensity required if the UK’s economy is to be fully-powered by zero carbon energy in 2050. Practical application: Many developers and investors seeking to procure new commercial offices or undertake major refurbishments of existing offices are engaging with the ‘net zero carbon’ agenda, now intrinsic to the legislative framework for economic activity in the UK. A UKGBC initiative effectively filled a vacuum by defining a set of requirements including energy efficiency thresholds for commercial offices in the UK to be considered ‘net zero carbon’. This paper provides all stakeholders with a detailed justification for the level of these thresholds and what might be done to achieve them. A worked example details one possible solution for a new office.

A qualitative assessment of the impact of smart homes and environmentally beneficial technologies on the UK 2050 net-zero carbon emission target

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ghasson Shabha ◽  
Francesca Barber ◽  
Paul Laycock
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Smart Home ◽  
Smart Homes ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Net Zero ◽  
Zero Carbon ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Home Technology ◽  
Smart Home Technology

PurposeThere are 29 million homes in the UK, accounting for 14% of the UK's energy consumption. This is given that UK has one of the highest water and energy demands in Europe which needs to be addressed according to the Committee on Climate Change (CCC). Smart homes technology holds a current perception that it is principally used by “tech-savvy” users with larger budgets. However, smart home technology can be used to control water, heat and energy in the entire house. This paper investigates how smart home technology could be effectively utilised to aid the UK government in meeting climate change targets and to mitigate the environmental impact of a home in use towards reducing carbon emissions.Design/methodology/approachBoth primary and secondary data were sought to gain insight into the research problem. An epistemological approach to this research is to use interpretivism to analyse data gathered via a semi-structured survey. Two groups of participants were approached: (1) professionals who are deemed knowledgeable about smart home development and implementation and (2) users of smart home technology. A variety of open-ended questions were formulated, allowing participants to elaborate by exploring issues and providing detailed qualitative responses based on their experience in this area which were interpreted quantitatively for clearer analysis.FindingsWith fossil fuel reserves depleting, there is an urgency for renewable, low carbon energy sources to reduce the 5 tonnes annual carbon emissions from a UK household. This requires a multi-faceted and a multimethod approach, relying on the involvement of both the general public and the government in order to be effective. By advancing energy grids to make them more efficient and reliable, concomitant necessitates a drastic change in the way of life and philosophy of homeowners when contemplating a reduction of carbon emissions. If both parties are able to do so, the UK is more likely to reach its 2050 net-zero carbon goal. The presence of a smart meter within the household is equally pivotal. It has a positive effect of reducing the amount of carbon emissions and hence more need to be installed.Research limitations/implicationsFurther research is needed using a larger study sample to achieve more accurate and acceptable generalisations about any future course of action. Further investigation on the specifics of smart technology within the UK household is also needed to reduce the energy consumption in order to meet net-zero carbon 2050 targets due to failures of legislation.Practical implicationsFor smart homes manufacturers and suppliers, more emphasis should be placed to enhance compatibility and interoperability of appliances and devices using different platform and creating more user's friendly manuals supported by step-by-step visual to support homeowners in the light of the wealth of knowledge base generated over the past few years. For homeowners, more emphasis should be placed on creating online knowledge management platform easily accessible which provide virtual support and technical advice to home owners to deal with any operational and technical issues or IT glitches. Developing technical design online platform for built environment professionals on incorporating smart sensors and environmentally beneficial technology during early design and construction stages towards achieving low to zero carbon homes.Originality/valueThis paper bridges a significant gap in the body of knowledge in term of its scope, theoretical validity and practical applicability, highlighting the impact of using smart home technology on the environment. It provides an insight into how the UK government could utilise smart home technology in order to reduce its carbon emission by identifying the potential link between using smart home technology and environmental sustainability in tackling and mitigating climate change. The findings can be applied to other building types and has the potential to employ aspects of smart home technology in order to manage energy and water usage including but not limited to healthcare, commercial and industrial buildings.

