Lower Carbon

Buildings that emit less carbon now—and over their entire life

Buildings produce CO2 emissions in two main ways: from the materials used in their creation or renovation (embodied carbon) and from the energy used to operate those buildings over their entire lifespan (operational carbon).

Operational carbon

The Passivhaus building standard is our practice’s starting point. It hits the sweet spot that minimises cost and maximises operational energy efficiency, radically reducing the energy (and therefore the associated carbon emissions) required to heat and cool the building over its entire lifespan.

However, Passivhaus is ‘material agnostic’: the standard doesn’t have anything to say about which materials or construction methods to use or what size to build to. We see designing to the Passivhaus standard as a logical starting place.

Embodied carbon

Envirotecture’s focus on environmental design takes us further, to a deep consideration of the materials we use, how our designs are built and their appropriate size. This is where minimising embodied (or upfront) carbon emissions comes in, along with other important ideas like longevity, recycling/end of life and lack of toxicity.

Keep in mind that the science of calculating carbon footprints is still developing and answers aren’t clear cut yet. How you ask the question can radically change the answer. For instance, are the carbon emissions associated with building construction being averaged across a 90-year building lifespan—or a 50-year period? Each analysis produces quite different results.

“PurePassiv’s owner is the most well-informed client you can imagine when it comes to sustainability and building performance—he was the board chair at the Australian Passivhaus Association at the time. Minimising the carbon footprint was a clear part of his brief and a preference for prefab was part of that. That led us to Carbonlite and its prefabricated timber panels. We used it again on the next job and really nailed all the techie bits, getting our software to talk back and forth.

Carbon is minimised in all sorts of ways on this project but the green roof on the garage is the most eye-catching. It does all kinds of good stuff! It reduces stormwater runoff, stops the heat and glare into the living room that would come off a tin roof, keeps the garage temperature nice. And it’s a great conversation starter.”