Thread by @EarthNetOrg

Looking for key takeaways from the @IPCC_CH's 6th Assessment #ClimateReport on buildings? Look no further:

earthnet.world/green-building…

1. Operating efficiency. Without strong policies to support true deep energy retrofits (achieving at least 80% whole building energy savings), we will not achieve Paris goals. Half measures impede further mitigation by locking in poor performance.

2. Renewable Energy. It highlights that for us to achieve a renewable energy future, we must maximize efficiency, and it recognizes that including energy generation in buildings is a step toward creating distributed energy systems. Buildings can become prosumers.

3. Embodied carbon. Will form an increasing share of life cycle emissions as building efficiency improves and fossil fuels are eliminated. Contribution of embodied emissions to building lifetime emissions is 42-50% for highly efficient buildings, surpassing 90% in extreme cases.

4. Immediate implementation. Buildings failing to deliver the Paris-aligned outcomes represent a retrofit liability, the cost which ought to be considered when planning a project. It is almost always more cost effective to build properly than retrofit later.

5. Cost barriers. Cost barriers remain for retrofits, requiring some form of climate finance to bridge the gap while sponsored retrofit programs drive costs down. The Energiesprong program in the Netherlands is cited as a successful example.

6. Sufficiency. Wealthier suburbs often have an emission footprint 15 times that of nearby neighbourhoods. The report notes that reducing floor areas and disincentivizing single family homes represent a cost effective strategy for reducing emissions.

7. Achievement of multiple #SDGs. Overall, a decarbonised building stock contributes to wellbeing and has significant macro- and micro-economic effects, incl. increased productivity of labour, job creation, reduced poverty, especially energy poverty, and improved energy security.

8a. Building Codes. The @IPCC_CH identifies building energy codes as the main regulatory instrument to reduce emissions from both new and existing buildings. Not only must building codes set adequate minimum performance standards, those standards must be enforced.

8b. Energy Performance Gap. (gap between predicted performance and actual outcomes). Outcome-based codes overcome limitations of prescriptive building energy codes, which typically do not regulate all building energy uses or do not regulate measured operational energy use.

This report is a broad, well researched, data driven consensus based on projects completed years ago. The summary for policymakers is reviewed and edited by 195 nations, while the scientific findings must be supported by extensive data.

Today’s leading projects are far ahead of the recommendations included in the @IPCC_CH report. Given the caution and conservatism inherent in the IPCC process, the findings in the report should be viewed as benchmarks developed nations should exceed.

For more on buildings, check out EarthNet's Sustainable Buildings Hub.

earthnet.world/green-building/