The Centre for

Interactive Research

on Sustainability, UBC:

Creating Net Positive

Benefits at Multiple

Scales

J. Robinson, R. Cole,

A. Cayuela, A. Kingstone

Presentation at SB13

conference

Jun 5, 2013

The Evolution of CIRS

2003 3,500 m2

UBCV

$18M

2004 11,000 m2

GNWC

$50M

2005-2006 6,000 m2

GNWC

$36M

2007 6,000+4,000 m2

GNWC

$55M

2008 4,600 m2

UBCV

$38M

Building as

research

instrument

• From less bad to more good

• From reducing damage to creating benefits

• From sacrifice to contribution

• From net zero to net positive

Design Goals

• Green

– Design with time in mind (CC and LCA)

– Zero materials waste

– Ecological health (energy, water, biomass)

• Humane

– Inhabitant comfort

– Outstanding IEQ

– Connections

– Occupants to inhabitants

• Smart

– Instrumentation and controls

– Replicable and economical solutions

Regenerative in Environmental Terms

Net positive on:

• Energy

• Operational carbon

• Water quality

• Structural carbon

Energy Balance - Summary

990 MWh

306 MWh

600 MWh

-860 MWh

nat. gas

-154 t CO2e

CIRS EOS

UBC

Steam

Plant

860 – 585

= 275 MWh

Net positive

energy use

1600 MWh

1600-600=

1000 MWh

585 MWh

elec.

Regenerative in Human Terms

Occupant Passive

recipient

of building

systems

Inhabitant Engaged,

with a sense

of place Suite of Benefits

and Opportunities

Metrics: productivity, health and happiness

Sustainability

Charter

CIRS Inhabitant Benefits/Opportunities

1. air quality and natural ventilation 2. acoustic performance 3. natural daylight 4. operable windows 5. web-based lighting controls 6. wood frame & green roof 7. Sustainable café & social meeting spaces 8. VDI environment 9. real-time building performance data 10.information and discussion forums 11.participation in building mgmt strategies

3,000 points of monitoring (excluding F/A)

• Total electricity

• Electrical panels (including plug loads)

• Solar PV

• Solar hot water

• Domestic water supply

• Rainwater harvesting

• Reclaim water

• Storm-water redirected to aquifer

• Available day-light

• Indoor CO2 and VOC

• Weather-related (RH; CO2; air temp)

• Space controls (radiators; air temp)

• Window status and controls

• F/A

• Digital video monitors

$0

$20

$40

$60

$80

0 50 100 150 200 250

Constr

uction C

ost

(m

illion 2

011 d

ollars

)

Floor Area (000 sq.ft)

UBC comparable buildings

CIRS

Capital Cost of Comparable

UBC Buildings

0

10000000

20000000

30000000

40000000

50000000

Best Practice (LEED Gold)

Beyond Best Practice (CIRS)

CD

N$ N

PV

2011

Capital

Renewal

Operating

Costs

Construction

Cost (2011)

Total Cost of Ownership CIRS vs. minimum standard

50

40

30

20

10

Mill

ions o

f 2011 $

25 Y

R N

PV

Environmental and Human Performance

Environmental performance – Considerable work on performance

measurement – Not yet achieving net positive outcomes in

energy, water or carbon

Human Performance − PREOE being written up; POE being

designed − Programming not yet in place

Community

Impacts:

UBC

as a Living Lab

for Sustainability

PLANNING DESIGN CONSTRUCTION COMMISSIONING OPERATION

Design

Brief Build

User

Needs

Pro-

forma

Regenerative Sustainability Lens and Gradient

Design

Technical

Guidelines

Commission

Occupy

Operate/

Inhabit

Construction

Mgmt. Tools

Asset

Mgmt.

