Hello everyone,

I will start this presentation with a question: does anybody know what will happen in six days, on the
26th of March?

Do you know what the Overshoot Day is? Indeed/well, on that day it’s the overshoot day of our
planet in 2023 for Belgium. It is the day when humanity’s demand for ecological resources and
services exceeds what Earth can regenerate in 2023. Here is a chart that shows the overshoot days
of different countries. That date is calculated from the national footprint and the biocapacity
accounts. As you can see, Belgium is among the first five countries, we’re not the best player!

We are not going to give you a fear-mongering speech about climate change, but as future architects
we are really concerned about these environmental problems, more than other professions, because
construction is one of the most polluting sectors. The purpose of our presentation is to present
different solutions for sustainable architecture in both new construction and renovation.

We will first focus on the impact of construction on climate change. We will then define the terms
sustainability and sustainable architecture. In the second part we will present solutions such as
sustainable techniques, environmentally friendly materials in new buildings and renovations. Finally,
we will draw a conclusion and finish with a small activity.

The sector of construction is aware of its high energy consumption since many years. Let’s look at the
numbers to put the situation in perspective. Back in 2009, the Sustainable Buildings and Climate
Initiative reported that buildings account for around 40% of global energy use and a third of global gas
emissions. The pie chart below shows the sources of global CO2 emissions in 2018.There hasn’t been
much improvement in almost ten years.

These emissions have two distinct causes. The first one is funcional energy or energy consumption.
For example: electricity, heating and ventilation. The second cause is the energy that is used during
construction or embodied energy such as transport and production of the materials. This last one is
much more important as we can see in this second diagram. In particular, the foundations and
structural work are problematic. Another problem in the construction sector is that the rapid
depletion of raw materials will leave the world without enough sand to make concrete. So, it is also
important to think about new materials and architecture without concrete and steel. Well, it’s on
these problems that sustainable architecture is trying to work on.

But what does the term sustainability mean?

It means meeting your own needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet
their own needs. It is not just about the environment, but also about social equity and economic
development.

More specifically in architecture, sustainable designs seek to reduce negative impacts on the
environment, and on the health and comfort of building occupants. In addition, such architecture
tends to minimise waste by using recycled or recyclable and local materials. All this while improving
the performance of the building.

There are so many core principles of sustainable architecture, that we, as future architects, must try
to follow.

The first one is passive design: using free natural resources such as the sun, the wind and the shade
by working with the specific conditions and climate of a site. The building must be purposefully
oriented to follow the movement of the sun and wind, and the walls, floor, roof and windows must
be designed to control where and when the sun, breeze and shade enter the house throughout the
day and the seasons. Passive design can make a house thermally comfortable all year round, without
the need for additional heating/cooling. Heating and cooling are indeed the biggest energy users.
Reducing the need for this therefore reduces carbon emissions. To achieve this, we need to choose
high quality materials and a design that ensures that the building is well ventilated, insulated and
airtight.

Another principle is ‘reductionism’. Since every space, material and product has environmental and
financial consequences, they must be questioned and considered. The goal is to build less but build
well.

Sustainable buildings must also be adaptable in order to respond to the changing needs of their
occupants without costly alterations.

To sum up, the goal is to design buildings that have a low carbon footprint or that are even carbon
neutral throughout their whole life cycle, which means from construction (production, transport and
installation of materials) to operation (heating, cooling, hot water, cooking, …) and maintenance.
Sustainable houses minimize their impact on nature and resources and make a positive contribution
to a neighbourhood and the local environment, and buildings should be designed to last. All these
principles often result in a large investment, but in a long-term project that does the least damage
possible to our planet.

We will now present to you a few eco-friendly materials with different uses in a building.

The first material is coffee husks. It’s used to face the housing crisis in Colombia by building cheap
prefabricated houses. Coffee husks are the skin of the coffee bean that dries and falls off during the
roasting process. Normally coffee husks create a lot of waste and end up in landfills. The Colombian
company ‘Woodpecker’, decided to combine the husk with recycled plastic to produce a new
construction material. As Colombia is one of the largest coffee-producing countries in the world,
coffee husks are widely available and local. The advantages of this material is its durability and
resistance to moisture, insects and fire. Coffee husks are produced in the form of lego-like kits that
can easily be assembled on-site. It is used to build tiny-houses and can also be used to rebuilt houses
after disasters quickly.

Another original material is the recycled diaper. Every year in every country, a lot of diapers and other
absorbent sanitary products end up in landfills. A Canadian company decided to recycle them into roof
tile. The recycling process produces two materials. First, the organic fibres are removed for green
energy and paper. Secondly, they recycle the plastic part of diapers into roof tiles.

