MAKE YOUR SUBMISSION(S) BELOW
STEP 1
Please complete the form below to indicate your intention to make a submission.
STEP 2
Upload an A4-format PDF document of not more than 20 pages – incorporating the Submission Requirements as detailed below – and upload it along with the project name and details, as indicated, by Friday 2nd September, 2022.
Eligibility
Submission Requirements
What the judges are looking for:
The European Union seeks to be carbon neutral by 2050. To achieve that goal we need to move from aspiration to action. We need insightful design, appropriate technology, knowledge, information and imagination so we all work together if Ireland is to achieve its climate change goals.
We need significant carbon and methane reduction, and energy conservation, to develop viable renewables, recycle building materials and waste, and reach new levels of environmental and economic viability through a circular economy.
The Towards NetZero Awards were devised to encourage that process and the assessors — led by panel Chairman, Ciaran O’Connor, State Architect — will look for submissions that transcend the purely functional and prosaic, that rise above basic utility to achieve a poetic pragmatism that distinguishes what is essential from that which is expendable.
A Net Zero (whole life) building is a highly energy efficient building where renewable energy sources and offsetting are utilised such that the total global warming potential for the whole building life cycle is less than zero.
This would need to be proved by evidence such as –
Highly energy efficient – defined by RIAI climate challenge at least 2025 target.
Resource efficient – should meet the 2030 RIAI climate challenge for embodied carbon.
For existing buildings, it is sufficient to meet the definition of Net Zero Operational Energy.
A Net Zero Operational building is a highly-efficient building where renewable energy resources are utilised for all energy use, such that the Global Warming Potential for operational energy use is less than or equal to zero.