Sustainability (Level 2) Flashcards
What is sustainability?
Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the needs of future generations.
What are the key principles of sustainability?
Social - building healthy communities
Economical - build strong, responsive, competitive economies.
Environmental - protection and enhancement of our environment
What building regulation relates to sustainability?
Document L - Conservation of fuel and power
What are the Energy Performance of Buildings Regulations?
- EPC’s are required for buildings
- Quantify energy efficiency of buildings
- Required when buildings are built, sold or rented.
- Commercial buildings over 500sqm need to display energy certificate DEC based on actual energy used.
What does BREEAM stand for?
Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology
What are the different BREEAM levels/ credits?
Outstanding 85
Excellent 70
Very Good 55
Good 45
What are the categories/ measurements of BREEAM?
- Energy
- Water
- Transport
- Management
- Waste
- Pollution
- Health & Wellbeing
- Land Use & Ecology
- Materials
What is whole life costing?
Assessing the total cost of an asset over its whole life.
What is COP26?
COP is the Conference of the Parties and is attended by the countries that signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
The 2021 meeting was the 26th meeting
What happened at COP26
An explicit plan was devised to reduce use of coal which is responsible for 40% of annual CO2 emissions.
Increase money to help developing countries cope with effects of climate change and make the change to clean energy.
1 trillion dollar a year fund from 2025 onwards.
What is urban greening factor?
It is a tool that evaluates and measures the amount of greening in urban areas.
The aim of it is to increase greenery and vegetation around buildings.
Councils can develop their own targets: London has a score of 0.4 for residential and 0.3 for commercial.
What are the most common environmental issues experienced on construction sites?
- Water pollution
- Air and noise pollution
- High energy consumption and carbon emissions
- Land contamination
- Damage to wild habitats
- High waste production into landfill
- Release of dangerous gassed and chemicals
What are the key pieces of legislation that affect sustainability in construction?
- Agricultural Land Act
- Building Act
- Clean Air Act
- Climate Change Act
What is the Agricultural Land Act?
Enables land to be acquired for a particular purpose for example to control pests and weeds, for use as woodlands or to support agricultural activities
What is the building act?
This is the primary piece of UK legislation that enables the Building Regulations to be enforced.
This is to assist in the conservation of fuel and power, to prevent waste, misuse or contamination of water and to ensure those in and around buildings are kept safe.
