Building and Construction
Greening buildings for a zero emissions future With the increasing adoption of green architecture, there is greater demand for green materials for the residential and non-residential segments. Innovative materials are curbing the rise in building-related CO2 emissions, says Angelica Buan in this report.
WGBC is challenging businesses across the world to eliminate carbon emissions from their buildings by 2030
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AUGUST 2018
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ack in 1972, the US Commerce Secretary Peter G. Peterson then said that the era of low-cost energy was almost dead, following a sharp drop in the country’s oil output, and preceding the OPEC oil embargo that nearly quadrupled prices of oil globally. The oil shock, as it was called, has become a game changer for global industries. It was an era that no economy would wish to go back to. Nonetheless, it was also an antecedent for energy and resourceefficient green architecture to sprout, which today has become a major disruptive trend in the building and construction sector. The global green building market continues to advance on the back of rising awareness regarding global warming and climate change. Green buildings have low carbon footprint, and are designed to use lesser amounts of energy and resources compared to conventional buildings. The segment is set to grow at a CAGR of around 13% from 2015 to 2020, as reported in Global Green Building Market Outlook 2020 by Research and Markets. It added that the US has the biggest market for green building construction, while developing economies in Asia-Pacific are also showing significant growth in this sector. Green building materials are cost-effective, safe, recyclable, and eco-friendly. According to Technavio, the global green building materials market is expected to cross US$260 billion by 2019; and by 2023, Crystal Market Research estimates the value to almost double to over US$426 billion. Rising awareness about environmental pollution, demand for low operational and maintenance cost and compliance to emissions regulations are propelling the green building materials market. The World Green Building Council (WGBC) has set the Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment that challenges businesses and organisations across the world to take advanced climate action by setting ambitious targets to eliminate operational carbon emissions from their buildings by 2030 to meet the Paris Agreement ambition of below 2 degrees of global warming. In 2015, 82% of final energy consumption in buildings was supplied by fossil fuels, whereas to meet the Paris Agreement this must become 0%, says WGBC.