Sustainable construction starts with the design of the building—and continues throughout the lifecycle of a construction project from work being done on the jobsite and in the office, ultimately through the operations of a building. With Earth Day just around the corner, let’s examine some of the biggest trends for the construction industry.
Deloitte suggests the built environment accounts for roughly 39% of gross annual carbon emissions, which includes both operational carbon and embodied carbon. Operational carbon emissions are the ongoing emissions from day-to-day use, while embodied carbon emissions are all the carbon used when producing, transporting, and disposing of construction materials. So, basically, everything we think about when we think about the supply chain.
Deloitte’s number varies from some of the others out there. For instance, the United Nations Environment Programme puts this statistic at roughly 37% of all greenhouse gas emissions come from the construction and operation of the built environment. But the takeaway is this: construction and operations consume a lot of emissions. That is something everyone can agree on. With this in mind, we must then look at how the construction industry can build more sustainable buildings while doing it in a more sustainable manner.
In the last two weeks of this Earth Day Blog Series, we have looked at sustainability in the building and focusing on water and building standards. Historically, much of the progress has centered in this area—around reducing the operational carbon emissions of buildings. The good news is this will help make a lot of forward momentum. The United Nations Environment Programme predicts these operational carbon emissions will decrease from 75% to 50% of the sector’s total emissions in the coming decade. So, there are big opportunities here.
But there are also big opportunities to reduce that embodied carbon—the ones that happen during the design, production, and deployment of materials. Today, let’s turn our attention to the construction process and how sustainability can be achieved here.
If we want to be successful in reducing our carbon emissions here, we must start with collaboration. The United Nations Environment Programme suggests international action and collaboration must bring together all stakeholders from across the entire lifecycle of the buildings sector. Deloitte agrees, saying the route to reduced emissions requires architects, designers, builders, subcontractors, suppliers, technology service providers, and operating owners to come together in new ways to solve sustainability.
Collaboration will be key, as we will need to break down silos to achieve greater sustainability. Alongside this new level of collaboration, Deloitte suggests this will require three big factors.
First, sustainable materials are something to consider, even with the higher upfront costs. Long term, sustainable materials will lead to a lower lifecycle cost.
Second, sustainable methods are key. We all are aware of the opportunities that prefabrication and modular building bring to the construction industry, reducing waste and saving costs. The positive impact on the environment could also be long lasting.
Finally, sustainable models will be needed. A connected construction ecosystem can help ensure developers and operators have a continuous flow of data and information.
At the end of the day, there are many different ways to move to a more sustainable construction project and building. It starts with getting all the stakeholders involved in order to reach the sustainable goals set forth.
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