Costs and Ways Forward in our Built Environments
By Kristin Schillings
Seeing a new house or business park go up in a couple of months is a common event, particularly in the Triangle these days. What sort of an impact does this have on the environment and community? Construction and demolition accounted for 600 million tons of waste in the US in 2018. That is twice as much trash as was generated. Unfortunately, much construction waste includes hazardous chemical material for which disposal is difficult and risky, such as asbestos, paint, or plasticizers. Part of the issue is making room for new construction, as the average building demolition produces 155 lbs of waste per square foot. The impact doesn’t end with dump trucks of material headed toward the landfill. Building and construction accounted for 39% of greenhouse gas emissions in 2018.
In addition to the waste, transportation, and operating energy costs of building, the types of materials used in buildings have a cost. Embodied Carbon considers the carbon footprint of constructing a building, and is a significant contributor to emissions in construction. It includes the emissions involved in manufacturing the steel, glass, concrete, etc. that go into a construction project, which is different from operational costs like heating and lights. 11% of the CO2 emissions from the building & construction sector was attributed to manufacturing building materials. Even as operational energy efficiency increases and buildings become less carbon-costly to run, the embodied carbon must be addressed. Without major change, the harmful impacts of building and construction are likely to increase. The Triangle isn’t the only area seeing an uptick in population growth. By 2060, two thirds of the world population is expected to live in urban areas.
Fortunately, there is an increasing number of people looking for and providing more circular solutions. In 2018, about 5% of US office buildings were LEED certified, an all-time high in a five-year study. LEED is a leading worldwide rating system that helps provide a framework for green building design. Building to LEED standards produces 50% less greenhouse gas emissions due to water consumption, 48% less in solid waste management, and 5% less due to transportation. As more communities and municipalities recognize the importance of striving for more sustainable building practices, it’s important to have frameworks and resources available to meet the need for constructing and communicating the benefit of green buildings.
The International Living Future Institute works towards a more sustainable construction sector by supporting Biophilic Design – connecting people and nature within the context of our built environments. Through a variety of initiatives, they help provide resources and challenge those in the construction sector to choose materials and design that have a positive impact on the environment and community. One of those is the Living Building Challenge, a program that sets a high standard based on seven performance areas for regenerative building projects. It sets the focus on the building’s relationship with nature, ability to provide balanced water usage, reliance on solar income, creation of a healthy environment, use of safe materials, support of equitable world, and beautiful design. Circular Triangle is excited to be partnered with the Durham Community Land Trustees on a project that will bring Living Building Certified affordable housing to North Carolina!
The impact of the construction sector is significant. Understanding how harmful traditional practices have been is an important first step towards seeing the extraordinary opportunities that exist. Moving towards a more sustainably designed built environment will not only play an important role in helping stave off climate change, but will give us communities that are beautiful, equitable, and healthy.