Driver Trett Digest Issue 26 - Flipbook - Page 25
DIGEST | ISSUE 26
Figure 2. Product life cycle, by Operational Intelligence.
GREEN BUILDING CERTIFICATIONS
Some buildings may be independently accredited
in order to demonstrate their green credentials.
Schemes include BREEAM,5 LEED,6 and NABERS.7
These originate from green building certifications from
other building types, such as offices and are based on
achieving specific credits in order to reach a scoring
level. Although they use established and auditable
methodologies, in most cases the scoring does not
reflect the holistic environmental impact and focuses
on their energy efficiency rather than the significant
embodied impacts.
POLICY AND REGULATION
The high environmental impact of buildings has
not escaped the notice of policy makers. The EBC’s
International Review of Energy Efficiency in Buildings
for IEA EBC Building Energy Codes Working Group8
presents a review of international policies and
standards relating to building energy efficiency,
including voluntary schemes and suggests possible
future policies.
The World Green Building Council’s 'Net Zero Carbon
Buildings Commitment'10 calls on businesses,
organisations, cities, and subnational governments
to reduce (and compensate where necessary) all
operational and embodied carbon emissions within
their portfolios by 2030, and to advocate for all buildings
to be net zero whole life carbon by 2050.
It is important that policy also takes a holistic view of
environmental impact and does not promote perverse
incentives, e.g., support for waste heat recovery that
does not incentivise reducing the amount of heat
produced through energy efficiency.
Much of the work to improve the sustainability of
buildings is driven by economics (saving energy
saves operating cost and increases profitability
and competitiveness) as well as corporate social
responsibility pressures; however, there is also a
concern that unless the industry acts voluntarily, it will
face increasing legislative restrictions.
CONCLUSION
One way of influencing the market is through green
procurement practices, i.e., actively seeking or
requiring more sustainable solutions. The European
Commission has developed green public procurement
(GPP) criteria for different areas including buildings, in
recognition of the fact that Europe’s public authorities
are major consumers and so can influence the market
for goods and services.9
Sustainability needs to be embedded into all aspects
of buildings design, build and operation.
It is not enough to buy renewable energy or design
buildings with high efficiency – action is required by all
stakeholders throughout the value chain. In order to
make a real impact an understanding of key areas to
prioritise is important – not just token gestures.
5. https://bregroup.com/products/breeam/
6. https://www.usgbc.org/leed
7. https://www.nabers.gov.au/ratings/spaces-we-rate/
data-centres
8. International review of energy efficiency in Buildings
for IEA EBC Building Energy Codes Working Group,
Brocklehurst, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory 2022.
9. Development of the EU Green Public Procurement (GPP)
Criteria for Buildings, Server Rooms and Cloud Services,
Dodd et al, JRC 2020
10. https://www.worldgbc.org/thecommitment
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