The Latin American SB04 (claCS´04) was held inSão Paulo from July 18th to 21st. The first of theSB04 conferences was a huge success. claCS´04was held in conjunction with the 10th BrazilianMeeting of Technology of the Built Environment(ENTAC´04). We had more than 1200 submitedabstracts and around 800 complete papers, fromwhich 272 were selected for oral presentation andother 175, to be presented as posters. More than750 delegates attended, overcoming our expecta-tions. All sessions were very well attended, and thelevel of interest was very high.

Plenary sessions were arranged in the morning,covering subjects identified as of major importancein the region. We counted on the splendid contribu-tions of José Goldemberg (Challenges ofSustainable Development); Rodney Milford andOded Grajew (Sustainable construction, Socialresponsibility and Sustainable Development);Orestes Gonçalves, Maria S. Weber and WilsonPassetto (Water use and conservation); RonaldRovers, Rafael Salgado, Norman Goijberg, RuiLeite and Aser Cortines (Public Policies for SB);Marina Godoy, Roberto Lamberts and Ilso Sauer(Energy efficiency in buildings); Ray Cole (Shiftingfrom green to SB), Nils Larsson, Shuzo Murakami,Nigel Howard and Vanessa Gomes (Assessmentsystems worldwide and a proposal for assess-ments in Brazil); Armando Deffis Caso and LuisAlvarez-Ude (SB Case Studies); Wayne Trusty and

Vanderley John (Life-cycle Analysisand Selection of building materials).Outstanding divulgation and organiza-tional support was provided by iiSBEcontacts in the region, namely CesarTrevino, Norman Goijberg and Silviade Schiller.

As a closure for the last plenary ses-sion, Shuzo Murakami and KazuoIwamura gave a detailed overview ofSB05 and SB04 links to it. The LatinAmerican SB04 was closely coordinat-ed with SB05Tokyo Conference andAcademic Programme, and all partici-pants were strongly encouraged tosubmit abstracts to SB05Tokyo, tostrengthen the Latin-American repre-sentation in the global event.

The need for initiatives on educationfor SB was consistently pointed out inmany sessions of the conference and,in the closing session, a new iiSBEproject on Education for SustainableBuilding was announced. Ray Cole(University of British Columbia) agreedto lead the formation of an iiSBE work-ing group that will cover curriculumchanges at the international level. Thiswill probably have major long-termimportance, but the project had imme-

Advanced Building NewsI n t e r n a t i o n a l I n i t i a t i v e f o r a S u s t a i n a b l e B u i l t E n v i r o n m e n t

claCS’04

ABN 04, August 2004

diately gotten reactions and manifestations of inter-est from some Latin American countries.

Vanessa Gomes and Maristela Gomes da SilvaCampinas - SP, Vitória ˆ ES, BRAZIL

Note that the claCS’04 conference was the first ofa series of five regional sSB conferences takingplace this year. The remaining events will be heldin Stellenbosch South Africa, Shanghai, China,Warsaw, Poland and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Fordetails, see : Ed.

The Perspectief project was a very interestingDutch action research project about sustainablelifestyles. The study was carried out by a Dutcvhconsulting firm, Centrum Energy Advies (CEA), forVROM, the Netherlands Ministry of Housing,Spatial Planning and Environment. The study pro-vides indications on what might be sustainable lifestyles in the future.

12 households were asked to participate in theexperiment, which provided them with an increaseof 20% in their incomes, but required them to carryout certain changes in their lifestyle. The purposewas to see whether the planned changes inlifestyle would results in reduced energy consump-tion, without sacrificing convenience or comfort.The project ran between 1996 and 1998, and twoyears later monitoring was carried out to see if theproject had resulted in permanent changes in theirlifestyle and behaviour.

The research question was broadly posed aswhether the pattern of household consumptioncould be changed, and the consequent energy con-sumption could be reduced, based on theincreased income that is assumed to emerge overthe next decade. Given some advice, and evenpersonal coaching, what would an efficient lifestyleacceptable to the households look like, and whatwould be the energy implications?

