Next Zero

Many of us are passionate about sustainability in the built environment, and many are aware of the urgent need for action. But how often do we consider the implications of the sustainable interventions we are proposing for buildings?

Construction context

The UK is one of the largest contributors to global carbon emissions. The built environment is accountable for 35-40% of the UKs total carbon emissions, and while as built environment professionals we are part of this huge problem, it also means we can be a huge part of the solution too.

The UK is committed to being net zero carbon by 2050. Which will be no mean feat.

We are all working to reduce the carbon emissions of the built environment to help achieve these goals, but due to the speed at which we need change we need to make sure we are not rushing and missing potential opportunities. The carbon emissions of construction have been steadily increasing since the 1990s, largely due to the increase in construction projects, but also due to the use of same, age-old construction practices. We need to consider not only what we are building, but how we are building, changing our approach to new projects to focus on the re-use and refurbishment of existing spaces. Where things are new build we need to be considering innovative methods such as modular construction.

Sustainability currently

Currently, there is a general agreement that when designing sustainable buildings, we are looking to implement measures where buildings are highly insulated, with low carbon heat sources, and supplied by renewables energies. More and more we are also focussing on also low embodied carbon materials and smart buildings to monitor performance.

However, we need to be careful when just focusing on these elements to ensure we do not solve one problem and create another. We need a holistic approach where we consider the bigger picture of our proposals.

In a deadline driven industry, how often is the bigger picture considered?

There are wider implications for every intervention. Our world is interconnected, and every design decision has consequences in our delicate ecosystem.

While solar panels are good for reducing carbon emissions and are a great way of renewable energy generation, their manufacture requires silicon, heightening an ongoing silicon scarcity & the mining of precious metals for electric vehicle batteries, and other technologies, are surrounded by human rights concerns. Neither of the issues get considered in the carbon emission calculations, and hence tend to get lost in the bigger picture. We are not trying to say that these industry wide accepted solutions are bad, in fact they are the best possible solutions at hand at the moment, but we need to consider the wider implications of the design measures we propose, implications that go beyond carbon.

In this drive towards Net Zero, we at RCDC have been discussing what we call Next Zero. What are the next considerations in our road to net zero, that help us keep a holistic view of the potential wider implications?