Carbon neutral buildings
The Home Quality Mark One, Technical Manual SD239, England, Scotland & Wales, published by BRE in 2018 defines carbon neutral as: ‘Carbon neutral means that, through a transparent process of calculating building operational emissions, reducing those emissions and offsetting residual emissions, net carbon emissions equal zero. This includes carbon emissions from both regulated and unregulated energy consuming plan and systems. Also see the definition of zero net regulated carbon (CO) emissions.’
NB ‘The impact of sustainability on value’ published by JLL in March 2020 defines ‘carbon neutral’ as: ‘…offsetting emissions with payments either to avoid a reduction in emissions or remove carbon from the atmosphere.’
The London Plan, Published by the Mayor of London in March 2016, defines carbon neutrality as: ‘Contributing net zero carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere.’
Improving Consistency in Whole Life Carbon Assessment and Reporting, Carbon Definitions for the Built Environment, Buildings and Infrastructure, Version ‘A’, May 2021, published by WLCN, LETI and RIBA, defines carbon neutral as: ‘All carbon emissions are balanced with offsets based on carbon removals or avoided emissions.’
See also: Carbon neutral.
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings
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- Building Back Better: Net zero carbon and BREEAM.
- Building Research Establishment.
- Carbon.
- Carbon emissions.
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- Carbon Neutral Islands.
- Climate Change Act.
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