Low carbon housing refurbishment challenges in Ireland : a discussion

Abstract

There are a great many variants which need to be considered prior to undertaking a building’s refurbishment, including: cost of refurbishment and the pay-back time, effects to health and the environment in respect to materials employed, annual fuel economy and cost of maintenance; aesthetics and functionality, comfort levels associated with heating, cooling, sound and air quality and then the longevity of the building fabric and improvements. (Brager, 1996) A building in its environment forms part of a complex technological, ecological, social and esthetical system in the built environment; where sub systems which stem from these interdependencies influence the total efficiency performance. (Kaklauskas et al., 2005) There is no single solution to studying the challenges of low carbon housing refurbishment in Ireland; the discussion to these challenges is entrenched in broader aspects which have far reaching influence; such as: energy inputs needed to produce a product, the environmental impact associated with product choice, the informed management of material choices, the balance between economic development and the environment such as poverty and other social economic aspects, the question of land and resource management including the legalistic rights to these decisions, the optimisation and use of smart technologies both in the wider distribution sense as well as in local deployment of renewable energy integration; it became apparent that a holistic approach was needed to establish a solid discussion on this topic and therefore included but is not exclusive to the opening chapters on Embodied Carbon in Construction and Sustainability. 14 This research therefore explores the rationale to refurbishment prior to the challenges and exposes the necessary underlying influences, barriers and enablers, such as life cycle assessment, the impact of building materials, tools to calculate and manage informed choices, sustainable development models including the question of biomass in a modem society, low carbon opportunities and the natural impetus of community involvement in a sustainable and harmonised network, and then the outlook and arguments for refurbishment as part of Ireland’s response to meeting the Kyoto Agreement and the 2020 GHG emission levels through decision making models and other tools which currently present.