If you have not seen it, this webinar video from CIBSE is a must-see if you want to properly understand operational carbon emissions.
It highlights just how over-simplistic most estimations are, and how we all need to challenge how we think about the link between energy use in buildings and the emission factors of the national grid.
It is an hour long, but if you are truly interested in the subject, you will never regret the time you spend watching it. Enjoy!
Some but not all of the key takeaways are:
• The carbon intensity of the grid is constantly changing.
• Current annual building emission figures are probably being underestimated as a result.
• Time of day, area of country, and day of the week will all impact the figure
• We can’t keep thinking of the national grid as a battery. We need to plan for peaks and troughs in demand.
• We need to start designing buildings to take account of this fluctuation.
• Hot water as a means to store PV solar energy is already coming into the domestic market and is likely to eventually impact non-domestic buildings.
