Perspectives on “Being Carbon Neutral”
With the inevitable climate change crises profound around the world, carbon neutrality has become a necessity in all aspects of life. It has been a sensitive subject to ponder upon and all industries to adapt, to being more serious and adapting to carbon neutral strategies.
The construction Industry has been fairly responsible for about 30% of the total emissions around the world to contribute to the total GHG Emissions. It also consumes about 32% of all calculated energy usage and it is likely to double by the year 2050 (Buildings and Construction, 2020).
Therefore, it is fairly mandatory for the Industry to necessarily consider carbon-neutral strategies and be responsible.
Looking into the future, considering the likelihood of doubling GHG emissions by the construction industry, it is quite a necessity of the hour to take care of. Climate change is not only going to affect the atmosphere but also, all beings of existence, especially human beings. Climate change will affect lifestyle, increase discomfort and also question livability in the conditions. It is a necessary role being architects, planners or researchers to focus on mitigation strategies alongside keeping an eye on increased carbon emissions and controlling them. (Sharma, 2022)
There have been formulated models of climate accepted by IPCC which suggest the change of climate over the years, also it has suggested the result in extremely unpredictable climatic conditions like heat waves, more unlikely precipitation etc. But the question always has been how this could be delayed by adaptation to strategies to reduce these emissions. But now the question also has arrived, if these signs of extremes in climatic conditions persist, is the construction Industry ready to mitigate it? So, the need of the hour is not only to reduce emissions by the industry but also mitigate without much energy consumption and emit more GHG and these two factors will always go hand in hand, like two sides of a coin.
The vision for controlling GHG emissions in the Industry is perceived differently in different parts of the world. And each corner of the world has its own narrative. But the most obvious factors which are contributors to such narratives are Climate, topography, Location, altitude etc.
The Different Narratives
To implement carbon neutral strategies every country and every other place has come up with their own set of adaptational strategies according to their feasibility and other factors impacting the same.
Being carbon neutral has different layers added to it not only adapting strategies through planning but also sensible policy making, Adapting and implementing those policies for change. An Architect is responsible for being sensible to instigate the implementation of strategies for sustainable construction or a planner is equally responsible for bringing change and taking more greener decisions like making transportation sustainable on a much wider scale. Moreover, these layers are interconnected. And to move towards carbon neutrality, these layers undoubtedly should be at par and have good coordination.
The layers belong to an ecosystem and can be termed as very crucial layers for carbon neutrality.
Carbon-neutral strategies usually tend to be different for different countries.
For instance, some countries tend to focus on the vernacular style of architecture, mostly earth, mud or locally available bamboo architecture and bend towards focusing more on the construction phase. And the style of architecture works better for the ultimate goal of providing thermal comfort and attaining sustainable goals, considering the climate and other factors.
But for other countries globally, a more computed method of accessing and attaining sustainability could be a better uptake. (La Roche, 2020).
However, Carbon neutrality In terms of a building is again based on the operational phase
and the construction phase. The operational energy usage or the functional phase of a building is often calculated to have much more emissions than the construction phase.
Implementing carbon neutral Design strategies comes with implementing it throughout the life cycle of a building. Strategies for carbon neutralisation in the life cycle, and its implementation is very crucial as carbon emissions have to be cut down as modestly as possible. This includes from the construction phases to the demolition phases.
But again, this has to be tackled differently by different parts of the world and at dissimilar precincts.
Considering most European cities, with a large number of old building stocks compared to newer constructions, the goal is to refurbish and also at the same time try and achieve sustainable goals for them as well. And the aim for them was to pick up on emphasising reducing emissions during maintenance, operation and refurbishment (Yang, 2011).
However, on the other side of the world, for a developing nation like India, the focus was on the newer construction and the newer areas of the cities that were growing to become carbon neutral and adapt accordingly.
But, Since all countries, to an extent of minimum or maximum depending, contain old and newer building stocks, it has become extremely crucial to give importance to both and act accordingly to pull up carbon neutral strategies.
Though the priorities to start with might differ, the goal would remain the same and push all building stocks to a much greener future by inducing carbon-neutral strategies into them.
Strategising Carbon Neutralisation into Design
As the saying goes, “Form follows Environment” (By Skanska)
As the beginning phases go for a project, form and function are the crucial elements a design starts from.
Form/ Conceptual phase- In the conceptual stages itself even for form finalisation, implementing Design strategies would play a major role. Form optimization can have a major role to play in the carbon footprint of a structure. And to take care of final emissions, it’s often necessary to start from the initial stages, right from the conceptual stages.
To make a design carbon neutral, even making the form best to support it, would contribute greatly. Also, orientation greatly matters.
Perceptive spatial panning- Responsibility for spatial planning is also needed to be sensitive and be open and receptive to carbon-neutral strategies in terms of choosing materials and placement of spaces for a good amount of sunlight and implementation of probable passive cooling techniques considering the area of construction.
Materials are however calculated in terms of embodied carbon. In a necessity to reduce carbon emissions, locally available materials could be a boon, again calculating and knowing the EPDs for each of the materials are important.
Operational Energy- It is the stage where the structure starts its operational phases, the clients move in, but the responsibility does not disappear, as the Building/structure will be functional until its demolition phases of about 50 years or so. Therefore, even the idea of implementing carbon-neutral strategies for its operational phases is important. This could be done to a great extent by taking care of the HVAC system. Making the building use less energy and depend more on passive sources.
All factors are interlinked and tend to be part of an ecosystem of elements which are interconnected, and therefore each of them will largely impact the other. It has been extremely crucial to take care of each one of the factors and stages the project is associated with and induce all stages with carbon-neutral strategies.
The inclination of a project towards its journey to being carbon neutral and its accomplishment has a record which is displayed by different rating systems. Some define these projects as NZEB, while others result in powerhouses and similarly it also applies to many neighbourhoods. These neighbourhoods have the capability of multiplying into the city scale.
These accomplishments have become pretty much mandatory for the construction Industry, thinking about the future to come and Building a better tomorrow, mitigating climate changes, which is going to be inevitable, though could be delayed.
References:
- Sharma, N. (2022) Impact assessment and adaptability of a building within a SPEN in a Changing Climate: Robustness of BEP systems in terms of future climate, a study on the impact of climate change using a future climate model. Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
- Mohammad Hosseini, Kavan Javanroodi, Vahid M. Nik (2022) “High-resolution impact assessment of climate change on building energy performance considering extreme weather events and microclimate – Investigating variations in indoor thermal comfort and degree-days,” Sustainable Cities and Society, 78.
- La Roche, P. M. (2020) Carbon neutral Architectural Design. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. doi 10.1201/b22192.
- Yang, N. K. &. (2011) “Long-term management of building stocks,” Building Research and, 35(4), pp. 351–362.
- Francesco Goia, L. F. A. A. G. (2015) “The ZEB Living Laboratory at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology: a zero emission house for engineering and social science experiment,” in Passivhus Norden |Sustainable Cities and Buildings. Copenhagen.
- Nair, N. Eugene Pandala- 10 Iconic Projects, Rethinking The Future. Available at:https://www.re-thinkingthefuture.com/know-your-architects/a1630-eugene-pandala-10-iconic-projects/ (Accessed: July 15, 2023).