Reducing carbon emissions through improved household energy efficiency in the UK

2002 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Ekins ◽  
Andrew Russell ◽  
Charlie Hargreaves
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Household Energy ◽  
The Uk

Mitigating climate change in the building sector

Facilities ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 32 (7/8) ◽  
pp. 342-364 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick T.I. Lam ◽  
Edwin H.W. Chan ◽  
Ann T.W. Yu ◽  
Wynn C.N. Cam ◽  
Jack S. Yu
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Emissions Trading ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Facilities Management ◽  
Building Sector ◽  
Comprehensive Overview ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
The Uk

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate how unique features of built facilities would affect the application of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions trading, and to explore what adaptive measures may be taken for emissions trading to be applied to the built environment. Emissions trading is a financial tool to encourage GHG emissions reduction in various industries. As the building sector is responsible for a large amount of GHG emissions, it is valuable to explore the application of emissions trading in built facilities. Design/methodology/approach – The analysis is based on a comparative study reviewing the current emissions trading schemes (ETSs) in Australia, Japan and the UK covering the building industry, and to evaluate the approaches adopted by the schemes to tackle the problems related to buildings and facilities management. Findings – The research findings reveal that the small energy savings of individual building units, the large variety of energy-saving technologies and the split incentives and diverse interests of building owners and tenants would be the barriers hindering the development of emissions trading. To overcome these barriers, an ETS should allow its participants to group individual energy savings, lower the complexity of monitoring and reporting approaches and allow owners and tenants to benefit from emissions trading. Originality/value – This article provides a comprehensive overview of the current emissions trading practices in the built environment. Besides, it raises the attention and consciousness of policymakers to the need that building characteristics and facilities management should be taken into consideration when designing an ETS for the building sector.

scholarly journals Energy efficiency, resilience to future climates and long-term sustainability: the role of the built environment

2010 ◽  
Vol 368 (1914) ◽  
pp. 1083-1089 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Energy Security ◽  
Sustainable Consumption ◽  
Existing Buildings ◽  
The Uk

Just under half of all energy consumption in the UK today takes place indoors, and over a quarter within our homes. The challenges associated with energy security, climate change and sustainable consumption will be overcome or lost in our existing buildings. A background analysis, and the scale of the engineering challenge for the next three to four decades, is described in this paper.

A ticking time bomb? Liverpool declares a climate emergency: What next?

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 169-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jasbinder Ghag
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Local Level ◽  
City Council ◽  
Ice Caps ◽  
Net Zero ◽  
Key Stakeholders ◽  
Uk Government ◽  
The Uk

The UK government has set a new legally binding target under the Climate Change Act 2008. It now aims to cut carbon emissions to net zero by 2050. This opinion considers whether carbon emissions can really be reduced in practice at the local level in the UK, and uses Liverpool City Council as a case study example. It argues that without coordinated action by various people within the council, between its respective departments, other authorities, organisations, key stakeholders and residents the new target is very unlikely to be met. It also highlights the fact that notwithstanding this, the ice caps are actually melting even faster than even the scientists had predicted and that time is actually running out. It argues that radical action is what is needed and that it is needed now.

scholarly journals IAQ Improvement by Smart Ventilation Combined with Geothermal Renewable Energy at nZEB

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Javier M. Rey-Hernández ◽  
Ana Tejero-González ◽  
Eloy Velasco-Gómez ◽  
Julio F. San José-Alonso ◽  
Francisco J. Rey-Martínez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air Quality ◽  
Indoor Air ◽  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Geothermal Energy ◽  
Ventilation System ◽  
Energy Systems ◽  
Building Sector ◽  
Zero Carbon

The building sector has the responsibility of being a generator of high carbon emissions, due to inefficient energy consumption in the last decades. For the European Union (EU) and the building sector, this pollution has generated a great impact and concern, establishing objectives in sustainability and energy efficiency in the short term. The EU, committed to energy sustainability, has established several guidelines, aiming at reducing carbon emissions. For this reason, European directives have been published to increase energy efficiency and sustainability in buildings, with EPBD 2018/844/EU being the most up-to-date regulation. This directive mainly focuses on reducing carbon emissions and increasing the efficiency of energy systems in buildings, but it also refers to the importance of establishing indoor air quality indices and smart management of ventilation systems. Before this directive was published, many of the implemented ventilation strategies did not consider the indoor air quality (IAQ) in their scope of established comfort parameters. Therefore, this study analyses the performance of the ventilation system, controlled smartly to cover the demand and the established IAQ rates via CO2 ppm, through renewable geothermal energy systems. This study has been carried out at the LUCIA building, a near Zero Energy Building (nZEB), which belongs to the University of Valladolid, Spain. This building stands out for being one of the most sustainable buildings in the world, according to LEED certification, ranking as the most sustainable building in the northern hemisphere. This building to study is equipped with cutting-edge energy systems, with zero carbon emissions. Several parameters have been analysed (air speed, enthalpy, air flow, temperature, humidity, kWh, climate data, etc.) enabling an energy optimisation of the combined systems. All the monitoring data obtained by the smart management have been analysed, providing favourable outcomes, due to the establishment of IAQ levels, according to the EPBD 2018/844/EU. After this study, the smart management of ventilation combined with removable geothermal energy can be exported as a strategy to reach the established IAQ levels through zero carbon systems.

