How can we use existing buildings to reduce our carbon footprint?
When thinking about sustainability, one of the largest factors in how a building can either conserve or use energy comes from its operations, or what is required to operate and maintain the building (i.e.: air conditioning, plumbing, electrical, etc.)and how many greenhouse gases are emitted from these processes. As we know that the building and construction sector contribute a large amount of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, and because the greenhouse gas effect is the main cause of global warming, it is crucial to work to mitigate additional greenhouse gases that may come from the building’s operations once construction is complete.This is where the concept of Net Zero Operations comes from.
At its core, “net-zero” means the amount of greenhouse gas emitted is balanced out by the amount removed from the atmosphere, essentially canceling itself out. Because this definition is so broad, net-zero can be applied at many different scales and to a wide variety of things – we've all heard of huge companies, cities, or even countries pledge to achieve “net-zero” by some point in the future, typically over several years or even decades. Despite progress that’s been made by scientists around the world to create ways to remove carbon from the atmosphere to achieve “net-zero”, these technologies are typically still in the very beginning stages and not at all ready to be brought to a scale large enough to make a significant impact.
So it’s understandable why the term “net-zero” has gotten some criticism for potentially just allowing companies and countries to make huge pledges that they don’t need to – in fact, can’t – act upon in the now. However, what happens when we apply net-zero concepts at a smaller scale?
Our team dove into embodied carbon in the building and construction sector, which accounts for nearly 40% of global carbon emissions. This field starts and completes individual projects in the now, or at least within spans of a few years, rather than decades. We believe that this is an area where net-zero strategies can genuinely make a difference today. Through sustainable features like solar power, electric stoves rather than gas, and capturing and recycling greywater for a building’s landscaping, net zero operations can, and have, been achieved.
Another way to reduce emissions in a building comes from its design, using passive house strategies to take advantage of elements that don’t require active energy usage like building material, cross ventilation, site orientation, insulation and sun shading. Through this, the building will have less work to do to reduce its energy usage because the design elements already accounted for several aspects of it, meaning that energy usage associated with temperature control, air conditioning and more can be reduced as a result.
Now, within this context, it’s important to make a differentiation between truly net-zero emissions and net-zero operating emissions. A fully net-zero building would have to take into consideration the embodied carbon that comes with new construction, which includes all carbon emitted in the process of making, procuring, and transporting building materials, in addition to whatever was emitted from any demolition on a site. While this is the ultimate goal to strive for, funding restrictions and timelines common in affordable housing development can make achieving a fully net-zero project difficult.
Creating net-zero operating buildings means not only helping the planet, but also helping the communities that surround these buildings. Making buildings net-zero often results in cost savings during building operations, which can result in higher levels of affordability for a project. Further, we know that those most negatively impacted by the effects of climate change are underserved, under-resourced, lower-income, often BIPOC communities. Investing in affordable housing that prioritizes net-zero strategies can help reverse some of these negative consequences of historically racist policies such as redlining which caused this disparity in who climate change impacts the most.
Author
Erin Gleason
Erin oversees each stage of grant funding for Holos Communities, from application to reporting, and works closely with each team to find funding that furthers Holos Communities’s vision and projects.
You can read Erin’s full bio here.