(Re)thinking Buildings as Carbon Assets: How can design and construction technologies ensure a resilient return on carbon investment

Carbon has become a currency of great significance as we seek to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050. The intent to create (nearly) zero energy buildings has matured into a focus on zero emission buildings (ZEB), which in turn has focused on the carbon emissions which constitute 75% of our overall greenhouse gas emissions, (GHG). The Paris Agreement (2016) established carbon emission budgets within which we must operate to avoid catastrophic global temperature extremes. To date these have not been complied with. Buildings ‘fit for 2050’ must consider both embodied and operational carbon, as the guiding metrics by which sustainable validity is measured. Emissions within the built environment, must focus on the return to be achieved in terms of energy saving and energy creation, calibrated against the carbon expended to achieve these. The research case-study investigates how a virtuous carbon circle encompassing (a) improved low embodied carbon fabric leading to (b) improved surplus of return from onsite renewable energy systems, can lead to (c) maximum onsite use and peak grid support. Policy must follow science, and such a science-based policy requires significant transformation toward a ZEB solution.