The fall 2023 issue of Passive House Accelerator explores how the benefits of Passive House construction can turn buildings into islands of tranquility.

Case studies in this issue include an affordable apartment building in the Bronx, a warehouse in the Hudson Valley, a prefabricated classroom on a Spanish beach, and the world's first Passive House certified hospital in Germany.

This issue examines how the benefits of Passive House construction—particularly improved indoor air quality and protection from external noise pollution—can positively affect occupant health in addition to decarbonizing the built environment. This issue also highlights how the principles of Passive House design and construction can be applied to any building typology and in any climate.

Please read the full magazine here.

The factsheet introduces the Implementation of the EU Taxonomy in the built environment and the link between NZEB and the EU Taxonomy The EU Taxonomy for the construction, acquisition and ownership of buildings requires the disclosure of a building’s primary energy demand (PED) as per the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) of 2010.

It was suggested that the European Commission and Member States should agree on a more harmonized definition of a major and deep renovation. The EU Commission should add embodied carbon assessments for the construction of a building, the demolition and rebuilding of a building, and the renovation/retrofitting of a building to allow comparability. Member States should provide further incentives for investors to choose energy renovation over construction.

Check the full factsheet here.

This Guidebook is a summary of circular economy concepts, built environment circular economy local-based case studies, and how circular economy concepts can be inte- grated into teaching and learning. This Guidebook is based on collaborations undertak- en for a research project by five universities: RMIT University, University of Peradeniya (UoP), Arabaev Kyrgyz State University (AKSU), TERI School of Advanced Studies (TERI- SAS), and Asian Institute of Technology (AIT).

The project was funded by United Nation University’s Promotion of Sustainability in Postgraduate Education and Research (ProSPER.Net) 2022-23.

 “Constructing a Sustainable Future” is the new Saint-Gobain magazine dedicated to sustainable construction.

The construction sector is indeed at the crossroads of the major contemporary issues that humanity and the planet are facing: the climate crisis, energy emergency, rapid urbanization and the social challenge of decent housing, as well as the necessary protection of natural resources. In this context, we have both solutions and a capacity for action that can turn the tide, at a time when decision-makers around the world are making a commitment to build a more sustainable world.

The purpose of this publication is to share and illustrate our mobilization to meet this ambition. An expanded digital version will be available on constructing-sustainable-future.com at the beginning of June. The digital magazine is designed to be a link between the various representatives of the building and construction industry, as well as a platform for exchange and dialogue to share the greatest achievements, best practices and innovations that will help to accelerate our sector's transition. Like this first edition, the digital magazine will address and give a voice to all who wish to engage in this end: architects, urban planners, promoters, builders, craftsmen, manufacturers, distributors, political leaders, and students.
 

The 2030 Challenge is a national effort to encourage the building industry to prioritize energy efficiency and reduce environmental impact. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) adopted the challenge in 2006 and set a goal of using no fossil fuel or greenhouse gas emitting energy by 2030 (Net Zero). The AIA 2030 Commitment encourages architects to meet this goal and submit their project profiles to the Design Data Exchange (DDx) for tracking.

This guide provides best practices for architects to adopt a performance-based design process, setting targets and incorporating energy-efficient strategies in three categories: passive and building envelopes, active and building systems, and renewable strategies. While progress has been made, many projects have yet to achieve the 80% target reduction in energy use, and only a small number have reached net-zero.

Read the guide

The WG III sectoral fact sheets give a snapshot of key findings distilled from the relevant Chapters. This fact sheet is focused on buildings.

Action in 2020-2030 is critical to fully capture the mitigation potential of existing and new buildings. In developing countries, the largest potential is in new buildings, while in developed countries the highest potential is within the retrofit of existing buildings.

Download the fact sheet and read the full chapter. 

The Whitepaper: The neglected demand side of the green equation, published by Danfoss during COP27, highlights:

• Without urgent action, energy demand will grow significantly, getting us off track to meet global climate goals. Instead, according to IEA a collective push for energy efficiency can deliver one-third of the total emissions reductions needed to reach net zero.
• Cooling is a global blind spot in climate change mitigation. As economies grow and adapt to a warmer climate, especially in the Global South, demand for cooling will make the second-largest contribution to the overall rise in global electricity demand over the coming decades.
• Energy efficiency is an enabler of electrification. To grow the role of electricity in the energy mix it is a fundamental, yet overlooked, fact that we need to reduce energy demand first. An early analysis found that for every dollar spent on energy efficiency, we can avoid spending more than 2 dollars on energy supply.
• Most of the global reductions in carbon emissions through 2030 needed for net zero come from technologies readily available today. This paper presents concrete policy measures to increase energy efficiency across sectors.

Download and read more here 

EIT Climate-KIC and partners have designed the Handbook: Bio-Based and Circular Buildings for Healthy, Clean Cities as an interactive manual and a tracking instrument. It contains information resources and step-by-step processes to help and align local stakeholders’ efforts around reducing embodied carbon emissions in buildings, understand and explore circular practices, and influence changes in the supply chain towards bio-based materials, such as timber – which are more sustainable than the current use of concrete and steel. 

The Handbook supports all actors in the building’s value chain to understand metrics used for decision-making . In doing so, it enables stakeholders to develop benchmarks, to track and evaluate indicators over time; to visualise the processes involved and understand how they need to evolve to lead to different outcomes ; and finally, to create models for collaborative decision-making towards shared goals.

This document was elaborated by the Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance (CNCA) and Culmer Raphael under the project "Dramatically Reducing Embodied Carbon in Europe's Built Environment", which CNCA launched in 2021 with the support of the Laudes Foundation. The purpose of this document is to serve as a communications material that city staff can resort to when raising awareness of the importance of addressing embodied carbon and increasing the uptake of bio-based materials among their city-department peers.

Download it below.

Level(s) is a European framework to help built-environment sector professionals assess and monitor the sustainability performance of buildings. If you operate an assessment or certification scheme in the European Union, the publication "Level(s), A common language for building assessment" can help you understand how Level(s) complements your work. 

If you are interested in Level(s) but unsure where to start, don’t worry. The Level(s) eLearning programme will help you to get going. The eLearning programme is also the perfect resource for users with some experience of Level(s) who want to improve their understanding in one or more aspects of the European common language for sustainable buildings.

If you are using Level(s), the European framework for assessing the sustainability performance of buildings, you can access the European Commission’s free Calculation and Assessment Tool (CAT) to help you create Level(s) assessments for building projects. CAT is there to support you to complete life cycle assessments using Level(s) during the different phases of building design, construction and maintenance or de-construction.