Frankly, It’s Time To Talk About The Built Environment And Climate Change

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While the current political rhetoric dismisses substantive climate dialogue, cities are in crisis because of climate change. Extreme weather is leading to calamitous consequences. Now more than ever, in the absence of federal funding support, cities must focus on reconciling the norm of civic pride as symbolized in the built environment with dedicated sustainable planning. New ways of knowing our buildings and infrastructure must become common practice for city planners as we all prepare for an increasingly warming climate.

The built environment is part of our daily life. Think of the built environment as any human-made or modified structure that gives us living, working, and recreational spaces and protection. Whenever we enter buildings, or use distribution systems that provide us with water and electricity, or drive on roads or across bridges or take public transportation systems, we take part in the built environment.

What we often fail to consider as we populate these spaces is that they require lots and lots of materials. Buildings across the globe represent more than 30% of all emissions, with transport responsible for another 20%. That’s more than half of the world’s emissions. The US uses billions of tons of concrete, steel, and wallboard to construct, maintain, and operate our nation’s built environment.

The extraction, transportation, use, and disposal of these materials result in substantial environmental impacts:

• emissions to the air, water, and land;
• energy and petroleum consumption;
• use of non-renewable mineral resources;
• expenditure of fresh water; and,
• land and habitat use.

Mahesh Ramanujam reports on Forbes, “The very existence of carbon-intensive structures is a root cause of the extreme weather events that wreak havoc on us and accelerate the pace of a warming planet.” The author adds that technology is available for cities to make progress across Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 categories, so that “a buildings-first, Scope 3 revolution is already here.”

Building footprint reduction strategies include “reducing energy demand, improving energy efficiency, implementing district energy systems, shifting to renewable energy, and prioritizing the electrification of all systems.” Transportation shifts to electric vehicles and their infrastructure as well as more use of public transportation are happening. Policies for industrial processes and product use, efficiency in process and waste management, and other sustainable approaches to agriculture, forestry, and other city land use are also becoming patterns of practice.

It will take more — a whole lot more, actually — to meet the parameters of an authentic net zero city. Large scale emissions reductions can take place when renewable energy from solar power, wind power, geothermal energy, and hydropower is a focus. Energy storage systems can allow cities to store excess energy generated from renewable sources and use it later when needed, such as pumped hydropower, batteries, and thermal-mechanical energy storage.

A compelling innovation is called “digital twins,” in which a virtual, data-driven replica of an entire city draws upon sensors to capture real-time information. The innovation allows urban planners and decision-makers “to simulate different scenarios, test potential interventions, and make informed decisions about infrastructure, traffic management, environmental impact, and more,” says Ramanujam.

AI is increasingly being added to city operations. For example, robotics in waste management systems helps to tackle some Scope 3 challenges, including waste sorting, increasing recycling rates, and reducing landfill emissions. AI is also helping cities with waste-to-energy innovations to convert waste into synthetic fuels or electricity in a cleaner, more efficient manner than traditional incineration methods.

The heating and cooling of buildings and energy storage can operate in unison to create highly energy efficient buildings. Such buildings generate enough energy to run their own facilities without drawing from the grid, re-purposing what would otherwise be wasted while driving significant energy efficiencies. Energy recovery technology like heat pumps can capture naturally-generated heat as a byproduct, instead of rejecting it into the atmosphere, and repurpose it for another use, such as comfort heating and hot sanitary water.

Ramanujam suggests that business leaders, entrepreneurs, and investors can support more sustainable built environments. They can:

• promote green financing and investments to help scale this technology at scale;
• stay educated on the latest emerging technology and how it could help their city;
• implement leading technologies whenever possible to maximize efficiency and reduce emissions;
• adopt leading sustainability strategies such as green procurement policies and sustainable consumption; and,
• utilize available software programs to evaluate the carbon footprint of particular aspects of city structures.

Zooming in on Recycled Construction Materials

Sustainable Materials Management (SMM), which is the use and reuse of materials in the most productive and sustainable way over their entire life cycles, can limit environmental impacts. The application of SMM in the built environment, for example, can replace virgin materials in construction — think coal ash, foundry sand, iron, or steel slag.

Recycling materials isn’t new. “The Romans were very good at recycling,” Nick Jeffries of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, told the Washington Post. The British nonprofit is devoted to furthering the circular economy — so that basic goods and materials are reused, repaired, passed on, upcycled, and recycled rather than consumed, tossed aside, or sent to the landfill.

Interesting examples are found in buildings in San Giorgio in Rome:

• mismatched columns and other oddities throughout the nave are signs of recycling;
• the wholesale repurposing of old structures such as the Theatre of Marcellus;
• the appropriation of building materials like the stone of an old defensive wall, for new purposes, including residences;
• the reincorporation of decorative elements from one structure to another, sometimes as an aggressive form of ideological appropriation; and,
• sophisticated forms of recycling, including the Cosmatesque style of decoration from later in the Middle Ages, when old Roman columns were sliced into thin paving pieces to create elaborately decorated floor designs and wall panels.

Final Thoughts about the Built Environment

Hurricane Helene hit the US in September 2024 and caused $78 billion in damage. Hurricane Milton hit again, just two weeks later. Early this year Los Angeles wildfires destroyed more than 16,000 structures and decimated over 57,000 acres.

We’ve known for a while that competition for natural resources would continue to intensify due to global population and economic growth. What we didn’t realize was how, with the uncertainty inherent in the Trump tariffs debacle, the availability of construction materials will be a source of concern. What will happen when the next extreme weather event wreaks havoc on our cities? They will be dually burdened with the sky-high rebuilding costs due to the tariffs, which are passed onto consumers.

It will take an organization like Greenbuild, which brings together global green building professionals who share a desire to improve sustainability, resilience, equity, health, and wellness in spaces where people live, work, and learn. These leaders are developing the next generation of global sustainable standards to create a better future for everyone.