The urgency of the situation is heightened by the fact that current energy demand projections are likely incorrect, and don’t account for the vast increase in demand we’ll see as a result of the projected population increase of four billion people.. Coal is contributing not only to electricity generation, but to industrial emissions as well, and unfortunately, the reality is we don’t really know what trajectory we’re on with temperature increase and the climate emergency.
How do we look at all these things together to find the best business, aesthetic and environmental solutions?.The answer is simple and difficult.
Thinking more broadly with the widest purpose, giving the right culture and encouragement is easy for a time.Creating the space, the willingness to change, requires a great deal of energy.There is an opportunity to work and think differently; no longer do you have to assume that working for and with the environment will push a project over budget or make it untenable..
While form might follow function, function is much more complicated today.And this will only increase over time.
As the environment changes and technology shifts, more – and more complex – gears emerge.
Design to Value seeks to future-proof modes of design to create a more agile space in which accelerated and increased challenges can be adapted to.The built environment contributes to around 40% of the UK's total carbon footprint.
Based on UKGBC’s Net Zero Carbon Buildings “A framework definition", a typical Cat A office’s building embodied carbon, after the first year of use, would be 75% of the total carbon, whilst the operational carbon would be around 25%.Although the operational carbon will accumulate overtime, a decarbonised grid will mean that the growth rate will flatten, and after 60 years the embodied carbon will still remain higher than operational carbon, as shown in Figure 2.
This means that the focus and the priority should shift from operational to embodied carbon during the design..Embodied and operational carbon increase in a decarbonised grid scenario.
(Editor: Stylish Razors)