Conservation of energy and existing heritage values
[Music]
the earliest most memorable experience
that i have in an existing building was
back in 2010
when i went to scotland for my first
karate world championships
it was the first time i decided to
believe in myself that i could do
greater things than i thought
i was at the edinburgh castle taking a
tour with my teammates
during the day before we would return in
the evening for the opening ceremonies
which were epic there were so many
things that fascinated me about this
place
but to put it in simple terms i could
feel the character of the building
through the stories that its aged
materials told
it didn’t feel run down and moldy which
is what you might associate with
heritage buildings
it was lively exciting and it gave me a
glimpse
of the scottish culture and history
little did i know back then that it
would also become a key player in the
fight against
climate change my guidance counselor
in high school would not have been able
to tell me that
i would be studying how to make cool
existing buildings better for the
environment
so we keep amazing existing buildings
like these
but what about the ordinary existing
buildings
we are more accustomed to demolishing
the ordinary existing buildings
because we think they’re of less value
but
this is accelerating the demise of our
environment
the amount of construction waste
produced every year from demolition is
insurmountable
in 2017 500 millions of tons
of construction waste was generated in
the united states
this is millions of tons from one
country and it totaled more than twice
the amount of the regular city waste if
we reuse
old buildings and their materials until
they’re no longer of use
then we will have reduced the
construction industry’s waste
drastically globally buildings emit
about 40 percent of annual greenhouse
gas emissions
that’s more than all of transportation
combined
you might think that the solution would
be to build new net zero energy
buildings
but ponder this 60 percent of the built
environment that exists today
will still be present in 2050 however
just keeping
existing buildings is not enough we need
to reduce
the carbon emissions from existing
buildings by
81 percent by 2030 and 100
by 2050 in order to prevent critical
warming
above 1.5 degrees celsius
imagine that we could keep the history
in existing buildings
and the carbon to make it better for the
environment
and people we can do this through deep
energy retrofits
what is a deep energy retrofit it’s the
combination of changes that we can make
to a building
in order to cut its energy energy use by
at least half these changes can be made
to
the walls windows roofs the building
systems which includes the water heater
and what heats ventilates and conditions
the building spaces
and we also need to look at the energy
source can we
produce and store on-site renewable
energy like solar wind and hydro
to provide some or all of the buildings
energy use when we reduce the energy use
we are reducing the amount of carbon
emissions
linked to its energy source how do we do
this in
a strategic and systematic way we need
to
first understand the building through
different tools to assess the current
condition of the building
then we create an energy model that
represents the building’s interactions
with its environment
using this baseline energy model we can
iterate combinations of changes
what we call retrofits and then select
the best retrofits to maximize the
energy savings
while also respecting key character
defining elements
of the building i did exactly this
during my thesis for my masters where i
studied a heritage house in ottawa
canada
to determine how much energy could be
saved through respectful retrofits
what do i mean by respectful retrofits i
mean
i won’t change the entire aesthetic of
the building removing all the things
that you love
about your house we keep these elements
of the building
to maintain the beauty and value of the
house
so for my thesis research i had the
opportunity to work with a passionate
person
angela who cared about reducing the
energy related carbon emissions from her
house
she felt a personal obligation to do
more in the fight against climate change
because of her privilege living in a
place like canada
she said that the wealthy have had the
largest impact on climate change
while generally more vulnerable groups
that experience
other daily challenges like poverty feel
the worst consequences
of climate change so when given the
opportunity to get a free energy
analysis
done on her house she enthusiastically
said yes
she was eager to let me enter her house
to
play doctor and research what changes
could be made
to make it better for the environment
her utility bills
and in keeping the heritage character of
the house
the bonus was that i was getting
hands-on experience
in the industry that i wanted to work in
as a student
people will throw you a bone like this
because most people pity broke students
usually a homeowner may not seek these
professional
services due to cost or availability
so this was a win-win-win situation
the third win being for the environment
and heritage
so first in my process of my thesis
research i talked to
angela because being the owner she has a
lot of knowledge on her house
angela had already started improving her
house
so it was performing better than the
average house to gain a better
understanding of the behavior of the
house
i measured the heat transfer through the
walls and roof
i took thermal imaging of the house to
see
the heat movement through the house and
identify problem areas
then i went to my computer and
essentially played a video game
of creating creating an energy model
to make it as realistic as possible to
the
existing house so that we can predict
how much energy will be saved
with each energy savings option once i
did some analysis then i checked in with
angela to see which options
she would prefer based on things like
cost and practicality
at my work we like to keep things fun
for everyone at this stage
so we conduct it kind of like a game
show
we split the room into two teams and ask
them to choose their best
options in three different categories
one
the most carbon emissions saved two the
best value for the price
and three a combination of both
so from my analysis we learned that
angela could save
71 percent of her annual energy
and this was 71 percent savings on a
house that was already performing better
than most
how did we do this by increasing the
insulation levels
upgrading the building systems adding
sensors and controls to reduce the
electricity use
adding storm windows to the historic
windows air tightening the building
enclosure
and adding solar photovoltaic panels
all this could be done while conserving
the main heritage elements
of the exterior red brick facade and
other elements
of its dutch colonial and queen anne
revival architectural styles
the beautiful historic radio radiators
and the interior wood molding
these are the things that angela loves
about her house
and we were able to keep them she loves
being part of her neighborhood
that’s enriched by the character of the
old houses
so with the knowledge of how to get to
71
energy savings she is starting to
implement the retrofits
but it’s happening gradually over the
next few years
because of the capital that it requires
these are some of the challenges that
homeowners are facing
in the practical process of getting the
retrofits
that they need the price point is still
not there where it needs to be
to make it accessible to most homeowners
and there’s not enough policy or
practical
readily available information
surrounding this topic in ontario to
support homeowners
this means that there’s still a large
gap in practicality for homeowners
that want to save money energy and the
values of their house
through environmentally positive changes
to their houses
we need to improve policy and services
for homeowners
to make the changes that are required to
meet 2030 and 2050 climate change
targets
angela is a community leader who’s
talking to the municipality
about these issues and how we can solve
them each of us can do what we can
in the fight against climate change to
make a difference
we all love our ordinary existing
buildings
even though we don’t live in magical
historic castles
so let’s flip the switch on the climate
crisis by conserving our ordinary
existing buildings
improving their sustainability while
also maintaining their character
to ensure that our future will be bright