Reducing CO2 emissions of UK non-domestic buildings – conclusions of the Tarbase project

Panel: Panel 7. Innovative buildings technologies

Authors:
D. P. Jenkins, Energy Academy, Heriot-Watt University, United Kingdom
P. F. G. Banfill, School of Built Environment, Heriot-Watt University, United Kingdom
A. D. Peacock, Energy Academy, Heriot-Watt University, United Kingdom

Abstract

Tarbase is a £1.4 million low-carbon building project funded by the UK Carbon Trust and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council under the Carbon Vision Buildings programme. The project has a goal of specifying technologies and practices that could reduce the carbon emissions of existing buildings by 50% or more. This includes the investigation of demand-side and supply-side measures and also accounts for externalities such as a changing climate and a rise in energy tariffs. The non-domestic part of the project has focussed on energy use in offices, retail buildings, schools and hotels. The results make clear that, even within each sub-sector, non-domestic buildings are non-homogeneous. Different solutions apply to different sectors. This fact is demonstrated by taking a series of building "variants", detailed specifications of buildings that could exist (rather than average stock representations). Several intervention packages are defined and applied cumulatively to each variant, with each approach tailored to that particular building. While the target of 50% carbon savings is possible for many buildings, the changes required should not be underestimated. Furthermore, the importance of understanding internal activity is demonstrated, with the effect of internal gains on the performance of various carbon-saving technologies (such as building fabric insulation) often underestimated. This paper explores the main conclusions of the Tarbase non-domestic work and includes discussions on the possibility of passively heating (and cooling) an office, the danger of refurbished schools overheating and the problems with reducing the CO ₂ emissions of energy-intensive retail buildings, such as supermarkets.