1. Opening Black Boxes
The need for greater transparency and accuracy
Dr Keith Baker
Centre for Energy and the Built Environment
Glasgow Caledonian University

2. Overview
• The problem of black boxes
• For and against greater transparency
• Accuracy and building energy modelling
• Enabling greater accuracy
• Final thoughts

3. Data CO2 / CO2e
The Problem

4. Data CO2 / CO2e
?
Conversion factors
Calculations
Assumptions
Boundaries
?
The Problem

5. Against Transparency
• Intellectual Property Rights
• Profit and competitive advantage
• Expediency
• Lack of an independent, impartial, expert
scrutiny body
• Problem of non-expert scrutiny (e.g. by
climate change deniers)

6. For Transparency
• How valuable is that IPR anyway?
• ‘Transparent’ does not have to mean ‘free’
• Whose advantage?
• How expedient?
• Need for greater exposure to peer review –
stakeholder and public confidence in results
• Greater transparency means results are less
open to questions / claims of greenwashing

7. Positive Examples
Free:
• Inventory of Carbon and Energy, University of Bath
• Climate Challenge Fund Route Maps, Footprint
Consulting
Low cost:
• REAP / REAP Petite, Stockholm Environment Institute
• Many building energy models

8. Energy CO2 / CO2e
Heating
Lighting
Ventilation
Appliances
etc
Accuracy and Building
Energy Modelling

9. Energy CO2 / CO2e?
But then...

10. Enabling Accuracy
• Is there really a standard household any
more?
– Is it time to ditch the zone 1 / zone 2 assumption?
– What are the implications for policy making?
• How accurately can we model the impact of
behaviour, and behavioural interventions?
• What can be learnt from buildings that can be
applied elsewhere?

11. Final Thoughts
• Two inter-connected problems
• Can greater transparency lead to greater
accuracy?
• How can our knowledge of building energy
modelling inform carbon accounting in
general?
• How accurate can we be? And how accurate
do we need to be?

12. The Agriculture Workshop
Date: Tues 17th June
Time: 10:00 - 1:00 (includes lunch) – plus an afternoon
session for those able to stay
Venue: Room A426, Govan Mbeki Building, Glasgow
Caledonian University
Workshop leaders: Dr Keith Baker, GCU & ICARB; Dr Ole
Pahl, BATFarm Project, GCU; Dr Colin Burton,
Cemagref, France; Dr Gary Lanigan, Teagasc, Ireland;
and Dr Arthur Fallick, Kwantlen Polytechnic
University, Vancouver, Canada.