NonA Weekly: ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE 🌍
Image by @studiosoriginals
Dear readers and friends,
Looking at the relationship between electricity ⚡ and climate change 🌍, most electricity is still generated by burning fossil fuels 🔥, but cleaner sources of energy 🍃 are gaining ground. About 29 percent of electricity currently comes from renewable sources, such as wind 🌬️ and solar ☀️, which nature will replenish and which emit little to no greenhouse gases or pollutants into the air. The cost of renewable-energy technologies also keeps falling 📉, making renewables the most affordable source of power today.
1. GENERATING POWER ⚡
Generating ELECTRICITY and heat by burning fossil fuels 🔥 – coal, oil, or gas – causes a large chunk of the greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, that blanket the Earth 🌍 and trap the sun’s heat.
2. HOW GOING ELECTRIC 🔌 LETS HOMEOWNERS HELP SLOW CLIMATE CHANGE
The most effective way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from home ENERGY consumption is to substitute electricity 💡 generated from low- and zero-carbon sources for oil 🛢️ and natural gas. And the power sector is rapidly moving that way.
3. THIS IS WHAT ARCHITECTS SHOULD DO 👷 TO HELP FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE
Looking to address the causes of climate change stemming from their own profession, architects are increasingly 📈 moving toward what those in the industry call building electrification ⚡. By drawing a building’s ENERGY 🏠 entirely from electrical infrastructure, architecture, once that infrastructure becomes powered by renewable sources, can more readily position itself as a net-zero proposition.
4. REDUCING 📉 CARBON DIOXIDE EMISSIONS FROM THE ELECTRICITY 💡 SECTOR USING SMART ELECTRIC GRID APPLICATIONS
Over the past two centuries, MANKIND 🧑🤝🧑 has increased the concentration of CO² in the atmosphere from 280 to more than 380 parts per million by volume, and it is growing faster every day. As the concentration of CO² has risen 📈, so has the planet’s average temperature.
5. THE ‘MORAL EMOTIONS’ OF ARCHITECTURE’S ENERGY 💡 CONSUMPTION
BUILDINGS 🏙️ produce 40 percent of greenhouse gas emissions and use 75 percent of our electricity. As a dramatic contributor to climate change, they pose a serious threat to public health, especially among children 👶 who are particularly vulnerable to environmental hazards because their immune systems aren’t fully developed.
6. IF CITIES REQUIRE NEW BUILDINGS TO USE 100% ELECTRIC HEAT, WILL THAT RAISE OR LOWER THEIR GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS? 🤔
Energy to power buildings 🏙️ is one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions globally. BUILDINGS contribute to greenhouse gas emissions when they use electricity 💡 from a grid powered by fossil fuels, or when they burn fossil fuels 🛢️ on-site for heating or cooking appliances.
7. SUSTAINABLE 🌱 ARCHITECTURE REQUIRES GREATER SCALE TO HAVE AN IMPACT ON THE PLANET 🌍, EXPERTS WARN
The climate crisis, as well as pandemic-related workplace disruptions, are forcing ARCHITECTS 🏛️ and real estate developers to take a hard look at their industry’s impact on the environment and to accelerate the use of sustainable tools and materials 🧱.
Stay creative and see you all next week! 👋
Daniela
