Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD), Carbon, and Climate Resilience

# Chapter 4: Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD), Carbon, and Climate Resilience  The climate crisis has fundamentally changed architectural practice in Victoria. With construction contributing 40% of global carbon emissions, you're now on the frontline of climate action, and the regulations reflect this reality. ### **Understanding Your Carbon Impact** Think of carbon in two buckets: operational (the energy your building uses) and embodied (the carbon locked in materials and construction). Here's the catch, that super-insulated building using foam products might carry 30 years of embodied carbon debt before it breaks even on operational savings. You'll need to master Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) and lifecycle assessment tools to make informed choices. When interpreting these, always check the system boundaries, what's included can dramatically affect the numbers. Since May 2024, Victoria requires 7-star NatHERS ratings for new homes (up from 6-star), plus whole-of-home energy budgets. NCC 2025 introduces voluntary embodied carbon reporting, with mandatory requirements expected by 2028, giving you a crucial preparation window. ### **Designing for Present Extremes** Climate resilience isn't future planning, it's responding to current reality. Melbourne's 2019 record heat exposed critical failures: apartments completely dependent on air conditioning became death traps during power outages. The 2022 floods affected 63 of Victoria's 79 municipalities. These aren't anomalies anymore. Your buildings must achieve passive survivability, maintaining habitable conditions without power. This means returning to fundamentals (orientation, thermal mass, cross-ventilation) while integrating modern expectations. Most graduates find this the steepest learning curve, as it challenges glass-dominated architectural trends. ### **Managing Professional Liability** Your duty of care now extends to advising clients about foreseeable climate risks across building lifespans. Document everything: climate risk discussions, client decisions against your recommendations, and the rationale behind adaptation investments. The ARBV expects you to provide this advice even when clients resist the cost implications.  **Key Terms:** - **Embodied carbon**: Greenhouse gas emissions from material extraction, manufacturing, transport, and construction - **EPD (Environmental Product Declaration)**: Standardised document reporting a product's environmental impact across its lifecycle - **NatHERS**: Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme measuring thermal performance on a 0-10 star scale - **Passive survivability**: A building's ability to maintain safe temperatures during extended power/heating/cooling system failures - **Whole-of-home energy budget**: Annual energy consumption limit covering heating, cooling, lighting, and hot water (measured in MJ/m²)