En

nviron
nmen
ntal Isssuess & Buildin
B
ng De
esign
Acccording to the scientific
s
c commu
unity, climate ch
hange is happening and its
effects will have severe consequ
uences ffor our society and en
nvironme
ent.
Red
ducing e
energy use in buildings iss one of the mosst importtant wayys to redu
uce

Ice core
c
recordss from Antarrctica show that changees in carbon
n dioxide con
ncentrations (blue) tracck closely wiith
chan
nges in tem
mperature (reed). Carbon dioxide leveels are now higher than
n at any tim
me during thee past 650,0
000
yearrs. (CREDIT: Marian Kosshland Scien
nce Museum
m, source)

humans ovverall envvironmental impact.

Nea
arly unanim
mous scien
ntific conse
ensus has established
e
d that climate change
e is occurrring as a re
esult
of human
h
acttivity. Mathematical models of global climate cha
ange have linked a human-driven
incrrease in GH
HGs to an increase in
n global te
emperature
es (especia
ally in the past
p
250 years, since
e the
indu
ustrial revo
olution). The
T
primarry source of this inccrease in GHGs
G
has been attrributed to the
emiissions gen
nerated by the use off fossil fuell-based energy.
Clim
mate chang
ge has bee
en linked to
t observable disturb
bances succh as the lo
oss of mou
untain glacciers
and
d ice cover on the Ea
arths polarr regions, changes
c
in
n the timing of the sp
pring bud--break, and
d an
incrrease in the frequenccy and inte
ensity of exxtreme wea
ather even
nts such as cold wave
es, heat wa
aves,
larg
ge storms, hurricaness and torna
adoes, floods, and dro
oughts.
Clim
mate scientists have theorized that human civilizattion is in danger
d
of crossing a threshold
d or
tip
pping point that could lead to
t more ra
adical changes in th
he global climate, and that co
ould
acce
elerate the
e onset off either a new
n
hotte
er and wettter age similar
s
to the Earthss environm
ment
befo
ore the ap
ppearance of human beings, or a new icce age. (Inttergovernm
mental Pan
nel on Clim
mate
Cha
ange, IPCC Fourth Assessment R
Report [AR
R4]).
Scie
entific estimates place the win
ndow of opportunit
o
ty for reve
ersing this trend in the very near
n
term
maccording to som
me, as brie
efly as overr the next ten years. After that,, the globa
al climate may
change irreversibly, and humans will
w just havve to adaptt.
In many
m
aren
nas of imp
plementing
g real pracctical chan
nge, archittects, engineers, and
d builders are
amo
ongst the few with the skills and reso
ources thatt provide real, practtical, cost--effective, and
insp
piring soluttions for buildings.

Environmental Impacts of Buildings

Quick stats
Buildings account for 40% of energy use worldwide (WBCSD).
Energy used during its lifetime causes as much as 90% of environmental impacts from buildings (Journal of
Green Building).
Building operations consume more than 2/3 of all electricity (BuildingScience.com)
Residential and commercial buildings consume 40% of the primary energy and 71% of the total electricity in the
United States. (ASHRAE)

Buildings account for 40% of worldwide energy use which is much more than
transportation. Furthermore, over the next 25 years, CO2 emissions from buildings are projected to
grow faster than any other sector (in the USA), with emissions from commercial buildings
projected to grow the fastest1.8% a year through 2030 (USGBC).
Often, energy use in the form of electricity drives the largest environmental impacts. Where that
electricity comes from determines what those impacts are. In the United States for example, where
buildings account for more than 70% of electricity use, most of the electricity is generated by coalfired electrical power plants (USGBC). Generating one megawatt hour (MWh) of electricity in the
US produces approximately 250 900 kg of CO2 depending on the mix of coal, nuclear, hydro and
other sources of fuel (US EPA). As a reference, the average US household consumes approximately
11 MWh of electricity per year (US EIA).
These exact impacts can quantified by lifecycle assessment (LCA), the most thorough way to
determine the environmental impacts of a design. There is no perfect way to measure
environmental impact. LCAs can measure greenhouse gas (units = CO2e = CO2 equivalent) to
measure global warming potential, or might measure other things like human health, water, and
land-use impacts. You may hear the word embodied energy or embodied carbon this refers
to the energy or greenhouse gas emissions caused throughout an objects lifecycle. Alternatively,
sometimes an overall normalized score is used to combine many kinds of impacts into a single
number (i.e. Eco-Indicator 99). A good primer on LCA is here.
A 2012 LCA study found that Specifically within commercial buildings, the use and operation
phase of the material and building life cycle is so dominant that the impacts of construction,
demolition/disposal, and transportation are nearly irrelevant for most traditionally constructed
buildings. (Journal of Green Building)

Tota
al life cyclee impacts by
b life cyclee phase for a prefabriccated
com
mmercial bu
uilding with
h average California energy usee, the build
ding as
buillt (30% of p
power supp
plied by photovoltaicss), and net zero energ
gy
(100
0% of poweer supplied
d by photovvoltaics), in
n units of EccoIndicatorr99
poin
nts.

Lifetime eneergy use eneergy

d
dominates
trraditional an
nd
e
even
energy--efficient
b
building
life cycles, by far. In
s
such
cases, other
o
e
environment
tal concerns are
n
nearly
alwayys trumped by
b
e
energy
performance. Once a
b
building
meeets all energyy
n
needs
by clea
an power
g
generation
(w
whether it bee
o
on-site
PV pa
anels, PV griid
p
power,
or oth
her equally clean
c
r
renewables
n analyzed
not
d in
t study), th
this
hen building
g
m
materials
and
m
manufacturin
ng becomes the
d
dominant
life
fe cycle impa
act
p
phase.
(Jourrnal of Green
n
B
Building)

Sincce 1920, th
he overall trend
t
in bu
uilding energy use forr comercial buildingss is higher energy
e
inte
ensity per ssquare foot (BuildingScience.co
om). It is im
mportant to
o reverse th
his trend.
In the coming
g decades rapid
r
development will
w continu
ue in the de
eveloping countries,
c
w
while many
buildings in th
he develop
ped world will
w need to
o be renovvated and retrofit.
r
We
W need to make sure
e
thatt the engin
neers and architects
a
w
working
on
n these buiildings are equipped to make d
design choices
thatt use energ
gy effective
ely.