The twin crises of climate breakdown and biodiversity loss are the most serious issue of our time. Buildings and construction play a major part, accounting for nearly 40% of energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions whilst also having a significant impact on our natural habitats.
So what can you do as an architect?
1. Read & sign the Irish Architects Declaration on the Climate Emergency at:
2. When you read and sign the above, as well as ‘talking the talk’ you need to ‘walk’ it too
THIS ARTICLE in the Guardian explains more about what you could and should be doing (especially after you’ve signed the declaration)
2. Become aware and responsible for the carbon impact of your buildings
Read THIS POST by Lloyd Alter for what this means. THIS POST also by Lloyd Alter on redefining embodied carbon is also excellent.
3. Get used to calculating the carbon impact of your buildings, both during construction and through it’s lifetime; below are some links that will help:
– Life Cycle Assessment Calculator – US based but works well elsewhere – https://calculatelca.com/software/impact-estimator/
– Basic Carbon Dioxide Emissions Calculator (I’ve just used this to calculate the number of trees I would need to plant for a single flight every year (it’s a lot!): http://www.carbonify.com/carbon-calculator.htm
– Calculator to assess carbon emissions from Building Construction projects (again US based but can be tweaked for elsewhere): http://www.greenfootstep.org/
If anyone has some online calculators for UK / Ireland similar to the above – please let me know.
Comments welcome