Download IFAWPCA Study Award Presentation

Built Environment Solutions That
Meet Goals For Sustainability
Outcomes
Mike O’Connell and Chris Kane
BRANZ Ltd
Presentation to
International Conference on
Sustainability Engineering and
Science
8th July 2004
Overview
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Climate change and buildings
Sustainable design and construction
Strategies for climate change
Barriers and challenges
Opportunities and benefits
NOW Home
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Building for survival or disaster?
 “…to make no demands on nature that nature
cannot continue to answer, and to refrain from
squandering the limited resources whether of
material (or) biological capital, on which all future
generations, as well as ourselves, depend for
survival”
1972 - Alex Gordon, RIBA Annual Conference, UK
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Climate change impacts
Hailstorm (Sydney)
Flooding - Lower N Island 2004
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Business as usual?
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Or…sustainable construction?
 “Sustainable construction is the set of
processes by which the building and
construction industry operates and delivers
built assets to meet the aims of sustainable
development”
2004 – Rachel Hargreaves, Green Payback
 What’s required to reduce carbon?
 Technology exists for 80-90% less CO2
 …but constraints!
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Strategies/approaches to reducing
urban carbon
 Preferred Policy Package
 NEECS
 Adaptation (NZ Climate Change Office, BRANZ guidance)
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Kyoto Protocol dependent policies
Built environment policy (Construction Industry Council)
Urban Design Protocol (MfE)
Building Bill, NZ building code
 Sustainability inclusions
 Education - e.g. The Green Payback (BRANZ)
 Voluntary initiatives – e.g. NOW Home, BEACON Pathway
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Challenges
 Unsustainable status of existing building stock
 Key constraints
 Consumer attitude
 Lifestyle choice - avg. home 195 m2!
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‘Business As Usual’, silo thinking
Decreasing industry skill base
Lack of awareness, information dissemination
Slow uptake of renewables
Energy demand vs. supply
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Constraint – e.g. silo thinking
 …required collaboration with the client, his
professional and technical advisors, and the
building team undertaking to integrate design
factors for which they are normally separately
responsible. Decision thus becomes a concurrent
and not a sequential process
(Shepard 1971, cited in Cole 2004)
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Opportunities
 Sustainable buildings in practice
 New/retrofitted: 3-10 fold less energy use
 Proven financial benefits for low-carbon buildings
(Kats et al 2003)
 2% investment in ‘green’ features
 ►life cycle savings of 20% of construction costs
 …but can this translate to NZ?!
 What action can we take in NZ?
 Warm Home Energy Rating Schemes
 EBEX21®/CarboNZero®
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Ancient sustainability!
Barat, Yemen
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Sustainable buildings international
‘Passiv Haus’, Austria
Condé-Nast, 4 Times Square, NY
BedZED, UK
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Sustainable buildings - NZ
ZALEH, Wanaka
Paraparaumu library (image
courtesy Warren & Mahoney)
Strawbale house, Canterbury
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Benefits and co-benefits
 Benefits
 Reduced resource consumption, waste, etc
 Lower business/household operational costs
 Environment Canterbury EOC – energy savings
 Improved employee productivity, personal well-being
 ING Bank, Amsterdam – 15% less absenteeism
 Co-benefits
 Synergies with adaptation (natural cooling/warming)
 Improved local air quality – warmer houses vs. cleaner
emissions, ► reduced PM10, etc
 Health – improved building envelope
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Typical Kiwi Home
Built for the view,
not for the sun!
 Our home aspirations
 privacy, security, etc
 warm/cosy in winter, cool/open in summer
 the dream…affordability!
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The NOW Home
Built for the sun, not
the property lines!
 Prototype NOW Home - Waitakere City
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Construction consortium (includes BRANZ)
Design principles incorporated from start
Practice to make a difference
First stage of more involved project (BEACON Pathway)
Exemplary voluntary initiative in absence of tougher NZBC
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