The last material we choose to present is Algae. 10 years ago, the first algae-powered building was
constructed in Germany. This building was designed by Arup, the engineering firm that also designed
the Centre Pompidou and the Sydney Opera House. In this project they decided to wrap the façade of
the building in algae biomass. More precisely, the process of photosynthesis turns sun’s energy into
fuel for the building, the algae grow fast to the top of the storage and then is inserted in a bio-
converter which turns the algae into biomass and that biomass can generate electricity and heating
for the building itself and the buildings around it.

So it is possible to use eco-friendly materials to build your entire home, from the roof to the walls and
to the electricity.

As mentioned earlier, the construction sector has a huge impact on the global pollution, because of
its greenhouse gas emissions and high consumption of material resources. Improved design and
building techniques are required to lower this impact, but the EU estimates that 85% of today’s
buildings will still be in use in 2050. Renovation therefore plays a key role in making these existing
buildings more energy efficient.

Here are some tips if you’re planning the renovate a building.

First of all, fixing or improving the insulation of a building is the most efficient way to lower its
impact on the planet, as well as your energy bill. Depending on what type of building it is, there are
multiple ways to do so, such as cavity wall insulation or floor and roof insulation, but also finding and
blocking any gaps that let cold and warm air in and out.

Installing solar panels and a heat pump is also a great way to stop relying on fossil fuels and reduce
your building's global carbon footprint. It is a big investment, but one that could ultimately save you
a lot of money on your energy bills.

The use of recycled or reclaimed materials for flooring and the covering of surfaces can also make a
drastic change in the carbon footprint of the building. You can also use materials such as cork, which
works great as flooring as it has excellent thermal and acoustic properties, but also as the advantage
of being renewable. The same tree can be harvested for cork for more than 200 years, and every
harvested cork tree fixates between three to five times more carbon.

Another thing we can look at is the lighting. We must try to use natural light as much as possible,
and mirrors or reflective surfaces in the rooms can be useful to enhance this light. There are also
other options that can be used for windowless rooms, with for instance “sun tunnel”, a sort of hole
in the ceiling that brings diffuse daylight in the room. Indeed, artificial lighting is not always
avoidable, but instead of incandescent bulbs, which converts only 10% of electrical energy into light,
while the rest is wasted as heat, it’s better to use LED lighting.

Then, since the toilet consumes more water than any other thing in the house, up to 30%, there can
be some work done on this, with a rainwater tank or low flow bathroom appliances.

In addition of all those tips, buying second-hand or reclaimed furniture is a much more sustainable
way to shop. Luckily, the second-hand market is full of treasures, and if the ‘vintage look’ doesn’t
appeal to you, upcycling is another solution!

The choice between renovation and new building may be very difficult, and both have their own
pros and cons, but new buildings are typically worse for the environment; as a matter of fact, the
amount of greenhouse gasses that are released is much higher, due to many more virgin materials
being used. It is indeed estimated that 20 to 25% of the life cycle emissions of the current EU
building stock are embedded in building materials. Moreover, carbon emission from new buildings
has been shown to be higher than the renovation after 30 years.

A life cycle comparison of two academic buildings, one new and one renovated, was made by 3
researchers, Suni Dillard, Alexandra Gadawski and Carrie Harvey. The two buildings belong to the
Bristol County Agricultural High School, and the team compared the environmental impact of the
products associated with renovation and new construction. This analysis of the project’s impact
throughout its lifespan came to the conclusion that the renovated building has a 28% reduction in
overall global warming potential than the new building.

Nevertheless, renovation is not always an option, since some buildings may be obsolete. That
happens when it has reached the end of its life and cannot be used further for the public. In this
case, the demolition and reconstruction may be unavoidable, but the architect and developers must
then be careful and try to follow the various tips and rules we talked about earlier as much as
possible. In any case, it’s important to understand the impact of all design decisions in order to
create environmentally responsible buildings. Life cycle assessment can be made with some
programs and provide concrete data that can guide you through a sustainable building process, by
weighing the impact and effectiveness of each decision over the course of the project.

https://www.engineering.com/story/the-first-algae-powered-building-presents-unique-renewable-
energy-solution

https://www.fastcompany.com/90604018/now-your-coffee-habit-can-help-build-houses

https://www.breathe.com.au/guides/houses/principles-of-sustainable-architecture

https://www.wallpaper.com/architecture/sustainable-architecture-innovation

• Labels
• New materials

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsQBSVJoV04

• Renovation

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/aug/19/10-ways-to-renovate-sustainably

https://www.comparethemarket.com/home-insurance/content/green-eco-friendly-renovations/

European Environment Agency: Building renovation (circular energy & climate)

Sustainable renovation is key to green recovery

• RENOVATE OR BUILD NEW?

New build or re use? https://buildpass.co.uk/blog/new-build-vs-re-use-whats-better-

https://sustainablebuild.co.uk/new-build-renovation-which-greener/

Renovate or build new: comparaison du cycle de vie de 2 bâtiments: