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Green Buildings

What is Sustainability

"Meeting our own needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs"

What is Climate Change

Climate change has been on the topics of agendas of political and industry leaders for the past 20 years with the aim of bringing general awareness to the public as well as promoting sustainable development in the form of policies and investment opportunities.

 

From a historical point of view, the first scientific concerns developed about the rising temperatures and the effects that climate change can have on our livelihood on earth was brought up in the 19th century when the greenhouse effect was first identified.

 

Excessive use of coal and burning fossil fuels because of the industrial revolution and the releasing of Greenhouse gases into the atmosphere has accelerated the destabilisation of our atmosphere with the consequences of global temperatures rising in an uncontrolled way.

Carbon Emissions
Sustainability

What is the DATA showing?

  • Global average temperatures have increased by more than 1℃ since pre-industrial times

According to Our World in Data, 73.2 % of the global carbon dioxide equivalence (CO2e) was accounted for energy used in the industry which 17.5% was energy-related emissions from the generation of electricity and heat used in residential and commercial buildings.

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Focusing on a construction industry-specific, cement production accounted for a direct 3% and steel and iron production for 7.2% of the global emissions with energy-related emissions associated with the manufacturing of these products. In summary, the construction and manufacturing industries were responsible for 6.11 billion tCO2e, whereas the transport indirectly correlated with civil assets accounted for 7.7 billion tCO2e only second to Electricity & Heat-related emissions of 15 billion tCO2e as seen in Figures below.

OurWorldinData.org - Emissions by sector

What are we doing about it?

Furthermore, the United Nations have released the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which urge for action by all countries to share a blueprint for “peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future” by the goals set for 2030. Nevertheless, the generality of the goals, Goals 9,11,12 and 13 have a direct and indirect relation to the infrastructure hence giving a lot of responsibility on the construction industry to take action and reduce carbon emissions

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READ MORE ABOUT SUSTAINABILITY
A BOOK YOU SHOULD READ

Are we running out of Time?

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