Book review: System innovation for sustainability 4

System innovation for sustainability 4: Energy use and the built environment

Editor: Saadi Lahlou / Greenleaf Publishing / Hardback: £35 / ISBN: 978–1–906093–25–9

The fourth in a series of books examining how systems need to change to become more sustainable, this looks at energy use in buildings.

Like the other three in the series – on consumption and production, mobility, and food and agriculture – the latest volume uses a case study method to illustrate how different approaches to reducing energy use in the built environment have been implemented.

The examples include: the design of zero-energy residential buildings in Boston; a solar housing estate in Freiburg; the innovative approaches used by Woking Borough Council to deliver affordable and sustainable energy; and the adoption of energy-saving performance contracting for federally owned public buildings in Austria.

Each case study contains a thorough description of the initiative, from its development to implementation, and the aftermath, including the lessons learned.

There is also a very useful concluding chapter outlining the key steps required to make the transition to more sustainable energy use in buildings.

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