Here’s a sobering fact: The building sector is dragging down global efforts to reduce carbon emissions. [...]
The good news is that, according to the report, up to 61% of building emissions could be cut by 2050, and we have all the solutions at our disposal today, from passive cooling technologies and denser multifamily homes to retrofits. All we need to do is implement them—or better yet, introduce regulations and policies to will them into implementation.
— Fast Company
The latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) found that emissions from buildings doubled between 1990 and 2019 despite the widespread adaptation of environmentally-friendly construction methods and materials like recycled concrete. Increases in population and the total floor area per person (especially in the global north) accounted for nearly three-quarters of the emissions jump.
An overall lack of regulations on new developments in those countries is the primary cause according to lead author Yasmina Saheb, who also took the (increasingly popular) stance regarding the greater need for adaptive reuse projects where applicable.
“Each time you have a heating or cooling system that consumes energy, this means the building was wrongly designed,” she told FastCompany about flaws laden in the creature comforts typical to Western design. “A good building is a building that doesn’t need an active heating and cooling system.”
Read the full Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change report here.
1 Comment
It’s not us architects who need to “do more”. Architects love proposing sustainable systems and technology to owners. It’s owners who hold all the funding. If it’s not a building or zoning code requirement, the chances of something being value engineered are high. If handrails weren’t required on both sides of a stair in the building code, the owner would tell the architect to delete one side.
The building code is moving toward sustainable design, but it’s a slow process. But I think the general public needs to understand that every added line of building or zoning code increases the cost of the architect’s fee and overall building cost. All that increased cost is funneled to the occupant. Wondering why building and home costs are going up? It’s articles like this that cause code changes. Will we get more sustainable buildings? Yes. Will we all have to pay more? Yes. Will the less fortunate suffer more? Probably.
#rickitect
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