Background
Buildings are currently responsible for 39% of global energy related carbon emissions: 28% from operational emissions, from energy needed to heat, cool and power them, and the remaining 11% from materials and construction[1]. As building regulations improve to drive more energy-efficiency in buildings and as more of the world’s energy sources move over to renewable energy, the carbon from emissions linked to the operational phase of buildings will decrease and the carbon linked to the materials and construction will become the major part of the building’s footprint. Actions are therefore needed to ensure there is a drive to reduce carbon at all stages of a building’s life cycle.
How to reduce embodied carbon
First, it is imperative to fully assess the carbon footprint of a building throughout its life cycle. This means conducting a whole life carbon assessment at the building level. The building level assessment should include materials, construction, transport of materials, operational impact and end-of life considerations.
Based on a full assessment, it is possible to plan to reduce a building’s carbon footprint[2]. Kingspan believes that it is important to create the right policy framework that addresses the embodied carbon of materials used to create a building without having a negative consequence on the building’s in-use carbon impact and, as a consequence, its whole life carbon footprint.