[Research paper] An equitable energy allowance for all: Pathways for a below 2°C-compliant global buildings sector.
In his latest research paper, Bashar Al Shawa answers the critical yet widely ignored question of how energy-efficient buildings should be for a below 2°C climate change trajectory. Starting from the buildings sector’s ‘available’ renewable energy budget until 2060, the paper distributes that budget equally across 136 countries and determines how energy-efficient their building stocks need to be to meet the Paris Agreement. Crucially, the paper concludes that even if all new buildings were built to the stringent Passivhaus standard and all existing buildings retrofitted to current best practice, we would still not achieve the necessary energy reduction for a 1.5°C trajectory. Read more →
[Research paper] The ability of Building Stock Energy Models (BSEMs) to facilitate the sector’s climate change target: A review.
This paper explores various types of Building Stock Energy Models (BSEMs) and how well they incorporate socioeconomic phenomena (e.g., rebound effect and income elasticity of demand) that affect energy consumption in buildings. The paper also scrutinises the validity of current BSEMs and argues that, rather than predicting the effect of a given intervention, BSEMs ought to start from global targets — e.g., the Paris Agreement — and then develop the interventions required to meet that target. Read more →
[Research paper] Blind spots of sustainability: Architecture.
In this paper, Bashar Al Shawa argues that advancements in heating and cooling technologies and computer-aided design (CAD) have enabled buildings with wasteful designs to be constructed and made habitable. Crucially, the paper also provides a critique to the energy modelling methodology adopted by some green building standards — suggesting that it has not created the transformational shift necessary to achieve the Paris Agreement. Read more →
[Article] Decarbonising the buildings sector: Opportunities and challenges.
In his piece featured in the Building.co.uk magazine, Bashar Al Shawa shares his insights on the main challenges hindering the realisation of a decarbonised buildings sector. This ranges from the ambiguity of green building standards’ alignment with the Paris Agreement and the well-known performance gap, to the (sometimes exclusive) focus on carbon emissions rather than the more crucial element: energy consumption. Read more →
[Article] Technology has made buildings less climate-friendly: but we can look back in time for solutions.
Originally published in The Conversation and later featured in Fast Company and the World Economic Forum, in this piece Bashar Al Shawa explains how advancements in building technologies have enabled wasteful building designs that would not be possible without these advancements — coining the term “the architectural rebound effect”. Read more →