The response from the instrument developed by the UN called Common Carbon MetricIt's called common carbon metric (CCM) and was developed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which now are testing at the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). It 'a tool to measure the energy consumption and carbon emissions in homes and offices, which, as is known, are among the main sources of pollution. According to some estimates, in fact, the greenhouse gases generated by the buildings should further increase rising from 8.6 billion tons in 2004 to 11.1 billion tons in 2020.
From this tool you can finally get to outline a consistent protocol that can be used by designers, architects and designers.
"Here at UNEP believe that the sector holds great potential to contribute to significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions," said Sylvie Lemmet, the Director of the Division of Technology, Industry and Economics Programme. "The development of the Common Carbon Metric and the decision to treat it as an ISO international standard, are important steps to remove barriers that block this potential and provide a path toward greater energy efficiency in buildings," he added.
The CCM allows you to perform calculations on energy consumption (and its impact) of buildings in use per square meter or per occupant during a year is not applied to construction. Considering the entire life cycle of buildings, the tool takes account of the phase in which is the largest energy consumption. Contemplates two measurement approaches: a 'top down' for a group of buildings, a 'bottom-up' for a single property.
After the initial tests performed by the Sustainable Buildings and climate initiatives in 2010, the CCM was further "refined" with a second experimental phase started recently, the preliminary results will be presented in October. Proposals to use the CCM as a basis for new international standards for buildings will be put on the agenda of the ISI within a year. If you consider appropriate, new projects of international standards on energy consumption and CO2 emissions, once defined, could be adopted within three years.
According to UNEP, "the CCM is intended to be used around the world, including developing countries, where the limits on data collection and infrastructure can not sustain the current methods for measuring energy consumption and emission levels during the life cycle of a building. "