The deliberations I have participated in recently have had me reflecting on the different ways in which specific topics and issues can affect a larger community as a whole and going off of that, something I have taken quite an interest in is sustainability. Specifically, I’m interested in sustainability as it refers to real estate development. As part of her career advancement, my sister has been selected as a LEED Green Associate on the U.S. Green Building Council for the work she has done. Therefore, she will be a main source of information for these upcoming civic issues blogs. Speaking of which, just how is sustainability in real estate a civic issue?
There are many, many facets to understanding the depth of that question, but through these blog posts, we will be covering three of the more prevalent issues in relation to the topic. With each issue we explore here, we will be covering the problem, the risks associated with it, and possible solutions currently being developed/implemented. Of those three, today we will be covering the effects of climate change and how they influence discussions and advances in the field of sustainability in real estate.
According to the UN environment programme finance initiative, real estate accounts for over 30 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions on the planet, but the report was published in 2016, so that number, according to my sister, has gone up to 40 percent. A staggering amount, considering how much damage we have seen climate change doing in recent years. Despite that fact, however, discussion on the topic is largely out of the spotlight when compared to less carbon-intensive areas like food production or transportation (Rothstein). You tend to hear a lot about how much things like cars, planes, or factories contribute to climate change, but not so much about how your own home does.
Let us dive into the negatives that come with the current majority of real estate as it affects climate change and carbon emissions/footprint. Starting with a rather overlooked point, your house itself, just being built, increases carbon footprint marginally. You have to develop the land where the house is being built to be able to, well, build the house. This removes the natural area where the house is going to be built, reducing the amount of CO2 absorbed by the plants in the area, leading to a carbon buildup. Then comes building the house. The construction of houses also increases the carbon footprint of the household, often using heavily processed materials for building. The appliances in the house tend to use too much electricity and aren’t very efficient in conserving water. The carbon footprint of the household keeps building, and the larger it gets, the more it affects climate change. Those with larger carbon footprints tend to, when they use any resource, have a greater, more negative effect on climate change than those with lower ones. It may not be directly from the house, but the energy the houses use most likely comes from burning coal or some other fossil fuel in a power plant, with around 30 percent of all electricity used by the buildings coming from those sources according to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute.
All of that being said, there are a lot of ways that green buildings or eco-friendly resource management can help alleviate some of the emissions caused by the current state of real estate. Considering the first point made above about the house itself taking away from the environment where it was built, a possible and very effective solution is something known as regenerative design. According to HMC Architects, regenerative design is a form of architecture that promotes a healthy environment, where buildings are “designed and operated to reverse the damage and have a net-positive impact on the environment” (HMC Architects). Essentially, the process is based on restoring the resources needed to make the houses once they are used for their building purposes. You take nature away to lay the foundation, and you build a garden or water feature with plants in different places in the house to restore the natural elements that were removed. That transitions nicely into the next point about the construction of houses. Regenerative design can play a role here too, with infrastructure examples like green roofs and skins. These roofs and skins, instead of the commonly used shingles and tiles, clean the surrounding air by sequestering carbon in the air (HMC Architects). Another possible solution could just be sustainable development. That method takes more of a “do the least damage possible” approach, using only the materials absolutely necessary in construction, so as to limit the environmental impact (HMC Architects). You could also build homes from more renewable materials, including other recycled building materials, as well as alternatives for commonly used ones. An example that comes to mind is mycelium. Mycelium is a fungus, but its root structure is stronger than concrete, according to an article from TIME Magazine, so it could be used as an alternative foundational material obtained from renewable sources. Getting energy from solar panels or turbines rather than relying on the power grid, as well as storing the energy on the side via a microgrid is a way to reduce the energy costs. You could also supply that stored energy to surrounding homes as well, reducing the net carbon footprint even more. In terms of efficiency, looking for low energy consumption appliances, and appliances with good water efficiency, as well as possibly collecting for your own source of water are ways to also reduce your net carbon footprint.
Overall, we can see here that the accumulation of little problems in the current state of real estate leads to an enormous impact on the climate, with more and more greenhouse gases being released due to inefficient design and planning. Viable solutions include regenerative or sustainable design, but also just being conscious about how your household can impact the environment can lead to a decrease in said impact because you’ll start noticing little things you can do to reduce that impact. Climate change is a big issue that everyone has to worry about, so making the single most carbon-intensive fields more sustainable can have a big, positive impact.
https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/news-insights/a-more-effective-approach-to-carbon-zero-real-estate/
http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1957474,00.html
Om, it is crazy to think that real estate accounts for such a large portion of global carbon emissions. Considering that homes are typically made out of wood, I thought that such construction would be quite sustainable as wood is a renewable resource; however, it seems like the opposite is the case. Likewise, you mentioned wind turbines to power a home in your blog, but I would recommend reading into the amount of space and non-renewable resources needed to have functioning wind mills as natural gas is often considered to be a more efficient source of energy, especially if that methane is collected from landfills.