Don't blame the building

An often quoted statistic is that 'buildings' are responsible for about 35% of greenhouse gas emissions. The most recent UK official figures suggest 18% from business, 15% from households and around 1.8% for public sector (waste management, energy and transport are amongst other categories) [1].

I wouldn't suggest that 35% is anything other than a substantial figure. What I would question, however, is the suggestion that buildings are responsible for such emissions. The only true responsible party is, of course, humanity. Just as it is with the vehicles - that we humans choose, own and operate.

There are several dimensions to consider. Firstly, we humans design and construct our buildings in the first place, and our choice of size and materials strongly influences the eventual energy consumption of our buildings. Consider that between 1970 and 2010, the average size of US detached houses grew by a whopping 50% [2]. Not all houses are detached, of course, and many countries have greater building density than the suburb-loving North Americans. Though it's indicative of the direction and scale of our changing decisions.

Secondly, we decide how to operate buildings and what we fill them with. Over the same period as that last statistic the number of energy consuming devices (other than lightbulbs) in the average US home (not just those detached ones) quadrupled from 12 to 48 items [3]. I counted the ones in my own (British) home and it came out to 85 devices and appliances.

The design of our commercial buildings has also changed. I don't have any statistics here, but one observation is the trend for inner-city commercial buildings with greater areas of glass. Shops have always tended to have large windows, to show off the produce, and whilst that hasn't changed much, the size of shops has trended towards much larger shops - think hypermarkets and other 'big box' out of town stores with their greater emphasis on being car-centric and more dependant on artificial lighting/cooling. 

London City Hall

Likewise in office buildings, advances in glazing technology has allowed architects to design 'curtain walled' almost exclusively in glass, leading to 'solar gain' and making them dependant upon sophisticated energy-hungry air conditioning (aircon) systems. The sustainable buildings authority Dr David Strong [4] told me that London's glass-clad City Hall, opened in 2002, was originally conceived to exist without aircon, but subsequently had to have it added at substantial cost. He also said that Portcullis House, another London curtain-wall building opened the year before, was conceived to have an Energy Performance Certificate rating of A, the highest rating, but operates with a G rating (the lowest). Costing over £235m (42% over budget), its complex systems all fought each other. The electric window blinds alone cost £2m.

So next time you hear someone blame our buildings, or other possessions, for their energy hunger, maybe question them.


References
[1] BEIS (2020), 2018 UK Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Final figures. Available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/862887/2018_Final_greenhouse_gas_emissions_statistical_release.pdf

[2] JACCARD, M. (2020). Citizen's Guide to Climate Success: Overcoming Myths That Hinder Progress. Cambridge University Press.

[3] GROVES, S. (2009). The desire to acquire: forecasting the evolution of household energy services. Research Project -- Simon Fraser University, 2009. Available at http://rem-main.rem.sfu.ca/theses/GrovesSteven_2009_MRM485.pdf.

[4] STRONG, D. and BURROWS, V. (2016). A Whole System Approach to High Performance Green Buildings. Artech House.

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