This results from a desire to achieve a better return on investment, and a focus on short-term impact over long-term benefits.
Embodied carbon in sustainable building design.On one hand, a Passivhaus building will need triple glazing, additional insulation and airtight membranes.
The heat pump may contain refrigerants with high global warming potential and the MVHR unit will require insulated ductwork.Much of this may be made out of materials with high embodied carbon such as aluminium or blown plastics.This additional material volume becomes additional embodied carbon.. On the other hand, a Passivhaus design tends to be a more compact shape, thus less materials used.
Due to its more efficient envelope performance, a Passivhaus building needs a small heating system, and due to its reduced energy demand, it requires a smaller PV array.These characteristics, when coupled with a focus on procuring low embodied carbon materials and equipment, can deliver objectively low embodied carbon designs, despite the additional material volume.. Based on the above, it can be observed that some of the inherent characteristics of Passivhaus increase embodied carbon whilst others reduce it.
Taking a 200 m2 house, (10 m x 10 m x 2 storeys, 40 % WWR) as an example, Bryden Wood has done a rough estimation of the impact that Passivhaus distinctive strategies have on embodied carbon:.
Adding triple glazing instead of double glazing would increase carbon around 6 kgCO2/m2 over its lifetime.It doesn't stand for anything.
It's based on the idea of a microchip within a computer.The microchip is the bit that does the hard work.
It's the intelligent bit and the bit that adds value.. Chips are enabling tools that do a lot of work and add a lot of value.Within our wider Design to Value approach and methodology, they provide a common language for all the people involved in a project, they enable collaboration and the rapid development and testing of multiple ideas.