Key challenges to delivering a low carbon future

1. Key challenges to delivering a low carbon future Ian Short and Ed Metcalfe Institute for Sustainability 16 Sept 2010

2. Institute for Sustainability • An independent charity, led by a world class board representing UK industry, academia and public sector • Our aim is to significantly accelerate delivery of sustainable cities and communities by: • Establishing practical demonstration projects • Monitoring, measuring and evaluating sustainable solutions • Sharing learning locally, nationally and internationally to inform future projects and development • Working with a broad range of public, private and academic (primarily in built environment) including: Arup, Canary Wharf Group, CIRIA, BSRIA, GE, Hyder, IBM, Imperial College, M&S, NPL, Siemens, TWI, University College London, Veolia • Sister institute based in Shanghai • Approx 20 staff and turnover of circa £4m pa

3. Institute Core Activity 1. Research and Demonstration Projects Total Community Retrofit a) Resource efficient buildings b) Sustainable infrastructure c) Transport/logistics/ supply chain 2. Knowledge Hub Knowledge Hub 3. Dissemination Education/skills Policy/regulation SME support Industry

4. Challenges to Mainstreaming Sustainability • Step change in aspiration and delivery • Holistic approach – collaboration • Monitoring, measurement, evaluation • Design Performance Gap • Sharing learning • Skills

5. Total Community Retrofit • The challenge: • Nearly eight out of ten people in UK live in an urban area • Adapting existing towns and cities – 80% of homes in 2050 already built • Step change in aspiration and delivery • Leveraging institutional investment • The project: • Community scale retrofit demonstrator projects (30,000+) • Deliver energy savings measures in the built environment, sustainable and smart • infrastructure, improved public spaces and socio-economic benefits

6. Total Community Retrofit - Demonstrating 2050 in 2015 Original image courtesy of AECOM

7. What is different about this approach? What is happening now? • Disparate, one-off schemes • No joined up approach • Not optimised, not cost-effective • Limited scale and scope • Incentives misaligned • Limited private sector investment • Focus on easy wins • "Hard" projects not done What is proposed? • A comprehensive programme approach • Integrated, holistic solutions that generate economic benefits and competitiveness through reducing resource consumption • Creation of an enabling authority (public/ private/community) • Large scale private finance • Replication across a large number of communities Scattered initiatives of limited scale Clustered, phased initiatives with scale to attract private finance

8. Monitoring, Measurement and Evaluation • Identified challenges; • Gap between performance and design • Occupants do not use buildings in the way intended • Lack of accountability for performance • Lack of independent advice • Progress is slow; • Innovation coordination failure • Failure in the confidence to invest • Consumer doubts • Many potential solutions; • But a scarcity of clear independent data to indicate which works best and in what circumstances

9. Monitoring, Measurement and Evaluation “Studies repeatedly show that buildings do not achieve their design criteria in energy terms ....it is extraordinary that so little priority is attached to seeing how buildings perform in practice.” The Low Carbon Construction IGT Emerging Findings (March 2010)

10. Building Energy Performance – Identified Gaps 1. Design – Data to close the design-performance gap to up-skill independent authoritative advisors on building energy solutions. Life-cycle assessment of building performance; carbon as a design parameter • 2. Testing and verification service for; • Components • Assemblies • Whole systems 3. Skills - Highly skilled construction and operation workforce 4. Standard testing on real, occupied buildings Process improvement - accountability along whole of supply chain Demonstration - user understanding of energy consumption and losses

11. Improving Building Energy Performance • 1. National Centre for the Measurement of Building Efficiency • Accelerate energy performance improvement • Testing and verification to significantly improve availability and accuracy of energyperformance and embodied carbon information for new and existing buildings, components and services in practice • Developing economic and business case with core partners NPL, UCL and ZCH • Identify funding and delivery models • 2. Monitoring, Measurement and Evaluation Network • Provide objective, open data and extensive information to improve understanding on; • How real buildings perform • How people use energy in, and interact with, buildings • Develop responsive, coherent, critical mass for knowledge base • Disseminate learning and inform skills needs

12. Improving Building Energy Performance “To convey the seriousness of what we are doing and its credibility, it is really important where possible we do pilot, evaluate, publish evidence, have it tested. We must also have sufficient confidence that when evidence starts coming in that something is not working, to be willing to change.”David Willetts, The Times, 9/6/2010.

13. Retrofit and FLASH • Challenges • Retrofit 650,00 dwellings pa to 80% carbon reduction • Need to increase capability and up-skill the UK supply chain • SMEs have imperfect information and risk aversion to new products • Need more integrated systems approach for homes and communities • Need innovative business and employment opportunities • Solutions - The FLASH (Facilitated Learning and Sharing) project • Capture independently verified learning from demonstrator projects: • TSB Retrofit for the Future and Post-Occupancy Evaluation • MME Network • Rushenden Community Retrofit • Identify best practice and share learning nationally and internationally • Disseminate through partner networks to simulate supply and value chains

14. Our Experience – Summary of the Challenges • Encouraging long-term commitment from Government to encourage confidence to invest and ability to work at scale • Putting in place better systems to allow more holistic approach • Working collaboratively; nationally and internationally and cross sector • Creating more accountability to address the gap between performance and design through MME • Capturing and assessing outcomes and providing independent results • Increasing capability of and up skilling the supply chain through sharing what we learn

15. Thank You