13/05/2009 - Low carbon society symposium. Howard Liddell - Nega Watts: an antidote to the eco-bling.

Howard Liddell of Gaia Architects provided a lively discussion about the realistic and cost effective ways to improve energy efficiency in buildings. He criticised “eco-bling” such as microgeneration as little more than green washing of buildings and promoted the less popular but much more effective eco-minimalism of airtightness and super insulation as effective methods of energy efficiency for homes. The perception that green houses cost more comes from the addition of this eco-bling to green homes, however a low-carbon, energy efficient house does not have to cost more.

Howard compared the payback on an eco-bling house and an eco-minimalist house in order to illustrate his point. If a designer spent £21,000 on PV cells and wind turbines for a house the payback on these additions is 100 years but the life expectancy is 20 years. However if £8,000 is spent on air tightness and insulation the payback is 5 years and the life expectancy is 50 years. The facts about the correct approach to take are there, however the difficulty lies with making air tightness and super insulation sexy and therefore more popular than microgeneration. Building rating systems such as BREEAM and BER are flawed as they insists on the presence of microgeneration, therefore such rating systems should be re-evaluated.

13/05/2009 - Low carbon society symposium. Professor Mike Jones on biofuels in Ireland.

Professor Mike Jones from the Botany Department in TCD then spoke about biofuels. He believes that it is inevitable that we will use biofuels in the future and therefore we need to ensure that we do this in the most environmentally friendly way possible. There are some biofuels which have good potential such as Miscanthus. The ideal energy crop has a high energy output but requires a low energy input, and uses water, light and nutrients efficiently. Mike concluded that biofuels need to be included in Ireland’s energy policy but that there needs to be long term sustainability studies to determine which biofuels should be developed. There also needs to be better communication about the truth about biofuels to the general public.

13/05/2009 - Low carbon society symposium. David MacKay - Sustainable energy: without the hot air.

Professor David MacKay from Cambridge University and the author of Sustainable energy: without the hot air (available to download free on www.withouthotair.com) was the first speaker of the day. He demonstrated that we need to view energy in a comparable unit such as the kilowatt hour (boiling a kettle for 20 minutes consumes one kWh of energy), and how important it is to look at the real numbers associated with different energy options so that we as a nation and as individual consumers can make the best informed decision possible. He highlighted that if we are to stop climate change from taking its current course we, in developed countries, need to reduce our CO2 emissions by 90%, in order to do this we must stop burning fossil fuels and obtain all our energy from alternative sources.
In Ireland and the UK we regularly hear that we have a huge capacity for renewable energy, but we also have a huge capacity for energy consumption (125kWh per person per day). In order to determine whether we can meet our current energy demands from indigenous renewable energy sources it is essential that we view energy supply and demand in a simple comparable unit such as the kWh.
David systematically showed that although we have a huge amount of potential for renewable energies in Ireland our energy consumption still outstrips what we could supply ourselves therefore it is essential that we see some technological or societal change that reduces our energy demand. As life style changes are difficult to create we need to focus on the development of technologies that increase energy efficiencies in order to reduce demand. He concluded that the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energies will not be easy but it is possible.

13/05/2009 - Low carbon society symposium opening by Eamon Ryan.

The day-long symposium brought together a wide knowledge base in both the speakers and the audience. It discussed topics that ranged from the kilowatt hour as a common energy unit with which to compare all the world’s activities and access the feasibility of a move towards a society entirely powered by renewables to a poetic discussion about how an understanding of our world at a local level could promote the develop of a low carbon urban society. It was reported in the Irish Times http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0514/1224246461787.html

The Minister for Energy, Eamon Ryan opened the symposium by praising the collaborative nature with which TrinityHaus and Trinity College are addressing the current energy problems. Minister Ryan discussed the fear that can frequently surround the issue of climate change and how that fear can paralyse action. But he reassured that there are many people out there who are optimistic that energy security and a clean energy future is achievable. The current economic downturn offers an opportunity to reorder our society for the better. The minister summarised the best actions we can take the alleviate climate change as “Travel lighter, eat better and be energy clever.” He concluded by saying that now is not the time for pessimism as change will come, the depletion of resources will force science, technology and society on a greener course.

05/05/2009 – Passive and Green architecture. Michael Haslam (DIT) and Graham Petrie (UL)

This colloquium discussed how to integrate buildings into the surrounding landscape in order to maximise physical sustainability, which is characterised among other things as energy usage, water, waste, lighting, ventilation and impact on the landscape. With careful design buildings can be created that work with the landscape in which they exist to minimise the need for boilers, air conditioning and artificial light while also minimising their physical and visual impact on the landscape.

Both architects gave a wide range of examples of passive architecture and green building projects in Ireland which can provide a starting point for the greater integration of sustainable design into future building projects. A few examples include the Daintree building in Dublin which was built with a positive aspect to maximise passive solar heating, it also has solar thermal panels on the roof and rainwater is harvested and reused. The Emerald Housing Project in Ballymun is in the planning stage but has been designed as a carbon neutral development. It employs features such as recovery of waste water on site for treatment and reuse, green roofs provide drainage solutions, digital readouts of energy usage to allow occupiers to reduce energy wastage and ecoducts which create a cool larder area and reduce the need for refrigeration.

The Environmental Research Institute, UCC was designed to take advantage of passive thermal warming and natural ventilation, heat exchange from refrigeration rooms has eliminated the need for boilers. Graham also discussed the large scale mixed use development Elm Park on the Merrion Road, Dublin. In the construction of the apartment buildings the first block was built with full contact with the ground in order to alter the wind flow across the site and assist with ventilation of the other buildings, the other apartment blocks had a reduced foot print on the ground. CHP is employed using two wood chip boilers which supply all the domestic hot water to the apartments, and all the electricity to the commercial buildings.

In a similar line of discuss to last week’s colloquium the need for the occupier of a passive building to understand how to efficiently use the building to its maximum potential was highlighted, and from this followed on a discuss about the need for a soft landing hand over between designer and occupier. It was concluded from an audience discussion that design needs to be client focused in order to encourage green architecture to be supported and to facilitate efficient use of buildings once they are completed.