Climate change and construction
No industry is immune to close inspection as far as co2 emissions and general carbon footprinting are concerned, but it is the construction industry, with hair raising examples of massive building taking place in China, Dubai and other parts of the world, that seems to be in the highest ranks of blame, along with air travel and the increase of vehicles on our roads.
Here in the UK the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) has called for the committee on climate change to include expert representatives from the construction industry.
The Governments draft climate change bill is currently undergoing pre-legislative consultation. The bill will give statutory force to the Governments targets.
Meanwhile the British Property Federation has raised the stakes in helping to meet the targets by developing and launching an energy efficiency measurement and benchmarking tool for existing commercial properties.
The Government is concentrating its efforts on creating zero and low carbon buildings, but these initiatives will take at least 100 years to significantly reduce co2 emissions, as only 1% of the commercial building stock is renewed each year.
If cuts are to be made as quickly as advocated in the Stern Review and other reports, the focus needs to shift to existing buildings, which make up 99% of all buildings, and where efficiency gains can be made quickly, easily and cost effectively.
The British Property Federation have decided to take matters into their own hands and develop a method of measuring, benchmarking and reporting the energy efficiency of existing office buildings, THE LANDLORDS ENERGY STATEMENT (LES).
LES helps landlords to understand the energy used by landlords services like heating, air conditioning and lighting etc. They can use the information for individual buildings or aggregate it across their entire property portfolio, to build a picture of their portfolios total carbon emissions/footprint.
Contacts: Chartered Institute of Building
Englemere, Kings Ride, Ascot, Berks SL5 7TB
Tel:01344 630700
http://www.ciob.org.uk
British Property Federation
7th Floor, 1 Warwick Row, London SW1E 5ER
Tel:0207 828 0111
http://www.bpf.org.uk