Hoppet - The first fossil free preschool

Abstract

Residential and commercial buildings give rise to about one fifth of the greenhouse gas emissions in Sweden. One important goal of the City of Gothenburg is to be a climate neutral city with fair emission levels of greenhouse gases in 2030. In order to reach this goal, a demonstration project has been initiated with the aim to build a fossil free preschool - Hoppet. Hoppet will be built with a minimal climate impact and with no fossil resources. This includes everything from production and transport of materials to energy usage in the building. The fossil content and the climate impact of a standard preschool has been calculated, to be used as a benchmark for Hoppet. The result shows that all 250 building products in the reference preschool have a climate impact but finding fossil free and climate neutral alternative products has been found challenging. The climate impact of the building products in the reference preschool is calculated to more than 220 kg CO2-eq. per m2. Strategies to decrease climate impact for Hoppet preschool has been developed. For example, product development and innovation has been identified as key issues as well as increased collaboration between different actors in the construction industry. Communicating the project internationally is of high importance to find partners and innovations that don't exist in Sweden as well as to engage other stakeholders to help transform the building sector.