Sustainability Flashcards
Why is sustainability important in construction?
- construction has a huge impact on the environment, accounting for around 40% CO2 emissions
- hazardous waste arising from construction works can cause pollution, so it’s important to dispose of it appropriately
- Utilising methods such as lean construction can reduce waste on site
Can you name some of the key environmental issues that may be encountered within the construction industry?
- Sound pollution
- Dust pollution
- Noise pollution
- Use of chemicals
- Contaminated ground or water course
- Asbestos
What do we mean by sustainable development?
Meet the needs of the present (eg the project) without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs
What are the three types of sustainability?
- Environmental:
Preventing the impact on the environment by careful use of resources and ensuring we work to protect our environment - Economic:
Efficient use of resources and ensuring developments represent value for money - Social:
Ensuring developments are suitable for the wider community, eg library constructed next to university
What is the Paris agreement?
A global framework to avoid dangerous climate change; to limit climate change to 1.5 degrees
Under the agreement, each country is obligated to report on their contribution to mitigate climate change
What does the term ‘net zero carbon’ mean?
- not contributing to the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere
- achieving the balance between carbon emitted and carbon removed from the atmosphere
Are you aware of any legislation with regards to sustainability?
- Climate Change Act 2008
- Future Generations Wellbeing Act 2015
What approved document implements sustainability?
Approved document L: Conservation of fuel and power
What does approved document L: conservation of fuel and power, outline?
Sets out information about:
- limiting heat gains and losses
- air permeability and pressure testing
- insulation regulations
What sustainable design solutions are available to implement on buildings?
- PV panels
- Ground Source Heat Pumps
- Insulation
- SUDS
- Attenuation
- Green roofs
- Using sustainably resourced materials
What are SUDS?
Drainage systems that help control and manage the drainage of surface water
Can you provide some examples of SUDS?
- Permeable surfaces
- Attenuation basins or crates
- Rainwater gardens
What is a rainwater garden?
Managed the flow of surface water by planting in and around buildings
What is a U Value?
- Measures how effective a material is as an insulator
- Lower = better
How do photovoltaics work?
- Sunlight strikes PV panels and knocks loose the electrons from the atoms
- Positive and negative conductors capture electrons in the form of current
- Energy stored in batteries or immediately used
How does attenuation work?
- Water received from rainfall works through the attenuation crate that then slowly moves through a pipe to reduce the risk of flooding
How do ground source heat pumps work?
- Ground loop buried underground
- Fluid pumped around loop which naturally absorbs earths heat
- Liquid is compressed and goes through heat exchange
- Heat then extracted and transferred to heat pump
- Distributed round building
What is solar gain? And how can it be prevented in buildings?
Solar gain is the increase in temperature of a building due to solar radiation
It can be prevented by:
- Horizontal shading to glazing
- Limiting glazed areas
- Orientating glazing away from south
- use of reflective glazing panels
Can you name some sustainable design solutions assist with increased building efficiency?
- Solar panels: enables a building to generate their own electricity
- Green roof: looking after wildlife, and acts as an insulator to preserve energy
- SUDS: effectively manages surface water to reduce risk of flooding
- Rainwater harvesting: for reuse in toilets or landscape maintenance
How can a project design be influenced to be more sustainable?
Economic:
- use MMC or lean construction methods to reduce waste
- Tender through a framework which offers maximum OH&P and VFM through open book tendering
Environmental:
- Provide provisions for PV panels, green roofs and attenuation
Social:
- employ local people
- ensure everyone can access and use the building
How can considering various sites increase project sustainability?
- Use brownfield sites to avoid constructing on green field sites
- Construct with the provisions of providing public transport for access
How can considering a projects location contribute to being more sustainable?
- ensuring there is public transport access
- is it socially sustainable for the local community
How can considering materials help improve a buildings sustainability?
- MMC can reduce waste on site, eg bathroom pods
- Ensure materials are ethically sourced
- Source local materials to support the economy and reduce carbon emissions from transport
What measures does your company take to be sustainable?
- energy saving light bulbs and time sensors
- recycling bins
- promotes cycle to work scheme
- WFH opportunities to reduce travel
What methods of measuring sustainability in construction are you aware of?
- BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method)
- LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)
- SKA (developed by RICS, now transferred to SKA Ltd, for rating sustainable fitouts)
What is BREEAM?
- International scheme that provides independent third party certification for the sustainability performance of individual buildings
- Assessments take place at several stages of the RIBA POW, from design to completion and operation
- The system uses ‘credits’ to see how sustainable the building is
What kind of categories of construction would BREEAM assess?
- Energy
- Transport
- Water
- Materials
- Waste
- Land Use and Ecology
- Pollution
What are the key advantages of a BREEAM accreditation?
- Demonstrates building is sustainable
- Improved marketability for potential occupiers or owners
- Can demonstrate a reduction in operating costs
What are the BREEAM ratings?
- Outstanding (>85%)
- Excellent (>70%)
- Very good (>55%)
- Good (>45%)
- Pass (>30%)
- Unclassified (<30%)
What is Passivhaus?
- Performance based set of design criteria for very low energy buildings
- Basically, designed to keep buildings at a constant temperature to eliminate the need for heating and cooling
What is an Environmental Impact Assessment?
- Used to see how a proposed project or development would impact its surrounding environment
- The assessment would consider social, economic and human-health impacts of the proposed development
What is the SBEM tool?
- Simplified Building Energy Model
- it’s a government process that harmonises with Part L to calculate the energy performance of new buildings
- it can also be used to calculate EPC for building sale or rent
What does EPC stand for?
- Energy Performance Certificate
What does an EPC contain?
- Sets out the energy efficiency of a building using a traffic light system A-G (A being most efficient)
- Can provide an indication as to how much it will cost to heat and power the building
What is a display energy certificate?
Designed to show energy efficiency of public buildings
Public authorities must display a DEC if:
- a building is partially occupied by a public authority
- it has a floor area higher than 250m2
- it is frequently visited by the public