The participants tried for two years to reduce theirdirect and indirect energy use by changing theirpattern of spending on products and services,assisted by personal lifestyle coaches. Indirectenergy use is defined as energy used for productsand services (production, storage, transport ofthese). This is additional to direct use of energy forgas and electricity. The goal of the project was setat a reduction 40 percent of the direct and indirectbaseline energy use of that for average DutchHouseholds. The specific issues addressed includ-ed food, clothing, transport, recreation and person-al services. The 12 households kept track of theirbehaviour and spending by computer, and theresearch team later translated this into energyexpenditure equivalents.

The results were interesting. All households suc-ceeded in reducing the energy related to their pat-tern of consumption. On average they saved 31%,compared with their own energy use prior to theproject.

The participating families reported that there wereattractive elements of the changed lifestyle, whichinvolved the purchase of more efficient durablegoods that were also more expensive and higherquality. They also reported an increase in the pur-chase of services, such as help for housekeeping,going out more often to restaurants rather thancooking at home and, in general, using taxis and

B r a z i lABN 04, August 2004

02

The Perspectief project

N e t h e r l a n d s

Are sustainable life styles possible?

rental cars instead of driving, and making more useof personal support services. Most of the house-hold members thought that the modified lifestylewas more comfortable than their previous patternof living.

The main conclusion of the experiment was thatincreases in income could be combined with lowerenergy use, increased comfort and convenience.

The project evaluation

About one and a half years after ending the experi-ment, the households were asked to give informa-tion on what behavioural changes they hadretained since the end of the project, and theirviews on its success. Most participants stated that

they still lived up to theirenergy-saving lifestyle inmany ways. This is, as theTable shows, only partiallytrue.

On the positive side,most of the householdshave maintained someform of energy-savinglifestyle when it comesto food consumptionand recreation, andalso for personal careand investments forrunning the household.They have maintainedan awareness of ener-gy efficiency and con-sumption.

Most of the projecthouseholds are still

feeling comfortable with the changes in lifestylethey have adopted on a permanent basis, and giveseveral reasons: consuming organic food is notonly energy saving, but is more healthy as well.The same counts for taking a bicycle instead of acar. And they state that it gives a “good feeling ’to

N e t h e r l a n d s ABN 04, August 200403

Perceived to be difficult Perceived to be easy

Difficulty to change behaviour at the beginning of the project

More choices in lifestyle options were allowed than participants expected

Not using or buying certain things, and looking for alternatives

Getting acquainted with the new lifestyle

Constantly having to think about choices The ability to be creative

The need to do continuous computer reporting

A growing consciousness about the act of purchasing

Saving on personal mobility and holidaysSpending the extra income in an energy-efficient way

An appreciation of the higher quality of the more efficient products

Table 1: Difficulty or Ease of Adopting New Lifestyles

Fully maintained

Partly maintained

Not maintained

Vegetables 11 5 5 1

Meat 9 4 4 1

Dairy products 7 0 5 2

Drinks 3 1 0 2

Dining out / take-away food, ready meals

9 2 4 3

House decoration 11 0 7 4

Purchase of (efficient) household goods

11 3 7 1

Hiring services 8 2 4 2

Personal care 10 2 7 1

Transportation 11 3 4 4

Recreation activities 11 5 4 2

Holidays 8 0 3 5

Category

Type of changes adopted during the project

Changes maintained 1.5 years after the end of the projects

Table 2: Extent to which lifestyle changes were maintained

act in an energy and environmental conscious waywhen buying or doing things.” And some of theselifestyle changes save money as well.

However, changes in lifestyles related to holidaysand transportation have proven harder to maintain.These aspects of the project required the partici-pants to move against general trends, such as theuse of a personal automobile and flying South forholidays. With the ending of the project, it was dif-ficult for the participants to ‘sell’ the continuation ofthis kind of behaviour to their friends and family.

A problem related to the ending of the project isthat the families lost access to their lifestyle coach-es and this led to a certain loss of focus. Ofcourse, the extra money disappeared as well, andthis has made continuing investments in high-priced and high-quality goods or services difficult.

Other negative factors cited are the scarcity oforganic food shops, and the greater expense ofhigh-quality (and high efficiency) goods. The lastnegative parameter coming out of the experiment isthe high price and bad quality of public transport,which makes it an unattractive alternative for pri-vate cars.

