Embodied Carbon In Building Services

This book (TM65.1) investigates the embodied carbon impact of heating and hot water equipment and strategies for use in residential buildings. In this document, embodied carbon refers to the greenhouse gas emissions associated with materials and construction processes (modules A1 to A5 (product and construction)), B1 to B5 (in use) and C1 to C4 (end of life) defined in BS EN 15978:2011. The embodied carbon calculations in this document follow the methodology outlined in CIBSE TM65, Embodied carbon in building services: a calculation methodology, as environmental product declarations (EPDs) are not yet widely available. The purpose of this document is to help engineers understand the embodied carbon impact of heating and hot water equipment, both at the product level and at the system level, to enable them to make informed design decisions early on in the design process.

This book provides a single-source reference for whole life embodied impacts of buildings. The comprehensive and persuasive text, written by over 50 invited experts from across the world, offers an indispensable resource both to newcomers and to established practitioners in the field. Ultimately it provides a persuasive argument as to why embodied impacts are an essential aspect of sustainable built environments. The book is divided into four sections: measurement, including a strong emphasis on uncertainty analysis, as well as offering practical case studies of individual buildings and a comparison of materials; management, focusing in particular on the perspective of designers and contractors; mitigation, which identifies some specific design strategies as well as challenges; and finally global approaches, six chapters which describe in authoritative detail the ways in which the different regions of the world are tackling the issue.

Embodied and Whole Life Carbon will change the way buildings are designed, yet carbon emissions associated with the construction and life of buildings are not yet wholly understood by the profession. Energy is assumed to be the province of services engineers, yet energy from materials is as big an issue. Architects have the opportunity to take the lead in redefining how buildings are designed to achieve a low carbon future.

The BSRIA guide produced in conjunction with the University of Bath, in line with the recent IGT report, looks at why it is necessary to account for the embodied carbon in construction. Its purpose is to provide the construction industry with necessary data and then present the raw data in a way that is readily usable in calculations.