Tool

IPD Tools e.g.:

• LCA

• LCC

• BIM

IDP

Sustainability

Targets Rating

Systems BPE

Standard Process New Tools/Processes (Lens)

Inhabitant

Engagement

Programming

Building Lifecycle

Integrated Design

Process (IDP)

Lean & Green

Construction

Lifecycle

Planning

Continuous

Optimization Integration

D

C

C

O

Sustainable buildings design and operations

Community engagement and social action

Regenerative sustainability beyond the building scale

The CIRS Research Program

qualitative

quantitative

Pre- Post-

Post-

Occupancy

Evaluation

Pre-

Occupancy

Evaluation

Building

modeling

Performance

measurement

Sustainable Building Evaluation

Recycling Behaviour in CIRS

0

20

40

60

80

100

SUB CIRS

Pro

pe

r D

isp

os

al (%

)

Location

1

2

3

4

5

General SUB CIRS R

ati

ng

s o

f E

nvir

on

me

nta

l C

on

sc

iou

sn

es

s

Location

BC Hydro Theatre

Collaboration Immersion

Immersion Exploration Telepresence

How to get from this…

High carbon world Low carbon world

to this…

Conclusions

• Net positive building design and

implementation is possible

• Considerable implementation challenges

• Human side harder to get established

Background Slides

A Regenerative Building Process

• All water from the sky

• All liquid waste treated

on site

• All heating and cooling from the

ground/neighbours/sun

• All light (when avail.) from the sun

• Green electricity (25 kW PV)

• Natural/displacement ventilation

• Wood building

net positive

on water

quality

net positive

on energy

and GHG

emissions

Continuous

research:

technical

performance

of building

systems

behavioural

interface of

building &

inhabitants net positive

on structural

carbon

Market

Building Bundle#1 Bundle#2

CIRS Base

Bundle

CIRS plus

EOS preheatEnd Use Energy Type

Lights Electricity, kWh 172,500 88,000 88,000

Plug Loads Electricity, kWh 69,100 69,100 69,100

Heating - Gas Gas, ekWh - 0 0

Heating - Electric Electricity, kWh 324,000 80,400 235,300

Cooling Electricity, kWh 35,300 27,700 27,700

Pumps Electricity, kWh 121,000 104,100 124,500

Fans Electricity, kWh 99,600 29,800 55,100

DHW - Gas Gas, ekWh - 0 0

DHW - Electric Electricity, kWh 40,300 7,900 7,900

Total Both, ekWh 861,800 384,900 585,500

Total - Electric Electricity, kWh 861,800 384,900 585,500

Total - Gas Gas, ekWh - - - Total - Gas Gas, GJ - - - Savings - Electric Electricity, kWh - 476,900 276,300

Savings - Gas Gas, GJ -Savings - Total Both, ekWh - 476,900 276,300

Demand Electricity, kW 165 Demand Savings Electricity, kW - (165)

Energy Cost Energy Type

Total Both $36,200 $16,200 $24,600

Cost Savings - Electric Electricity, $ - $20,000 $11,600

Cost Savings - Gas Gas, $ - $0 $0

Cost Savings - Total Both, $ - $20,000 $11,600

EUI kwh/m2/yr 157 70 106

Market building has heat

pump system with heat

recovery at EUI of 157

KWh/m2/yr Bundle 1 =

CIRS alone

Bundle 2 =

CIRS + EOS

Savings

Lighting: -49%

Cooling and Fans: -57% (-39% incl. EOS)

Electric heating: -75% (-27 incl. EOS)

Electric hot water: -80%

Pumps: -14% (+3% incl. EOS)

Total: -54% (-32% incl. EOS)

Plug Loads assumed to be the same

Without

lights and

plug-loads:

41

kWh/m2/yr

CIRS Strategic Alliance Partners

- electricity efficiency & conservation

- building interiors and LCA

- controls, sensing & monitoring

- residential sustainability

• Demonstration

• Commercialization

• Sponsorship/licensing

• Contributions/philanthropy

• Product/system testing

• Training/certification

• Collaborative research

• Tenancy

Implementation Challenges

Path Dependence (“Needle in the groove”)

Coordination (“Plate spinning”)

Momentum (“Brick laying”)

Partnerships &Team-building (“Mosaic ”)

The Role of the University (“Wall flower”)