Turning the Myth of High-Rise Zero Carbon Buildings into Reality: A Socio-Technical Framework of Design Strategies

The zero carbon building (ZCB) approach is innovative in reducing buildings’ energy consumption and carbon emissions, with hundreds of ‘zero carbon’ or ‘zero energy’ projects reported worldwide. However, very few of them are of 10 storeys or above. There is perception that high-rise ZCB is a myth. The aim of this paper is to develop a novel sociotechnical framework of design strategies for realising high-rise ZCBs. Through an onerous literature review, only two papers were found to have examined zero energy design strategies for high-rises, rendering a significant gap in knowledge. Also, the lack of a common definition of high-rise ZCBs and the energy/carbon scope hampers the uptake of ZCB design strategies. Another deficiency in literature is the ignorance of the interdependence among possible design strategies. The paper thus develops a socio-technical framework of design strategies, which integrates both technical and social aspects. The technical aspects are: 1) improving energy efficiency; 2) adopting on and off-site renewable energy technologies; and 3) installing carbon offsetting systems. The social perspective should be addressed from the chain of the innovation, diffusion, adoption and implementation of these technologies as well as through engaging the key stakeholders