The IEA Annex 57 research group on “Evaluation of Embodied Energy and Carbon Dioxide Emissions for Building Construction” was held on 22nd and 23rd April in Munich, Germany. This was the second meeting of the working phase of this group, which held a previous meeting in Cambridge in October 2012, as well as two preparatory meetings in Helsinki in 2011 and in Porto in May 2012. The group includes 29 participants from 17 countries.
Annex 57 is intended to carry out research and development activities toward near-zero energy and carbon emission in the built environment. The R&D activities focus on the integration of energy efficient and sustainable technologies into healthy buildings and communities. The strategic plan for Annex 57 was approved by the executive of ECBCS (Energy Conservation in Buildings and Community Systems Programme) of IEA in June, 2012, and began its working phase in July, 2013. The Operating Agent (leader of the group) is Tatsuo Oka, Emeritus Professor at Utsonomiya University in Tokyo.
The plan for the Annex follows one that is followed by many IEA working groups, with a literature survey, a study of methods and tools and a case study element. Subtask groups and their leaders are as follows.
Subtask 1: Basics – refine the strategy (Thomas Luetzkendorf, Greg Foliente, Nori Yokoo)
Subtask 2: Literature Survey (Chang-U Chae)
Subtask 3: Study of evaluation methods, tools and databases for embodied energy and CO2 emissions (Seongwon Seo)
Subtask 4: Design strategies and construction methods for buildings with low embodied energy and emissions CO2 and other GHG), including development of templates for case studies to be carried out in participating countries and evaluation of case study results (Harpa Birgisdottir)
Subtask 5: Overall research plan, publication and dissemination (Greg Foliente, Nori Yokoo and Thomas Luetzkendorf)
The next meeting of Annex 57 will take place 23-24 September in Graz, Austria, just before the SB13 Graz conference.