> commonplace on large projects. Here, small groups sustainability and a design way of life in 2020. From
of concept designers work together to develop carbon- the perspective of 2020, it is abundantly clear that
critical building solutions, with barrier-free access to the end-game was to reduce GHG emissions in an
a ring of experts. The BS engineer has evolved as a key affordable way but without other compromises.
player and contributor in this process, with a strong As early as 2009, Estidama (UAE BEAM) was
understanding of energy and carbon flows, and a good setting operational emission targets in kgCO2e/
appreciation of building physics. sqm/y; so it became clear that we all had to start talking
a new language – the language of carbon. From an
Doing sustainability engineering point of view it was straightforward to
We do not talk about sustainability any more, we just convert to carbon equivalents, be we needed more –
do it. Looking back over the years, the sustainability we needed to think and plan in carbon from day one
learning curve was unfortunate. The concept of of a design.
sustainable development was introduced by Bruntland Many carbon tools and initiatives were soon
in 1987, and for some considerable time there was developed, and by 2015 the whole building design
very little global impact on building design. In 2009, industry was using carbon as the primary metric.
design professionals still all had their own definitions Of course, carbon alone was not enough, and the
of sustainability that were mostly to do with their area secondary metric became ‘quality of life’ and the tertiary
of expertise, and rarely holistic. metric ‘value’. By 2016 these became established and
Very few buildings were BEAM-certified, and, accepted BIM dimensions.
in general, sustainability was a complex three-
dimensional conundrum that was not properly A new profession
understood. However, by 2010 the industry wanted Interestingly, 10 years ago the government initiatives
to change and was seeking the best way forward. It that stimulated the transition to the low-carbon
became clear that building construction professionals economy did not address or provide a direct target
needed to concentrate their efforts on carbon-critical for a building’s embodied carbon emissions. These
design, and this is what happened. are the emissions associated with the construction,
It became clear
Interestingly the focus shifted directly to CO2 as refurbishment and demolition of buildings. They can
that building the non-CO2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were be represented in an average annual consumption,
construction
already being cut significantly. This put the challenge thus accounting for component durability and
right in the lap of the energy suppliers and consumers; allowing direct comparison – and even trade-off – with
professionals
and, with about 40 per cent of global emissions being operational carbon emissions during the design. Had
needed to associated with buildings, there was a big role for the we missed a trick?
concentrate
BS engineer in the transition. In 2010 annualised building embodied carbon
Design Integra provided a framework that allowed emissions were at around 20 per cent of the operational
their efforts on
all sustainability initiatives to be included, and carbon- emissions, and were too much trouble to take on then.
carbon-critical critical design (CCD) has now become the proxy for However, as we now know, low-carbon buildings have
design, and
had increasing levels of embodied carbon. With such
sweeping reductions in operational emissions, the
this is what
embodied carbon is now the focus of attention and
happened is forcing us to move towards more durability and
minimalism in buildings.
We also now know that carbon-critical buildings
do not work economically unless they have high-
performance passive envelopes (HPPEs), and achieving
this requires virtual modelling analysis, specialist
detailing expertise and product/installation validation.
These requirements, along with a global demand for
independent certification, spawned a wide building-
physics profession that now sits between building
services engineering and architecture, as a discipline
in its own right. Many building services engineers now
migrate to this sector.
However, we have seen that HPPE dramatically
reduces weather-related energy demand, and former
traditional issues such as orientation and location are
now not so relevant. Attention has shifted to internal
lighting and power gains, building services system
efficiency/effectiveness, and integrated renewables.
These have become the key areas of knowledge
development.
30 CIBSE Journal January 2010 www.cibsejournal.com
CIBSEjan10 pp28-31_2020.indd 30 18/12/09 12:39:44
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