Low Carbon To No Carbon Living
environment needs to take.
Last year environmental concern reached a pivotal moment in the public eye with the combined actions of Greta Thunberg, the Extinction Rebellion, and the slew of environmental warnings driving governments across the world to declare climate emergencies.
The UK was no exception, putting into legislation in June 2019 that we would reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. For many this was a disappointing reaction to the large-scale issue of climate change, but when we consider the complexity of even the built environment's role into the equation, 2050 is a target that we will have to work hard at to achieve.
According to the UK Green Building Council, 42% of the UK's total carbon footprint was due to the built environment, and 22% was directly attributable to operational and embodied carbon emissions. Whilst these statistics paint a harrowing picture of an industry beyond saving, it proves that neutralising the built environment's carbon emissions could have a huge effect on the country's environmental impact as a whole. And we undoubtedly have the tools to start making these changes today.
As of this month, the London studio of Perkins and Will, in conjunction with Penoyre & Prasad, have committed to offering net-zero carbon in operation designs for all of our new projects at no additional cost to our clients – and part of this is going to be looking at structural solutions and materials.
Currently, the four billion tonnes of cement produced each year accounts for around 8% of global carbon dioxide emissions while steel generates between 7 to 9%, according to Chatham House and the World Steel Association respectively. Construction has a severely detrimental effect on our environment through the use of these materials and its time that we looked to alternative options for the answer. But when choosing materials for building it is essential that architects and developers have an in-depth understanding of their life cycle assessments and abilities to store carbon – known technically as carbon sequestration.
Using this analysis, timber should definitely be considered as the primary material in construction. In contrast to masonry, timber contributes the most to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Campaign group Wood for Good estimate that if we annually built 200,000 new homes, using wood, then we could store 3.81 million tonnes of CO2 every year.
Read the full new story straight from the Structural Timber Magazine HERE
