Green Building

As usual we check in with the Irish Green Building Council for a round up. We find that things are as busy as ever! Building a net zero Ireland

As we write this article, the UN Climate Conference, COP27, reminds us all again that urgent climate action is needed.

To address this challenge in the built environment, and after a year of extensive engagement with industry and other key stakeholders, the Irish Green Building Council (IGBC) recently launched a roadmap to decarbonise our sector.

Backed by carbon modelling data commissioned to UCD, ‘Building a Net Zero Ireland’ details a series of actions to accelerate the transformation of Ireland’s built environment.

Understanding the scale of the challenge

For the first time ever, the roadmap looks at all the emissions associated with Ireland’s built environment.

It shows that it accounts for 37% of our national emissions, the same as agriculture. 23% is associated with the energy we use to heat, cool, and light our buildings (operational emissions), with the remaining 14% being accounted for by embodied carbon.

Embodied emissions result from quarrying, transporting, and manufacturing building materials, in addition to constructing buildings and infrastructure.

Projections to 2030 show that the NZEB standard, the decarbonisation of the grid, and the national retrofit plan should lead to a significant decrease in operational emissions.

However, with 400,000 homes to be delivered in the next decade, these savings could be fully negated if we fail to consider embodied carbon emissions.

Pathway to zero

There is no question that decarbonising our built environment will be challenging but the sooner we start, the easier the transition.

The ‘Building a zero carbon Ireland’ roadmap shows a clear path towards decarbonisation of our sector.

An absolute priority should be to deliver on our retrofit goals, ensuring all retrofitted homes perform as per design.

This requires making energy renovation more affordable and accessible.

The rapid introduction of low interest loans (below 2%) for the ‘able-to-pay’ part of the market, and the review of the free energy upgrades programme to ensure all low-income households living in low BER homes are eligible are key.

Critical

Access to independent energy renovation advisors and the introduction of Building Renovation Passports (BPRs) are also critical to make retrofit more accessible.

BRPs are masterplans for retrofit which ensure that any renovation works are planned and implemented in a holistic and technically sound manner.

With 400,000 homes to be delivered by 2031, we need to consider how our existing building stock can be better used.

This approach is not only good for the environment, but also for people and the economy.

It is an opportunity to make our towns and city centres more vibrant, while restoring the cultural and aesthetic value of these areas.

Ensure

Finally, when we do build, we must ensure these homes and infrastructures are low carbon.

Since ‘what is not measured, cannot be improved’, a first step is to mandate Whole Life Carbon (WLC) measurement as already done in France, the Netherlands, and the Nordics.

Addressing WLC in our buildings, will require reviewing our building regs, in particular TGDs K and M to accelerate conversion of existing vacant space, and TGD B to address the limits placed on timber construction above 3 stories.

It also requires investing in low carbon materials, including biobased and circular construction materials.

Supporting the rapid decarbonisation of our built environment

The launch of the roadmap is only the beginning, not the end of the process.

In 2023, the IGBC will work in close cooperation with industry and key stakeholders to enable this transition.

Last year, we launched the Carbon Designer for Ireland tool, a free resource for early-stage estimates of the carbon impact of different material strategies.

In conjunction with the University of Galway, we are now working on a national life cycle assessment methodology and dataset to gather detailed information on live projects and understand just where we are now in our building practices and where we need to be going.

Like many certification schemes across Europe, the Home Performance Index, Ireland’s national certification scheme for quality and sustainable housing, is being updated to require WLC measurement.

Trained

Over 400 building professionals have already be trained in WLC assessment, and new training courses on this topic and circularity and construction will be launched in 2023.

Developments at EU level, such as the proposed revision of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) and the Taxonomy for sustainable activities, will also drive the decarbonisation of our sector.

Under the proposed revision of the EPBD, the life-cycle Global Warming Potential of all new large buildings will need to be calculated from 2027. The ever-growing use of the taxonomy means that addressing WLC will be more and more needed to access lower-cost finance.

The “Building a Zero Carbon Ireland” roadmap is available at www.igbc.ie.