GREEN MATTERS
CIBSE methodology for embodied carbon in building services
Embodied carbon is increasingly important in building services design. Dr Anastasia Mylona, head of research at the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE), outlines a calculation methodology that is rapidly being adopted around the globe.
T
here is a growing awareness of the need to lessen the environmental impact of the built environment and to accelerate progress towards achieving net
zero carbon.
Building services and air conditioning engineers have been at the forefront of eff orts to reduce operational carbon emissions in buildings through improvements in the design, specifi cation and optimisation of building services. Until recently, the focus has been on minimising the amount of energy used and consequently carbon emitted during the in-use phase of a building, mostly ignoring emissions relating to the rest of a building’s life cycle. Now, with the publication of Technical Memoranda 65 Embodied carbon in building services: A calculation methodology, CIBSE is leading the way in enabling engineers and others to consider the carbon embodied in MEP equipment to further reduce a scheme’s impact on the environment. Historically, increasingly strict energy regulations combined with improvements in plant and equipment effi ciency has resulted in a steady decline in the amount
28 July 2023 •
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of energy used in the operation of buildings. This decline has accelerated more recently with the increased focus on the electrifi cation of buildings and the decarbonising of the electrical grid. Consequently, the energy used in the manufacture and assembly of building services systems in the fi rst place is becoming increasingly signifi cant. It is counterproductive to design a system that has minimal operational carbon emissions if the energy used to build that system in the fi rst place is excessive. The term whole life carbon emissions refer to a building’s
operational and embodied carbon emissions. Operational carbon is carbon emitted by a building in-use while embodied carbon includes emissions from the materials and systems used to in construction of the building, such as those associated with the extraction of materials, their manufacture, repair, disassembly and even their disposal at the end of life. Unlike operational energy, embodied energy savings have an immediate impact on a building’s whole life carbon, and they are independent of the occupant’s behaviour.
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