Heat stress-resistant building design in the Australian context

Hatvani-Kovacs, Gertrud; Belusko, Martin; Pockett, John; Boland, John

doi:10.1016/j.enbuild.2017.10.025

Cited by 40 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Compliance with the minimum standards set out in the NCC is mandatory, where Section J aims at reducing the built environment sourced GHG emissions (Hampton and Clay, 2016). For compliance with NCC requirements, an energy star rating scheme -Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme -is used by applying a simulation software (Daniel et al, 2017;Hatvani-Kovacs et al, 2018). Several voluntary tools also exist to provide certification across a range of sustainability dimensions (Yang and Yang, 2015;Gou and Xie, 2017;Li et al, 2017).…”

Section: Australian Green Transition and Office Buildingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Barriers to “green operation” of commercial office buildings

Rock

Hosseini

Nikmehr

et al. 2019

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Purpose The built environment is a major source of carbon emissions. However, 80 per cent of the damage arises through the operational phase of a building’s life. Office buildings are the most significant building type in terms of emission-reduction potential. Yet, little research has been undertaken to examine the barriers faced by building operators in transitioning to a green operation of the office buildings in their care. This study aims to identify those barriers. Design/methodology/approach Building facilities managers with between 7 and 25 years’ experience in operating primarily Melbourne high-rise office buildings were interviewed. The sample was taken from LinkedIn connections, with ten agreeing to participate in semi-structured interviews – out of the 17 invitations sent out. Interview comments were recorded, coded and categorised to identify the barriers sought by this study. Findings Seven categories of barriers to effecting green operation of office buildings were extracted. These were financial, owner-related, tenant-related, technological, regulatory, architectural and stakeholder interest conflicts. Difficulties identifying green operation strategies that improved cost performance or return on investment of buildings was the major barrier. Practical implications Government, policymakers and facilities managers themselves have been struggling with how to catalyse a green transition in the operation of office buildings. By identifying the barriers standing in the way, this study provides a concrete point of departure from which remedial strategies and policies may be formulated and put into effect. Originality/value The uptake of green operation of office buildings has been extremely slow. Though barriers have been hypothesised in earlier works, this is the first study, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, that categorically identifies and tabulates the barriers that stand in the way of improving the green operational performance of office buildings, drawing on the direct knowledge of facilities experts.

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Section: Australian Green Transition and Office Buildingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Barriers to “green operation” of commercial office buildings

Rock

Hosseini

Nikmehr

et al. 2019

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“…This Australian preoccupation with how our homes are able to protect us and our health in hot conditions is perhaps reflective of the dominant narrative over the last two decades of housing performance research in Australia: climate change, mitigating it by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adaption to a warming climate (e.g. Hatvani-Kovacs et al, 2018). So while a growing body of empirical evidence suggests that there is a real risk associated with cold in housing (Daniel et al, 2019;Hitchings et al, 2015;Willand et al, 2019), there is not a widely perceived housing risk, so the problem has remained largely hidden and unaddressed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cold housing: evidence, risk and vulnerability

et al. 2019

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Cold housing is not widely recognized as a problem that occurs in mild-climate countries like Australia. But emerging evidence suggests that it is an important, albeit under-acknowledged, problem that may contribute to high rates of ill health and mortality during the winter months. We bring together two historically important theoretical developments to better understand the social and economic distribution of cold housing. Drawing on nationally representative data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey between 2001 and 2016, we find that the characteristics of households unable to adequately heat their homes strongly reflects known patterns of inequality across, for example, tenure, employment and health, but that there are also more unexpected trends in age and income. Critically, our analyses demonstrate that individuals' vulnerability to cold housing risk can be anticipated, which has important implications for public policy and community-based interventions.

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“…A recent study conducted by the University of South Australia used the AccuRate energy simulation software program to compare the energy performance of six and eight star-rated homes in Sydney and Adelaide with so-called traditional energy inefficient buildings. While NatHERS endorsed the star-rated homes, their over-reliance on air-conditioning in fact made them far less heat stress resistant than unrated traditionally designed houses [8].…”

Section: The Limits Of Sustainability Rating Toolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Then, in the 1970s, the world was hit with the oil crisis. As a result, regulations were expanded to encompass considerations of energy efficiency [8,40]. When public interest was aroused in climate change in the 1990s, these codes were again extended.…”

Section: Green Buildings and The Rise Of Rating Toolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, we also see some pushback. Research also shows that rating tools may be failing to measure what they claim [8][9][10], either because they are off-plan and unverified, or because they actually get it wrong. Sometimes, the embodied energy of the components used in sustainable buildings generate a larger "carbon footprint" than the energy they purportedly save.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Sustainability Narrative in Contemporary Architecture: Falling Short of Building a Sustainable Future

et al. 2018

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Sustainability has emerged, arguably, as the premiere mission of contemporary architecture. Green assessment tools abound, consultancy services flourish, buildings are marketed on the basis of sustainability performance, and government, media, and corporations seem preoccupied with assessing the quality of the built environment through a green lens. Yet for all the effort, and indeed for all the progress made, fundamental issues resistant to the structural change that is essential for genuine sustainability remain. This paper reviews the state of play of sustainability across the urban landscape. It considers the road travelled so far, and points out some of the major challenges that lie ahead.

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Heat stress-resistant building design in the Australian context

Cited by 40 publications

References 43 publications

Barriers to “green operation” of commercial office buildings

Barriers to “green operation” of commercial office buildings

Cold housing: evidence, risk and vulnerability

The Sustainability Narrative in Contemporary Architecture: Falling Short of Building a Sustainable Future

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