Carbon Neutral 2024

This needs to be about much more than just our business being carbon neutral (which we already partially offset and plan to report with more transparency in 2024).

We’re working towards the goal of every Cooee project achieving LCA carbon neutrality. Most of them already do!

What’s LCA?

Embodied energy = carbon used to supply and install a material
Operational energy = carbon footprint of use/operation over the lifetime
Lifecycle carbon assessment (LCA) = includes BOTH of the above, PLUS assumed repair, and demolition/resource recovery at end of life

How would we calculate this?
We use the Cerclos Rapid LCA eTool. This is a really quick and cost-effective way to get a pretty good estimate of a home’s footprint.

There’s so much greenwash, what do we really mean by Carbon Neutral?

At the moment, our goal is to achieve a carbon-neutral LCA, assuming the installation of a 6kW grid-connected PV system. Currently, in Australia, having a grid-connected PV system provides a pretty hefty offset to the calculation, which we agree is troublesome. So, while we’re super proud of this carbon-neutral estimate, we’d like to get better at focusing on a smaller upfront footprint without relying on this PV offset so much.

What else?

  • We’ve started publishing the reports for each of our projects. See this example.

  • Rapid LCA is no longer an optional service; we’re doing them in-house, as standard, for all projects that reach construction.

And then?

In 2024 our goal is to better understand embodied carbon, and where the best opportunities for change are on balance with energy-efficiency and budget.

We welcome any suggestions or comments you may like to offer!

2024 - intentions

  • Rapid LCA calculations shared publicly

  • All homes reach a standard of being LCA carbon neutral where a 6kW grid-connected solar PV system is installed. Where this system can’t, or isn’t, installed, we offer the clients the calculations so they can offset another way

  • Sarah is a volunteer judge for the Zero Carbon Challenge

  • Begin specifying Holcim zero-carbon concrete

  • (Continuing other standard Cooee measures related to energy-efficiency)

  • Review Cooee’s operational Carbon footprint for both Sarah and Jayden and look at reducing and offsetting

  • Look at national targets on reducing upfront carbon and set ourselves a 10 year timeframe in line with these requirements

2023 - achieved

  • Familiarise ourselves with the Cerclos Rapid LCA tool and assess our goal of carbon neutrality with 6kW solar systems across most projects in 2023

  • Purchase Green Fleet offsets for Sarah’s car use

  • All air travel for the Dulux Study Tour Prize was offset