Briefing: Carbon critical design

Abstract

It was intended that the United Nations conference on climate change in Copenhagen in 2009 would reach a global agreement on carbon emissions, which would have had an impact on the design of civil engineering structures. This did not happen, but the UK, through the Climate Change Act of 2008 produced as a result of the Kyoto protocol of 1997, has made a commitment to reduce carbon emissions. As a result the concept of low/zero carbon design and construction is now being developed, starting with zero carbon homes by 2016 and other zero carbon buildings by 2019. The principles of zero carbon design or carbon critical design based on energy efficiency and low carbon technology are being developed so that new builds will meet the carbon compliance targets of 2020 and 2050. Carbon critical design means a whole life systems approach to design, with carbon as a key design parameter.