Minimising energy in construction

据估计，建筑环境约占所有碳排放量的50%。建筑业创造并维护着我们的建筑环境，占全球GDP的10%左右。最近在降低运营能耗方面取得的成功，以及为接近零能耗的建筑引入严格的目标，意味着隐含能源将很快接近总能耗的100%。对最近建造的钢筋和混凝土建筑的分析强调了这一根本性转变的重要性，其中证明了50%左右的隐含能源浪费是常见的。必须解决建筑物和基础设施的过度设计效率低下的问题，以尽量减少实际能源需求，并达到未来的能源效益目标。英国政府已经制定了到2025年实现减排50%、成本降低33%、交付速度加快50%的目标。这些雄心勃勃的目标必须在全球建筑市场预计价值增长超过70%的同时实现。实现增长和最小化隐含能源将需要在采购、设计和施工方面进行阶段性变革，将隐含能源置于整体全生命周期设计过程的中心。到2050年，全球人口预计将增长到97亿，其中67%的人生活在城市。到2030年，仅中国就将增加3.5亿城市人口。然而，到2060年，欧洲和日本的人口都将比现在少，而中国的总人口预计将在2030年至2100年间减少4亿。对一些国家来说，城市人口减少将与总人口减少同时发生。这就为建筑环境的设计提出了一个复杂的问题，在这个环境中，今天建造的建筑物和基础设施预计将使用60-120年：在中期提供弹性、健康和高效的结构，但在长期内可拆卸和潜在的可重复使用。对这项建议进行有针对性的可行性研究对于确保实现这一目标至关重要。我们已经确定了一系列领域的可行性研究，以确定研究需求，以便在2025年之前实现建筑行业的显著节能。我们将按优先次序确定一系列“容易实现”的研究领域，以实现节能，并与我们的工业伙伴合作，制定可行的途径，在建筑行业实施。

The built environment is estimated to account for around 50% of all carbon emissions. About 10% of global GDP is generated by the construction industry, which creates and maintains our built environment. Recent success in reducing operational energy consumption and the introduction of strict targets for near-zero energy buildings mean that the embodied energy will soon approach 100% of total energy consumption.The importance of this fundamental shift in focus is highlighted by the analysis of recently constructed steel and concrete buildings, in which it was demonstrated that embodied energy wastage in the order of 50% is common. Inefficient over-design of buildings and infrastructure must be tackled to minimise embodied energy demand and to meet future energy efficiency targets.The UK Government has set out its ambition to achieve 50% lower emissions, 33% lower costs, and 50% faster delivery in construction by 2025. These ambitious targets must be met at the same time as the global construction market is expected to grow in value by over 70%. Achieving growth and minimising embodied energy will require a step change in procurement, design and construction that puts embodied energy at the centre of a holistic whole-life cycle design process.The global population is expected to grow to 9.7billion by 2050, with 67% of us living in cities. China alone will add 350 million people to its urban population by 2030. Yet Europe's and Japan's population will both be smaller in 2060 than they are today, and the total population of China is expected to fall by 400million between 2030 and 2100. Depopulation of cities will occur alongside reductions in total populations for some countries. This presents a complex problem for the design of the built environment in which buildings and infrastructure constructed today are expected to be in use for 60-120 years: providing structures that are resilient, healthy, and productive in the medium term, but demountable and potentially reusable in the long term. The targeted feasibility studies of this proposal will be vital in ensuring that this can be achieved.We have identified a series of areas where feasibility studies are essential to define research needs to enable significant energy savings in the construction industry before 2025. We will identify a series of 'low-hanging fruit' research areas, in priority order, for embodied energy savings, and work with our industrial partners to develop feasible pathways to implementation in the construction industry.