IMPROVEMENT OF ENERGY SAVING AND ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN BUILDINGS AND RESIDENTIAL HOUSES IN THE KYRGYZ REPUBLIC

2019 ◽  
pp. 3-17
Author(s):  
Turatbek Kasymov
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Energy Saving ◽  
Energy System ◽  
Environmental Indicators ◽  
Kyrgyz Republic ◽  
Technical Standards ◽  
Insulating Materials ◽  
Increase Energy Efficiency ◽  
State Construction ◽  
The Government

This article reviews energy consumption in the Kyrgyz Republic economy, environmental indicators and strategies to further develop the national fuel and energy system to ensure energy efficiency and energy saving. An existing situation in energy efficiency of buildings in the country is described. Secondary legislation and by-laws approved by the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic as well as several technical standards, norms, methods and guidelines approved by the order of the State Construction Agency of the Kyrgyz Republic are presented. Applying modern insulating materials are suggested as possible solutions to increase energy efficiency and energy saving. The advantages of EPS-beton in comparison with other thermal insulation materials are discussed and foreign experience of use of EPS-beton products in increasing energy efficiency of buildings is presented.

scholarly journals Energy efficiency behaviour in the built environment—an assessment of current evaluation practices in the Nordic countries

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Johansson ◽  
Niko Gentile ◽  
Lena Neij
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Environmental Psychology ◽  
Behavioural Change ◽  
Nordic Countries ◽  
Potential Contribution ◽  
Evaluation Practices ◽  
Evaluation Approach ◽  
Research Perspectives ◽  
Behavioural Aspects

AbstractBehavioural change is expected to play a significant role in the transformation to a more energy efficient built environment. Despite this, current evaluation practice of interventions often overlook behavioural aspects in their ambition of advancing our knowledge on transformative change. Moreover, little attention is paid to how different research perspectives on human behaviour can complement each other in providing a broader scope and deeper understanding of behavioural change. In this study, we acknowledge this gap, and assess the current evaluation practices on behaviour. The focus is on energy efficiency in the built environment in the Nordic countries, and evaluations undertaken by researchers. The assessment shows that the Nordic evaluations apply a variety of disciplinary approaches, but have only to a limited extent addressed a psychological understanding of individual behaviour and behavioural change. We analyse and discuss the potential contribution of environmental psychology in strengthening a cross disciplinary evaluation approach. In all, the results indicate the value of also adding environmental psychology, to provide a stronger cross disciplinary understanding of behavioural change, and the need to coordinate and combine evaluations departing from different disciplinary approaches, to improve understanding of the transformational process.

Static grid carbon factors – Can we do better?

2021 ◽  
pp. 014362442199196
Author(s):  
Jamie Risner ◽  
Anna Sutherland
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Emissions ◽  
Regional Analysis ◽  
Electricity Consumption ◽  
Carbon Intensity ◽  
External Temperature ◽  
Building Regulations ◽  
Calculation Methodology ◽  
Alternative Methodology ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact

The average carbon intensity (gCO2e/kWh) of electricity provided by the UK National Grid is decreasing and becoming more time variable. This paper reviews the impact on energy calculations of using various levels of data resolution (half hourly, daily, monthly and annual) and of moving to region specific data. This analysis is in two parts, one focused on the potential impact on Part L assessments and the other on reported carbon emissions for existing buildings. Analysis demonstrated that an increase in calculated emissions of up to 12% is possible when using an emissions calculation methodology employing higher resolution grid carbon intensity data. Regional analysis indicated an even larger calculation discrepancy, with some regions annual emissions increasing by a factor of ten as compared to other regions. This paper proposes a path forward for the industry to improve the accuracy of analysis by using better data sources. The proposed change in calculation methodology is analogous to moving from using an annual average external temperature to using a CIBSE weather profile for a specific city or using a future weather file. Practical application: This paper aims to quantify the inaccuracy of a calculation methodology in common use in the industry and key to building regulations (specifically Building Regulations Part L – Conservation of Fuel and Power) – translating electricity consumption into carbon emissions. It proposes an alternative methodology which improves the accuracy of the calculation based on improved data inputs.

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