Driver Trett Digest Issue 26 - Flipbook - Page 23
DIGEST | ISSUE 26
Organisations face increasing pressure from governments, investors,
customers, and the public to operate in an environmentally and socially
responsible manner. Investors may screen companies based on their ESG
(Environment, Social, Governance) performance. Greenpeace’s Clicking
Clean campaign highlighted the renewable energy content of major digital
platforms.
It has become commonplace for organisations to share their green
credentials; however, this can sometimes be ‘greenwashing’ rather than
transparent and verifiable reporting. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)
aims to provide transparency on how an organisation contributes/aims
to contribute to sustainable development and can form a framework for
defining a company’s sustainability strategy through the use of standards.
These are aligned with the SDGs. Other sustainability reporting initiatives,
such as the UN Global Compact and the World Business Council for
Sustainable Development’s (WBCSD) Green House Gas Protocol, are
available.
Many building types have a high and ever-increasing environmental impact
due to their high energy consumption and use of resources, and hence
discussions around sustainability tend to focus on this area. Organisations
commonly hold ISO 14001 certification. ISO 14064-1 specifies the
quantification and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions and removal.
When analysing emissions for accounting and reporting, these are
commonly categorised into three scopes:
Scope one
emissions
Direct emissions from sources owned or
controlled by the company, e.g., combustion of
fuel in boilers or vehicles, fugitive emissions
from refrigeration equipment.
Scope two
emissions
Indirect emissions from the generation of
purchased electricity, steam, heating and
cooling in activities owned/controlled by the
company.
performance is often used
as an excuse for poor energy
performance. In fact, there are
many ways to operate redundant
systems in a manner that is
efficient and does not increase risk.
One example is running all cooling
unit fans at a reduced fan speed
rather than running some at full
speed with others switched off. The
energy consumption is less (due
to the cube law), and there is less
wear on components operating
at lower speeds. In unit failure,
the remaining units are already
running and need to increase
their speed. Often, the designer
has focused on sizing equipment
for an entire load operation,
and adjustments are required to
optimise operation at part loads, as
this is likely to be a facility's typical
operational capacity.
Best practices for improving
efficiency are well-documented.
Most facilities apply several
of these practices in design
and operation, although there
continues to be room for
improvement in many cases; as
is commonly observed in various
building types, the performance
gap between how they are designed
to operate and how they operate in
reality.
RENEWABLE ENERGY
Scope three
emissions
All of indirect emissions relating to upstream
and downstream activities as a consequence
of activities of the company but not owned or
controlled by the company, e.g., use of sold
products/services.
Organisations may set commitments and targets, such as the Science Based
Targets initiative (SBTi)3, which includes commitments for energy efficiency,
clean energy, water, circular economy and circular energy systems.
ENERGY CONSUMPTION AND ENERGY EFFICIENCY
In recent years, the construction industry has become more aware of the
opportunities to improve energy efficiency and reduce energy consumption.
As energy prices increase (for example, due to recent geopolitical events
in Europe), the business case strengthens – saving energy saves operating
costs and increases profitability. However, there is a perception that saving
energy is incompatible with reliability. The requirement for high
3. https://sciencebasedtargets.org/about-us
It is not just the amount of energy
being consumed that is important,
but also how polluting that energy
is. Electricity generated from fossil
fuels has a much higher carbon
footprint than that generated from
renewables. Most buildings are
connected to a regional or national
electricity grid, so will be subject
to that local grid carbon intensity.
Two identical facilities in different
countries could have very different
environmental impacts due to their
energy supplies.4 More prominent
building owners are advertising
4. Minimising Buildings
Environmental Impact – Beyond
Energy Efficiency, Flucker et
al CIBSE ASHRAE Technical
Symposium 2017.
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