FMJ.CO.UK ENERGY MANAGEMENT FOCUS
APRIL 2022 45
(2019) has recommended that these
temperatures be revised upwards from 22°c
to 24°c in summer.
In 2020 the worldwide market for building
insulation reached $28.3 billion, yet by 2028
this is predicted to surpass $38.4 billion.
And such growth could be even steeper
if restraints including fluctuating raw
material prices and a lack of workforce are
addressed. Where energy is needed within
buildings to heat or cool them, renewable
sources o er another way to reach net zero.
In the UK, panic among businesses and
consumers about rising energy prices
remains rife. This makes it imperative that
alternative, sustainable sources of energy
are brought online in greater volumes – in
terms of buildings, solutions such as heat
pumps and hydrogen (or part hydrogen)
boilers are entering conversation about
decarbonising the gas grid.
Smaller-scale solutions will also play
their part, be it switching to LED lighting,
installing hot water alternatives, educating
employees and residents, or even adopting
smart building management tools and
processes. These can include the use of
sensors to forecast and respond to varying
levels of building occupancy, and adjusting
heating, cooling and lighting output
accordingly.
Indeed, from what we are seeing on the
ground, it is clear that developers and
buyers are becoming increasingly keen
to leverage energy management, carbon
technology and renewables.
This is critical if the building sector is
to play its part in progressing towards
net zero, both from an embodied and
operational carbon perspective.
CONCLUSION
We know the road to net zero is going
to be a bumpy one. It’s a tough, but
worthy commitment. Buildings with poor
temperature controls, or older buildings
with poor fabric or insulation face various
hurdles. Older buildings particularly pose
various challenges when it comes to
sustainability.
Retrofit, refurbishment and conversion
all generate embodied carbon emissions
so the number of materials used, the
carbon content of these materials, and
how retrofit is carried out must be carefully
considered upon any project. The biggest
contribution that real estate makes towards
decarbonisation will come from improving
existing buildings, representing 80 per
cent of the national estate use by 2050.
Research in 2019 from Historic England’s
The Heritage Counts also showed that
demolishing a historic building and
replacing it with a new building can result
in greater carbon emissions by 2050. This is
due to the associated embodied carbon.
If we are to meet our national climate
change targets, then by 2030 all new
buildings must operate at net zero carbon –
and that means a radical change in the way
we approach their design.
Reducing demand is a big practical step to
take to reduce energy consumption. But we
should be encouraged that we have already
reduced CO2 in the UK by 30 per cent in
the past decade and achieved a huge
increase in general awareness by talking
and debating about it more. The ambition
of delivering better homes and buildings,
cleaner air, and unlocking investment
remains in sight. But it will only be reached
with genuine ambition and commitment.
This is where focus on operational carbon
enters the picture. Operational carbon is
the amount of carbon emitted during the
operational or in-use phase of a building,
which can include the use, management and
maintenance of a product or structure.
Currently, it accounts for 28 per cent of all
global greenhouse gas emissions, compared
to the 11 per cent stemming from embodied
carbon.
A brighter spotlight therefore needs to be
shone on operational carbon. The World
Green Building Council’s Net Zero Carbon
Buildings Commitment is a good example
to follow, as it factors in equal embodied
and operational carbon weighting into its
approach.
Its requirements (geared towards net
zero by 2030) are certainly bold. But they
represent the sort of ambition that is needed
to make meaningful progress.
“This requires deep collaboration
across the entire value chain,
and radical transformation in the
way buildings are designed, built,
occupied and deconstructed. It
requires new business models
that promote circularity, re-use of
buildings and materials, whole life
cycle thinking, high performance
operations, and ultimately a shi
away from fossil fuels.”
World Green Building Council, Net Zero Carbon
Buildings Commitment
TAKING OPERATIONAL CARBON
SERIOUSLY
It is estimated that some eight in 10 of the
buildings that will be standing in 2050 have
already been built, meaning any local,
national or international strategies to reach
net zero simply must factor in making our
current stock more sustainable.
This means that property developers,
owners, occupiers and policy makers must
determine the best means to improve the
energy performance of their buildings.
There are many ways this can be
approached, the most obvious being to
reduce the amount of energy required to
maintain optimum temperatures. Here,
investment in double (or even triple) glazing
and insulation solutions – two of the most
e ective solutions – is increasing rapidly.
The operation of o ices remains a
substantial source of operational carbon
emissions. Despite lower occupancy levels
due to the growing number of people
working from home, o ice temperatures are
controlled all year; warmed in winter and
over chilled in summer. However, the British
Council for O ices Guide to Specification