Transforming Ireland into a Low Carbon Society
Posted on: 03 March 2009
Ireland’s construction industry has the capacity to take a leading role in transforming Ireland into a low carbon society, but the industry needs to re-skill in order to achieve this. This was stated by the newly appointed Professor of Construction Innovation, Professor Mark Dyer, at the School of Engineering, on the occasion of his inaugural lecture in Trinity College Dublin on Wednesday, February 25th last.
“Ireland is well placed to make this transformation. It is small and compact enough to be a viable laboratory for low carbon living. In order to achieve this, however, the construction industry needs to work in closer partnership with universities and the public sector to trial new and innovative ways of reducing the consumption of energy and water in our buildings and transportation systems, as well as the generation of domestic and commercial waste”, stated Professor Dyer at the lecture titled, ‘Construction Innovation: Ireland as a Laboratory for Low Carbon Living’.
In outlining his argument, he emphasised the current energy crisis in Ireland where energy consumption has grown in excess of 50% over the past 15 years and approximately 40% is currently consumed in the transportation of people and goods, and a further 40% spent heating and lightning our homes and offices.
“Through a combination of technological advances and changes in society it could take approximately five years to achieve the transformation into a low carbon society. At present this type of initiative is largely restricted to isolated developments of new 500,000 plus cities in Dubai (Masdar) and Shanghai (Dongun). The recession should provide the impetus to mobilise the skills and talents already in the construction industry to learn how to construct affordable low energy buildings or retro-fit existing buildings. These could be linked with low energy transportation solutions from walking; cycling to electric vehicles that in turn can act as overnight storage for electricity during off-peak periods”.
“Outside of Ireland there is an enormous demand for these green solutions. Ireland now has an opportunity to change its unique selling point from submitting the lowest tender and coping with the past high demand for commercial speculative development towards making a low carbon society become a reality”.
“Some of Ireland’s significant research funds available could be readily channelled into research programmes that could enable this transformation. This process has already commenced and the Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology (IRCSET) has awarded funding to joint research between Trinity College Dublin’s TrinityHaus* research centre and University College Dublin Urban Institute, for an initiative called GREENprint. The aim of GREENprint is to carry out site specific research projects in Dublin on energy efficiency and consumption of buildings and transportation. Working in close partnership with industry and the public sector, it aims to identify and develop pragmatic energy solutions that can move Ireland forward as a living laboratory for sustainable living with a low carbon footprint”.
“All of this requires a change in attitude within the construction sector and a realisation about what research can achieve when coupled with industrial and commercial know-how. Industry needs to be pro-actively part of that medium to long term vision”.
Professor Mark Dyer, who is also director of the newly established TrinityHaus outlined how engineers and architects in Europe developed multi-million euro new technologies and industries worldwide by charting the invention and then development of reinforced earth and bioremediation of contaminated land. He explained how some of these developments could be readily predicted using innovation theories such as systematic innovation which gives strong hints where innovation is possible based on an evolutionary footprint of innovation identified using forty inventive principles.
He illustrated the inventiveness of individuals by drawing on the works of Santiago Calatrava and the late Sir Ove Arup. Professor Dyer explained how many of these achievements only took place because construction companies were receptive to working with researchers from many leading universities in France, Holland, Italy and Japan.
“This approach allowed them to understand the underlying science and then transform the results into a commercially viable product or process. Now the challenge and opportunity is to learn how to creatively transform our energy intensive cities and towns into low carbon societies with smarter ways of using energy, water in buildings and transport along with significant reduction in waste generation.”
Notes to the Editor
About Professor Mark Dyer
Professor Mark Dyer was appointed to the Michael McNamara Chair in Construction Innovation at Trinity College Dublin in 2008, where he leads TrinityHaus a research centre for innovation in construction, energy and design. Previous to that he was Professor of Civil Engineering at Strathclyde University (2004 and 2008) as well as chairman of the David Livingstone Centre for Sustainability. He also has worked for over twenty years on the design and construction of infrastructure projects including highways, power stations, offshore oil platforms, flood defences, tailing dams, landfills in Europe, Africa and Asia.
About the McNamara Chair in Construction Innovation
The Michael McNamara Chair in Construction Innovation in the School of Engineering was established in 2006 and is funded by developer, Bernard McNamara. The Professorship is named in memory of Bernard McNamara’s late father, Michael McNamara, who was a major contributor to the construction industry in Ireland and founder of Michael McNamara & Co.
About TrinityHaus at TCD
TrinityHaus is a research centre for innovation in construction, energy and design. It houses a number of projects, including GREENprint, i-School and the McNamara Centre for Construction Innovation. TrinityHaus is a multidisciplinary venture, encompassing engineering, the sciences and arts, and carries out high quality industrially relevant research that underpins innovation in the energy demand management for low carbon living, people centred design and sustainable construction.http://www.trinityhaus.tcd.ie/