- Praktiska exempel
- Projekt söm soker samarbets partner
- Erfarenheter
- Goda exempel för närvarande
- Livscykelkostnader, LCC
- Hållbar ombyqqnad
Best practice today
1. Minska koldioxidutsläpp
The risk of global climate change is possibly the biggest environmental threat facing the global economy. Increasingly erratic weather and the possibility of permanent man-made climate change can destabilise national economies and result in parts of the world's population being marginalised socially and economically, whilst other parts may suffer noticeable changes to their standard of living, quality of life and disposable incomes, as a result of living in an environment which is less predictable and more subject to extremes. Around 52% of the UK's carbon dioxide emissions come from creating or using buildings, so the construction industry bears a considerable responsibility for taking action to reduce this impact.
- Energy efficiency can either be considered here, or under the heading of resource use. Either category is relevant! Providing more insulation, more efficient glazing, and introducing measures such as recovery of heat from waste water or air can have a major impact on the amount of energy needed to heat and light a building, whatever its use, and can provide financial savings as well as environmental benefits - not to mention creating a more pleasant environment in which people can live or work.
- Embodied energy is the energy which it takes to create the materials used in construction. Materials such as brick or concrete have a high embodied energy because the manufacturing process has a very high energy demand. However, offset against this must be the capacity for a material to retain heat, which will then be released back into a building. Timber, for example, has low embodied energy, but at the same time does not have the capacity on its own to act as a buffer against extremes of temperature - it needs to work with other materials to achieve this. It is therefore a question of working out what is the best combination of materials for a particular project.
- Renewable energy sources have an important part to play in reducing carbon dioxide emissions, as their emissions tend to be much lower than conventional energy supplies. There is a very wide range of renewable energy technologies that can be used in buildings, some of which may be more appropriate than others for particular projects. Capital costs of the majority of renewable technologies are still high at the moment, but as they become more widespread then costs will fall dramatically. In the UK, government grants under the Clear Skies scheme help to offset the initial additional cost. It should also be noted that revenue costs are very substantially reduced by introducing renewable energy sources.