UKGBC Seeks Feedback On Net Zero Whole Life Carbon Roadmap

Looking up at three buildings with trees in foreground A consultation has been launched by the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) for plans to better understand the scale of transformation and costs needed to curb carbon from across the entire construction sector.

Feedback around the possible impacts of cooling and heat demand on the energy needs of UK buildings is being sought to help steer a more holistic construction decarbonisation plan.

UKGBC has set out proposals to create a ‘Whole Life Carbon Roadmap’ strategy ahead of the COP26 International Climate Change Conference being held in Glasgow. This roadmap will look to better understand the scale of transformation needed across the supply chain to cut or offset carbon emissions during the design, construction, operation and maintenance of homes and other buildings.

Individuals and organisations working across all parts of the construction and building engineering sector are now being asked to offer their views on the UKGBC's current proposals and funding projections that it believes will be needed to ensure net zero buildings by 2050.

The consultation, which can be completed online, will be open until 15th August.

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Embodied Carbon

A major consideration for the plan will be to tackle embodied carbon emissions resulting from the construction, maintenance and demolition of buildings. This will include the sourcing and transportation of materials both domestically and internationally that are used on a construction project.

Issues of direct relevance within the roadmap to the cooling sector include the carbon emissions directly produced due to the use of fluorinated gases as refrigerant. F-Gas regulations, which have now been separately passed into both EU and UK law, are focused on reducing the environmental impact of refrigerant use by restricting the resulting levels of greenhouse gas emissions and supporting an industry-wide shift to alternative products.

The F-Gas regulations are currently undergoing a major review by the European Commission that has led to calls for the scope of the legislation to be extended to a wider number of refrigerants. Other recommendations have included introducing stricter training requirements.

Some refrigerant suppliers and cooling equipment manufacturers continue to argue that the important drive to cut the greenhouse gas emissions of refrigerant products must be considered alongside how different products impact the overall energy efficiency of a system.

Cooling Contribution

The roadmap will also consider emissions from functions such as cooling, heating as well as in powering ventilation and pump technologies in domestic and non-domestic buildings.

The UKGBC said during the launch of the roadmap consultation this week that its existing projections had not presently factored in the impact of ensuring buildings can adapt to a changing climate that may result in increased use for thermal comfort solutions such as heating and cooling systems.

Chris Pountney, an associate director for engineering specialists ARUP who contributed to the draft framework plans, said there had been some consideration of a possible shift to adopting cooling systems in new domestic properties, which is a small part of the picture!

Tom Spurrier, project lead with the UKGBC, said that the issue of thermal comfort and climate change adaptation was expected to be more of a consideration during the next stage of the roadmap.

This will likely touch on the role for air conditioning and integrated heat and cooling technologies, as well as non-mechanical alternatives to manage thermal comfort.