40 WAYS FORWARD
How UBC’s buildings are adjusting for a greener future Words by Rithikha Rajamohan Illustration by Olivia Bird
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BC is striving to curb the environmental impact of its infrastructure through a far-reaching action plan. Working to expand the university’s sustainability mandate into all areas of its operation, UBC adopted an ambitious new set of guidelines in 2018 called the Green Building Action Plan (GBAP). Acting as a roadmap of goals, targets and action items, the GBAP takes a holistic approach to sustainability. Its goal is to transform UBC’s buildings to make positive contributions to human and natural systems by 2035. Globally, infrastructure and construction account for 39 per cent of total carbon emissions, presenting one of the largest challenges and opportunities in mitigating the climate crisis. With over 415 institutional, residential and mixed-use buildings housing over 12,000 people on campus, UBC’s infrastructure is currently a significant contributor to its total carbon emissions. Of UBC’s total 37,941 tonnes of carbon dioxide released in 2018, 36,606 tonnes came from its buildings, according to the university’s 2018 Carbon Neutral Action Report. Over 70 per cent of this figure came from the university’s core buildings, mainly through their use of natural gas and light fuel oil for power and heating. These figures are an improvement over 2007’s 41,436 tonnes of building-related emissions, lowering emissions by 37 per cent over ten years. However, it’s still a ways away from UBC’s goal of a 67 per cent reduction of emissions since 2007 by 2020.
‘A TRIPLE-BOTTOM-LINE APPROACH’ Feeling that past sustainability efforts have been too narrow in scope, the GBAP takes a multi-disciplinary approach to achieve its vision of a net-positive impact campus. “We’re really looking at sustainability from a triple-bottom-line perspective, making sure there’s a social piece, environmental piece and economic time savings,” said Jennifer Sanguinetti, managing director of UBC Infrastructure Development. The plan focuses on eight synergistic and critical aspects of green building design: energy, water, materials and resources, biodiversity, health and well-being, quality, climate adaptation and place and experience. “These things aren’t intended to be isolated. They’re intended to be holistic in how we think about [them],” explained John Madden, director of sustainability and engineering at UBC Campus and Community Planning. When strategically placed, natural elements provide a number of benefits across social, economic and environmental fronts. Studies suggest observing nature has links to improved psychological well-being and cognitive function. They also influence the surrounding area’s micro-climate and natural processes, which can provide additional benefits in carbon sequestration, improved air quality, stormwater management and consequently, reduced cooling costs. A number of guidelines and metrics exist to help guide the integration of these components into new building designs. Among these are the passive house-certification standard and the
climate-ready building guideline. The climate-ready building guideline asks designers to integrate responses to challenges posed by future climate scenarios into their designs, while the passive house-certification encourages the use of passive solutions — those which require no energy inputs to function — in order to address these challenges. Historically, most Vancouver houses require heating due to the climate. However, with future temperatures expected rise to 2.5 degrees Celcius by 2050, a surge in cooling demand in the city is expected. “Our fundamental philosophy in this plan is to maximize those passive design measures in building-design optimization,” said Madden. In the context of future cooling-dominated circumstances, this means using passive designs that optimize window-to-wall ratios, using higher-quality insulation, orienting the building according to incoming solar radiation and using vegetation to increase shade. The university is also considering active energy solutions such as the use of solar panels. Evolve, an upcoming staff and faculty housing project, is expected to have solar-absorption technology integrated into its design. “There is very rarely only one aspect that we’re looking to improve,” explained Sanguinetti. “We look to improve seismic performance, energy performance and really fundamental to the university is the performance for the occupants in terms of teaching and learning spaces or research spaces,” she continued.
