5 minute read
Green Building
Most of the focus to date has been on addressing operational carbon – i.e., the emissions associated with the energy used to operate buildings (e.g., lighting and heating).
Buildings and construction activity account for 36% of greenhouse gases emitted in Europe.
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But they also account for half of raw materials used and more than 40% of solid waste produced on the continent.
Climate neutrality is hence not achievable without tapping the full potential of the sector.
Launched
In December 2020, the IGBC, alongside other European Green Building Councils, launched the #BuildingLife campaign.
The aim of the campaign is to develop national roadmaps to tackle the environmental impact of buildings across their lifecycle. This means looking at both operational and embodied emissions.
Embodied emissions result from mining, quarrying, transporting and manufacturing building materials, in addition to constructing buildings.
With an estimated half a million homes to be built in Ireland by 2040, this conversation needs to happen.
In fact, these 'embodied' emissions will be each year equivalent to bringing a new Moneypoint coalburning power station online.
ABOVE: Pat Barry, IGBC
Explore
The roadmap to be developed by the IGBC will explore policy and legal changes needed, including the role of public procurement.
It will also look at training and educational needs, and at developing tools and guidance documents for the industry.
The IGBC is already offering an introductory whole life carbon training course to help practitioners understand the methodology of life cycle assessment.
In 2021, with the support of EPA Green Enterprise and the Land Development Agency, we are launching a free cloud-based Carbon Designer tool to allow whole life carbon measurement.
The tool uses typical Irish assemblies for wall, floor, roof and foundations and generic data created specifically for Ireland.
The roadmap to address whole life carbon in the built environment will be released in Spring 2022. It is being developed with support from the Ikea and Laudes foundations.
Organisations interested in learning more or in being involved in its development should contact the IGBC.
Towards more sustainable homes and neighbourhoods
To support a more holistic approach to sustainability in the built environment, the IGBC developed the Home Performance Index.
This is Ireland’s first national certification for quality and sustainability in new residential developments.
The Home Performance Index goes well beyond the Building Energy Rating (BER).
It addresses all the environmental impacts of new homes, from the production of building materials, to biodiversity loss, water consumption, land use and flood risks.
It also encourages home builders to improve the health and wellbeing of homeowners, by improving daylight and acoustics, and minimising harmful chemicals such as radon and Volatile Organic Components (VOCs).
The Home Performance Index certification gives a third-party verified seal for financial institutions, procurers, homebuyers and developers. It is encouraging to see a growing number of investors are placing a high importance on sustainability credentials, such as the Home Performance Index.
The European Taxonomy Regulation should also impact investments in green homes in the coming years.
The taxonomy spells out detailed technical criteria to identify sustainable activities going beyond energy efficiency.
Home Building Finance Ireland (HBFI) have already launched a green loan product offering a discount of up to 0.5% on loans to home builders for developments certified with the Home Performance Index.
The HBFI Green Funding Product is the first Irish green financial product fully aligned to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and EU taxonomy regulation.
Scaling up energy renovation
The Climate Action Plan and Ireland’s Long-Term Renovation Strategy set very high targets for energy renovation.
Half a million homes must be retrofitted to a BER of B2 by 2030, and a third of the non-residential stock must be brought to a BER B by then.
These targets are critical in providing the certainty the industry needs. Nevertheless, increasing the depth and rate of energy renovation present significant challenges.
The IGBC is currently developing an energy renovation framework to support local authorities with their retrofit programmes.
The Framework will allow local authorities to track and measure the benefits of renovation works, from energy efficiency to tackling energy poverty and creating jobs. potential of their dwelling, including a roadmap, as well as grants and finance available.
This in turn, should allow them to better identify and share retrofit best-practice. It should also support much needed citizen engagement.
The Framework is currently tested by Dublin City Council, with additional feedback provided by Cork City, Kilkenny and Laois County Councils.
Developed as part of the H2020 Build Upon project, the Framework will be launched at the COP26 UN Climate Change Summit in November.
Many retrofit SMEs have attempted to scale up services, with the largest currently delivering up to 250 retrofits a year.
Individual suppliers lack the capacity to create a single digital place that links homeowners, suppliers and finance at scale. After extensive stakeholder engagement, the IGBC is proposing a digital platform and marketplace to connect homeowners with end-to-end services.
A first version of the website will be launched in September.
It will provide homeowners with information on the renovation
Building capacity within the industry
To support the industry in the transition to net-zero carbon, sustainable buildings, the IGBC has released new training courses.
These include an introductory whole life carbon training course and a green innovations webinar series focusing on innovative building materials and systems.
Other training courses available include LEED GA (Green Associate) and Home Performance Index Assessor.
Past webinars can also be accessed at any time on the IGBC learning hub.
Topics covered include nZEB, zero carbon buildings, circularity, indoor air quality, green building certification (e.g., LEED, BREEAM and WELL) and much more.
Beyond courses run by the IGBC, building professionals and construction workers can identify all energy renovation training courses that suit their needs in one click through the Build Up Skills Advisor application.
The app is available on Android and Apple mobile phones.
The fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 15) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is expected to agree in the autumn a Parisstyle agreement for nature.
To celebrate this crucial year for biodiversity, the IGBC launched a 'Nature and Biodiversity in the Built Environment' course mail in February. This course mail is made of a series of four informative, easy-to-read emails.
Conferences
Finally, the IGBC is hoping to cover all these topics at live conferences in the autumn. On 24 September, our Re-source conference will explore construction and circularity. Retrofit and building greener homes and neighbourhoods will be discussed at the Renovation Wave (15.10) and Better Homes (03.12) conferences.
Update: At time of writing the Climate Action Bill passed in the Dáil. It is currently before the Seanad.
