low carbon building
Carbon dioxide is widely acknowledged to be a major contributor to the “greenhouse effect”, causing a rise in the mean temperature of Earth. According to data from the UN Environment, the building sector is responsible for a full 39% of global energy-related carbon emissions – 28% from operations and 11% from materials and construction. Looking at timelines such as the 2050 Challenge, set out by the Paris Agreement, it is increasingly obvious that widespread carbon reduction is necessary.
Traditionally the construction industry has ignored embodied carbon because over a building’s lifetime, operational emissions can dwarf the embodied emissions associated with the materials and equipment of a building built to mainstream construction standards. Net-Zero and high-performance architecture changes this equation dramatically. Emissions are hugely amplified by when they occur – embodied carbon is greatly weighted, very much like the time value of money. Considering this, optimizing the energy efficiency of new buildings and maximizing the embodied carbon or carbon sequestration within our buildings are complimentary strategies critical to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The choice to retrofit an existing building or build new can have a great impact on the overall embodied energy associated with a project. These impacts played a large role in the development of the new Ecology Action Centre head office building.
terminology:
embodied carbon: carbon dioxide emitted during the manufacture, transport and construction of building materials, together with end of life emissions.
operational carbon: carbon dioxide emitted from ongoing building operation such as heating and cooling
