Operational performance

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 effective solutions – is increasing rapidly.

The operation of offices remains a substantial source of operational carbon emissions. Despite lower occupancy levels due to the growing number of people working from home, office temperatures are controlled all year; warmed in winter and over chilled in summer. However, the British Council for Offices Guide to Specification (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 offer 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.