Built Environment Solutions That Meet Goals For Sustainability Outcomes Mike O’Connell and Chris Kane BRANZ Ltd Presentation to Presentation to International Conference on Sustainability Engineering and Science 8 th July 2004

2 Overview  Climate change and buildings  Sustainable design and construction  Strategies for climate change  Barriers and challenges  Opportunities and benefits  NOW Home

3 Building for survival or disaster?  “…to make no demands on nature that nature cannot continue to answer, and to refrain from squandering the limited resources whether of material (or) biological capital, on which all future generations, as well as ourselves, depend for survival” Alex Gordon, RIBA Annual Conference, UK

4 Climate change impacts Hailstorm (Sydney) Flooding - Lower N Island 2004

5 Business as usual?

6 Or…sustainable construction?  “Sustainable construction is the set of processes by which the building and construction industry operates and delivers built assets to meet the aims of sustainable development” 2004 – Rachel Hargreaves, Green Payback  What’s required to reduce carbon?  Technology exists for 80-90% less CO 2  …but constraints!

7 Strategies/approaches to reducing urban carbon  Preferred Policy Package  NEECS  Adaptation (NZ Climate Change Office, BRANZ guidance)  Kyoto Protocol dependent policies  Built environment policy (Construction Industry Council)  Urban Design Protocol (MfE)  Building Bill, NZ building code  Sustainability inclusions  Education - e.g. The Green Payback (BRANZ)  Voluntary initiatives – e.g. NOW Home, BEACON Pathway

8 Challenges  Unsustainable status of existing building stock  Key constraints  Consumer attitude  Lifestyle choice - avg. home 195 m 2 !  ‘Business As Usual’, silo thinking  Decreasing industry skill base  Lack of awareness, information dissemination  Slow uptake of renewables  Energy demand vs. supply

9 Constraint – e.g. silo thinking  …required collaboration with the client, his professional and technical advisors, and the building team undertaking to integrate design factors for which they are normally separately responsible. Decision thus becomes a concurrent and not a sequential process (Shepard 1971, cited in Cole 2004)

10 Opportunities  Sustainable buildings in practice  New/retrofitted: 3-10 fold less energy use  Proven financial benefits for low-carbon buildings (Kats et al 2003) 2% investment in ‘green’ features 2% investment in ‘green’ features ►life cycle savings of 20% of construction costs ►life cycle savings of 20% of construction costs  …but can this translate to NZ?!  What action can we take in NZ?  Warm Home Energy Rating Schemes  EBEX21 ® /CarboNZero ®

11 Ancient sustainability! Barat, Yemen

12 Sustainable buildings - international Condé-Nast, 4 Times Square, NY ‘Passiv Haus’, Austria BedZED, UK

13 Sustainable buildings - NZ Paraparaumu library (image courtesy Warren & Mahoney) ZALEH, Wanaka Strawbale house, Canterbury

14 Benefits and co-benefits  Benefits  Reduced resource consumption, waste, etc  Lower business/household operational costs  Environment Canterbury EOC – energy savings  Improved employee productivity, personal well-being  ING Bank, Amsterdam – 15% less absenteeism  Co-benefits  Synergies with adaptation (natural cooling/warming)  Improved local air quality – warmer houses vs. cleaner emissions, ► reduced PM 10, etc  Health – improved building envelope

15 Typical Kiwi Home  Our home aspirations  privacy, security, etc  warm/cosy in winter, cool/open in summer  the dream…affordability! Built for the view, not for the sun!

16 The NOW Home  Prototype NOW Home - Waitakere City  Construction consortium (includes BRANZ)  Design principles incorporated from start  Practice to make a difference  First stage of more involved project (BEACON Pathway)  Exemplary voluntary initiative in absence of tougher NZBC Built for the sun, not the property lines!

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