What impact can existing buildings have on mitigating climate change? Where do building owners start with retrofit? Why is the building envelope the key? Are we going to reach our net zero carbon targets by 2050?
2. Rob Murchison
Intelligent Buildings
Craig Stevenson
AUROS Group
What impact can existing buildings have on
mitigating climate change?
Where do building owners start with retrofit?
Why is the building envelope the key?
How realistic is net zero for an old building?
Are we going to reach our net zero carbon
targets by 2050?
Agenda
8. Key Performance Indicators
Site Energy Use Intensity
Source Energy Use Intensity
Total Energy Costs
GHG Emissions/Operational Carbon
How is
net zero
measured?
9. Are we going to reach
our net zero carbon
targets by 2050?
We need to change our lifestyle
Building renovations only affect 0.5-1.0% each year.
It could take up to 65 years to recover the energy lost in demolition. and reconstructing a building
40% of carbon emissions come from building
47% of emissions come from buildings in the US, and this is by far the biggest sector
Buildings play a major part
Look at value
In the US, over 5.5 million buildings are over 50 years old.
66% of all electricity goes to supply the building sector.
Can’t renewable our way out of this problem
If you are going to lead a healthier lifestyle, where does one start?
Need to assess your current state.
Metadata, point-in-time data, versus continuous monitoring - pre-construction validation/ post-construction validation
Craig sits on the passive house board.
Aggressive load reduction
New building target ~14 kBTU/sf/yr
Existing building target of ~20 kBTu/sf/yr
Code-based construction 85-100 kBTU/sf/yr (national medians) 2013 - USA
Functional realistic…yes
There are four definitions of NetZero…which one should we shoot for?
Total cost
Source EUI - renewable strategy (divert energy from grid)
Site EUI - all energy within four walls
GHG/Carbon (can’t game)
Pre-renewable…then offset (REC, renewable,
NYC and Boston learned from the EU (CRREM)
If you don’t go down the path of incrementalism, you have a real shot
Cities such as Dublin and Brussels introduced Passive House criteria into building codes.
Encouraged by early leaders