We spend almost 90% of our existence inside buildings. We live, work, study, shop and play sports in them. But to do this, we need energy not only to condition them for their operation but also to manufacture the materials necessary for their construction and to dispose of those that need to be replaced, for example. Low carbon solutions guarantee the new challenges set by the UN for 2030 and 2050.
We tell you some simple strategies that you can start applying low carbon solutions now in your projects.
Reasons and objectives of low carbon solutions in architecture
The need to design low-carbon buildings has been there since 2015. According to the agreed commitments, the buildings sector, responsible for 38% of the total greenhouse gas emissions emitted into our atmosphere, must be tightened and considerably reduced. More specifically, by 2030, with low carbon solutions, they must be reduced to 50% and by 2050. Yes, you heard right.
What does Net Zero Consumption mean?
Net Zero Consumption buildings (Net-Zero) are those that, thanks to highly efficient design and management, manage to compensate for the consumption necessary with the generation of renewable energy or the incorporation of plant mass so that the balance remains at 0 emissions. Positive Energy buildings follow the same criteria as the latter but generate more energy than consuming, hence the "positive" word.
The issue here is that there is a tendency to locate these consumptions in the use phase of the buildings and compute this balance only considering the operating consumptions. In reality, buildings designed as "low carbon" aims to do with the entire Life Cycle of the Building. Therefore, to have low carbon solutions, strategies must be proposed in phases where the most CO2 "escapes":
The objectives of low-carbon solutions in architecture
Although there is officially no minimum numerical figure for the amount of greenhouse gases that must be reduced in our buildings, we give you these factors:
A conventional building releases about 5,000 kg of CO2eq/m2 on average throughout its life cycle. An example of a low-carbon building has a footprint of only 10 kg of CO2eq/m2.
We already have tools to do this, so making low-carbon buildings is not such an arduous task. They are, in order from greatest to least positive impact:
- Taking passive design to the extreme.
- Apply energy efficiency.
- Install renewable energies.
- Incorporate a large surface area of tree mass.
- Pyramid design.
In short, low-carbon solutions in development are a holistic approach that involves modifying our practice to build a better future without compromising it. Done correctly, we must align all human teams (architecture, engineering, manufacturers and builders) with technological teams to reduce mass air pollution as much as possible.
Essential 4 Strategies to Generate Low Carbon Solutions
Low Carbon Buildings (LCB) are precisely a part of low-carbon solutions designed with the reduction of CO2 emissions always in mind. To reduce the Carbon counter in your projects, we suggest you practice these general strategies with a high positive impact. As you can see below, it is not simply a matter of increasing the photovoltaic installation surface on the site, but relatively more comprehensive implementation options.
Carefully select the layout.
The so-called "genius of the place" gives us many clues about how to act on the site to reduce unnecessary CO2 consumption before drawing any line on paper. For example, conscientiously study the topography and the immediate landscape, possible runoff, and pre-existing fauna, solar radiation (for solar gains and the installation of renewable energy), shadows cast from other buildings, and the wind.
Preserving the pre-existing vegetation and integrating it into the project is essential as long as it is viable for construction. It is also highly recommended to install green roofs, where nature can continue after the structure on the site.
Incorporates construction materials with low environmental impact
This factor has recently been in the spotlight of the low-carbon solutions sector: construction materials have an exorbitant embedded energy. To reduce the Carbon footprint, you must make a selection of materials in your project:
- Whose production/manufacturing is as local as possible to the site?
- Be recycled or recyclable (especially substitutes for Portland cement), durable and as natural as possible.
Assemble instead of formwork.
Any work and management methodology that has to do with industrialized or off-site construction considerably reduces the waste of materials and optimizes their use to what is strictly necessary. Therefore, assembling industrialized components on site is much more efficient and reduces environmental impacts on the site's surroundings by not having to discharge them into the substrate.
Run on renewable energy
This is the most well-known and widespread of all the proposed low-carbon solutions strategies. Installing renewable energy production systems in any of their forms is an excellent option to reduce the project's Carbon footprint. But always keep in mind to first reduce the energy demand and also to optimize the installation.
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