C o n c l u s i o n s

This is an intriguing project, and deserves to berepeated on a wider scale. We plan to obtain fur-ther details on the team that carried out theresearch on behalf of VROM, and to see if theyhave continued their work.

Ronald Rovers

As a result of the 6th environmental action pro-gramme of the EU, accepted in 2002, and theagenda for SBC developed by by DG Enterprise,several EU directorates have started preparingstrategies and directives related to SustainableBuilding.

Resources Strategy

DG Environment is leading the way with strategiesfor Resources, Waste and Recycling, Urban strate-gies, and Product Policies. The strategies for thesethemes, including specific means and measures(directives), will be developed within the next year.Consultation processes are ongoing, and measuresdiscussed so far include: Tradable certificates, Pay-As-You-Throw schemes, Incentive systems,Prescriptive instruments (bans), and “a level play-ing field for recycling accompanying measures”.

The Resources strategy will have a big impact onsustainable building and construction, since itmaterial resources consume roughly 40-50 % ofall resources. However, DG Environment concludesthat: “with the exception of certain renewableresources, predictions about global scarcity haveturned out to be unfounded”. The focus will be onimproved performance of traditional materials andon land management, since this is recognised as ascarce resource. Core elements of a future the-matic strategy will be “Knowledge gathering, Policyassessment, and Policy integration”.

Also included is the development of schemes forthe environmental labelling of construction materi-als (Environmental Product Directives (EPDs),and/or EU eco-labels). A harmonised EPD(Environmental Performance Directive) and/or EUeco-label is also proposed for buildings and build-ing services.

Ongoing within DG Environment are initiativesbased on The Green paper on Integrated ProductPolicy which will lead to several new initiatives thathave a major influence on building. One very inter-esting follow-up will be on Green PublicProcurement. Other areas are currently being stud-ied include environmental product declarationschemes. The general philosophy is not just to useless resources, but also to use them better.

Urban Strategy

The aim of the Urban strategy is to improve theenvironmental performance and quality of urbanareas and to secure a healthy living environmentfor Europe’s urban citizens. It is also intended toreinforce the environmental contribution to sustain-able urban development while taking into accountthe related economic and social issues. Fourthemes are central:

= urban environmental management, = urban transport, = sustainable construction and = urban design.

N e t h e r l a n d s ABN 04, August 200404

E u r o p e

Action on SB policies in the EU

E u r o p e ABN 04, August 200405

Environmental Management for Cities

A strong focus is on an obligation for EU countriesto adopt an appropriate environmental manage-ment system (EMS) for cities of more than 100.000inhabitants. Issues to be treated include: energyconsumption, greenhouse gas emissions, wateruse and treatment, waste, noise, air quality, natureand biodiversity, transport and mobility, design, nat-ural and man-made risks, sustainable construction,related health issues and the quality of life as awhole. The development of an EMS to handlesuch a wide range of complex issues will present achallenge, especially for some new EU countriesthat may have less background in these areas. Theimportance of the existing building stock is recog-nised: “Retrofitting Europe’s older building stockwith insulation could reduce CO2 emissions frombuildings and related energy costs by as much as42% “

Energy

DG Transport and Energy (DG TREN) has set thetone with the recently introduced EnergyPerformance Directive for Buildings, which willrequire member countries to have Energy regula-tions in place by the beginning of 2006. Besidesthis and the on-going programme for RenewableEnergy, (which includes support for a hundredcommunities to be using 100 % renewable energy),DG TREN is setting new ambitious targets for2020. A target value of at least 20% of grossdomestic renewable energy consumption by 2020for the EU is seen to be achievable, as well asdirectives for 1% extra gross energy savings peryear.

Ronald Rovers, July 2004

Holcim Foundation Establishes Aw a r d

The Holcim Foundation, established by the LargeSwiss cement producer Holcim, has established atwo-million USD awards program in sustainableconstruction.

Five of the world’s leading technical universities willsupport the Holcim Foundation in assessingentries. The Holcim Awards competition will beorganized over cycles that include five regionalHolcim Awards and the global Holcim Award.

