Building a Greener Future: Zero-Emission, Timber-Constructed Multi-Family homes in Response to Europe's Upcoming Building Regulation
In response to Europe's ambitious new Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), the construction industry is seeking sustainable solutions. Timber emerges as a promising material for multi-family buildings, boasting significant advantages in reducing a building's embodied carbon footprint and improving energy efficiency. This article explores the transformative potential of timber in building design and explores how upcoming regulations will encourage the use of sustainable materials throughout the building lifecycle.
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Europe’s Building Energy Revolution
Europe is committed to decarbonise its building stock. This objective has evolved over time with several updates of its Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (from now on referred to as EPBD). The latest recast of the EPBD, expected to be released in the upcoming months as it is in the final stages of approval, introduces significant changes to accelerate this transformation. Among these updates there is a notable shift towards setting clear targets to renovate the 16% worst-performing buildings by 2030 and 26% by 2033, establishing an ambitious goal in line with the EU Green Deal, which aims to be achieved through energy efficiency and renewable energy. What is even more interesting is that all new buildings are required to be zero-emission by 2030, with an earlier deadline of 2028 for buildings occupied, operated, or owned by public authorities.
However, previous versions of the EPBD have not met expectations, with renovation rates around 1%, and almost 75% of the building stock remaining inefficient by current standards (European Commission data). This can largely be attributed to the workforce's inadequate knowledge for carrying out deep renovations, with a lack of time to acquire necessary skills, within the broader context of a labor shortage of blue-collar workers across Europe. How can this be addressed? As true as it is that it must be explored from a multi-dimensional perspective, it is true that there are contemporary solutions that can contribute, such as artificial intelligence fueled software to automate renovation workflows. This solution helps to speed the coordination of diverse contractors while accelerating project timelines, needing less workers involved in the project, which offers an interesting potential. AI's data analysis capabilities also enable one-stop-shops to provide case-by-case solutions and complex problem-solving.
On top of this, the text of the proposed recast to the Directive states the following:
‘’The enhanced climate and energy ambition of the Union requires a new vision for buildings: the zero-emission building, with very low energy demand, zero on-site carbon emissions from fossil fuels and zero or a very low amount of operational greenhouse gas emissions. All new buildings should be zero-emission buildings by 2030, and existing buildings should be transformed into zero-emission buildings by 2050’’.
Given the ambitious European Union’s goals, it's crucial to keep the dialogue open and active. Accelerating our understanding of such matters and stirring up the conversation are key steps to turning these ideas into reality.
Timber and Transformation
Later in April, a high-level expertise workshop will be held in Bali (and online) by Digital Blue Foam in collaboration with Dr. Professor Christophe Sigrist, BFH Wood Division lead, a pioneering figure in timber engineering. His collaboration with DBF fosters innovation, advancing sustainable multi-storey wood and hybrid building design for the future.
The workshop will focus on near-zero wood mid-rise buildings for multi-family homes. The importance of this workshop relies on its pioneering approach, not only aiming to review the zero-energy policy but specifically about the creation of new buildings using sustainable materials (such as sustainably-sourced wood) to address their embodied carbon footprint, which is another key point of the new recast of the Directive. With the following proposed statement in the revised Directive, the European Union takes into account, for the first time, embodied carbon emissions, apart from operational ones:
‘’ The global warming potential over the whole life-cycle indicates the building’s overall contribution to emissions that lead to climate change. It brings together greenhouse gas emissions embodied in construction products with direct and indirect emissions from the use stage. A requirement to calculate the life-cycle global warming potential of new buildings therefore constitutes a first step towards increased consideration of the whole life-cycle performance of buildings and a circular economy’’.
Member states are expected to include this information from 1 January 2028 for those new buildings with a larger area than 1000 square meters and from 2030 onwards for all new buildings in the EU. According to the proposed update of the Directive, the Commission is expected to create an EU standard for life-cycle GWP calculations by 31 December 2025, for which the requirements are already settled through Annex III of the Directive’s revision (for example, it will be aligned with the EU standard EN 15978 about Sustainability of construction works).
In this regard, it is important to highlight the role that wood can play in buildings, as it significantly reduces their environmental impact. Unlike concrete, which emits a lot of CO₂, especially during the cement production process, wood actually stores carbon dioxide (Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction). Not only that but also wood is biodegradable and requires less energy to process than steel or concrete. In addition, wood has natural insulating properties, which can improve a building’s energy efficiency by reducing the need for heating and cooling.
Some buildings, such as the recently completed De Warren in Amsterdam, have sequestered over 300 tons of CO2 through their lifespan as trees, before being used in the construction process. This amount is equivalent to the average annual emissions of 200 cars in the Netherlands, according to a publicly available interview with Boris Zeisser, one of the main architects of the De Warren project.
Therefore, the ability of wood to store carbon dioxide throughout a building's lifecycle can significantly reduce the overall carbon footprint of new constructions, making a direct and positive contribution to the Whole Life-Carbon Assessment expected to be mandated by the European Directive.
An increasing focus on the entire lifecycle carbon footprint of buildings is expected, and not only in Europe. The integration of advanced data models and analysis tools in the earliest phases of building design are fundamental to achieve the ambitious Paris Agreement goals and facilitate the Whole Life-Carbon Assessment by estimating the carbon impact of materials, construction processes, building operation, and end-of-life stages.
This holistic perspective supports the selection of low-carbon solutions throughout the building's lifecycle.
References -
Council of the European Union, Interinstitutional File: 2021/0426 (COD), Proposal for a DIRECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on the energy performance of buildings (recast) - General approach:
https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-13280-2022-INIT/en/pdf
JRC Technical Reports - Level(s) indicator 1.2: Life cycle Global Warming Potential (GWP):
Architecten web podcast: Conversation with Boris Zeisser about De Warren housing cooperative