The Holcim Foundation’s partner university in eachregion - Europe, North America, Latin America,Africa Middle East, and Asia Pacific - have beeninvolved in defining the criteria that will be used forevaluating the entries received for the competition.

At each of the five partner universities, a leadingacademic will assist in preparing a jury panel forevaluating entries. Profiles of each partner universi-ty and representative academics are now availableon the Holcim Foundation website:

The Universities and associated academics are:

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), - Prof.Dr. Hans-Rudolf Schalcher - Head of theDepartment of Civil, Environmental and GeomaticEngineering,

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), -Prof. Dr. Leon Glicksman - Professor of BuildingTechnology & Mechanical Engineering

University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil - Prof. Dr. Vanderley John - Associate Professor in

the Department of Construction Engineering,Polytechnic School

The University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), SouthAfrica - Dr. Daniel Irurah - Senior Lecturer in the School ofArchitecture and Planning

Tongji University (TDX), China - Prof. Dr. Zhiqiang Wu - Dean of the College ofArchitecture and Planning

The entry procedure for the Holcim Awards will betotally Internet-based - enabling innovative ideasfrom all regions and irrespective of scale to partici-pate in the competition. Dtailed entry informationwill soon be available on the Internet.

For more information, visit the Holcim Foundationfor Sustainable Construction website:

www.holcim-foundation.org

A preliminary announcement was made at therecent claCS04 conference in Sao Paolo, and itcreated quite a buzz amongst delegates. Ed.

Until September 15, a summer specialon iiSBE Associate memberships !Join for only $60 Canadian, and alsoobtain a discount worth £60 to BuildingResearch & Information, a prestigious ref-ereed journal. Contact Caroline@iisbe.orgfor information.

C a n a d a ABN 04, August 200406

ABN is a bimonthly publication of iiSBE, theInternational Initiative for a Sustainable BuiltEnvironment. ABN specializes in informationrelated to sustainable building, and is distributedfree to members of iiSBE. To join, see or contact

Editor: Nils Larsson

Editorial Board:Ilari Aho, Nigel Howard, Joel Ann Todd, NormanGoijberg, Roger Wildt, Ronald Rovers and AndreaMoro

Contributors:Argentina Silvia de SchillerAustralia Rein Jaaniste & Peter GrahamAustria Susanne GeisslerBrazil Vanessa Gomes da SilvaCanada Wayne Trusty & Alex ZimmermanChile Norman GoijbergChina George ZhangDenmark Ove MØrkFinland Ilari AhoFrance Sylviane Nibel & Serge SidoroffGermany Gunter LohnertHong Kong SAR Stephen Lau & KS WongIsrael Yehuda OlanderJapan Tatsuo OkaKorea Sang Dong ParkMexico Cesar Ulises TrevinoNetherlands Ronald RoversPoland Aleks PanekSouth Africa Chrisna du PlessisSweden Trine PettersenUK Bill BordassUSA Joel Ann Todd

27-29 September, 2005

The 2005 World Sustainable BuildingConference in Tokyo

iiSBE and CIB are pleased to announcethe SB’05 conference, to be held in Tokyo.

The conference is being organized by pub-lic and private-sector organizations inJapan, with the support of iiSBE and CIB.

For details, see:

Canadian GBC/SB05 Team Gears Up

The Canadian team that will represent Canada atthe SB05 conference in Tokyo next September,recently held a second meeting.

Gord Shymko, who heads to project solicitatoncommittee, has identified some 25 projects to beconsidered for performance assessment and dis-play at SB05. Current discussions are focusing onwhether community-scale projects can be consid-ered, and how to give renovation projects an equalopportunity (the absence of data on operating andembodied energy would make it more expensive toassess such projects).

Fund raising will become another major area ofactivity as soon as Summer ends. Team leader BobBach believes that the work of the team will beattractive for potetntial sponsors, since the SB05displays will provide coverage and promotion forthe whole Canadian industry in addition to the nar-rower focus of performance assessment methods.

Doug Pollard will chair a small group to considerhow community/building interface issues can beconsidered. When the actual performance assess-ment process begins, coordination will be providedby Woytek Kujawski, who has taken part in all pre-vious assessments.

For information, contact Bob Bach at< b b a c h @ e n e r g y p r o f i l e s . c o m >