BUILDING A MORE SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY'S VITAL ROLE IN FIGHTING CLIMATE CHANGE

Buildings matter. We spend the vast majority of our lives in them – whether that’s in our homes, when we go out, in the office or on the factory floor. Vast resources are spent making, powering and heating them, creating a huge carbon footprint. For humanity to win the fight against climate change, buildings and the way they’re made have to change dramatically.

About half of all the resources extracted from the globe are used for housing, construction and infrastructure. The most prevalent materials used are concrete and steel, which are both very energy intensive to produce using current techniques.

WHERE DOES THE CO2 COME FROM?

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SOMEONE HAS TO PAY BUT THERE WILL BE BENEFITS TOO

The steel industry is another significant contributor to global CO2 emissions, just a tad above the concrete industry at 8% of the total. A key element of carbon emissions from steel is the use of metallurgical, or coking, coal. Many major steel companies have plans to shift to zero-carbon steel through substituting ‘green’ hydrogen produced with renewable electricity for coking coal. While not yet cost-effective, it could be by 2030 to 2040 according to some estimates. Other methods of reducing emissions include improving the energy efficiency of existing steel plants and increasing the recycling of scrap steel.

STEEL AND ITS ALTERNATIVES

One obvious way to slow the growth in demand for building materials, and related emissions, is to design buildings to last longer.

BUILT TO LAST

Just as the methods for cooling buildings are crucial to combating rising global temperatures, so too are the ways they are heated. Heating and hot water production in buildings were responsible for 13% of total global CO2 emissions in 2019. There are a number of specialist HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) products and services companies, such as Trane Technologies, Carrier, Johnson Controls and Daikin.

PUMPING HEAT, NOT CO2

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As global temperatures rise and more and more people move into urban centres, demand for air conditioning looks set to boom.

AIR CONDITIONING: A BLIND SPOT

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Figure 2: Global air conditioner stock (1990—2050) - Millions of units Several factors have combined to drive growth in demand for air conditioning in developing countries. As workers move into cities, prosperity is rising, and so it the demand for cooling buildings: more comfortable temperatures mean more productive workers.

Figure 3: Cooling the world - Global CO2 emissions associated with space cooling energy use by source Associated CO2 emissions could rise significantly because air conditioning units are primarily powered by coal–fired power stations in the countries using the most air conditioning.

CROSS-LAMINATED TIMBER (CLT)

CARBON-CURING CEMENT

CEMENT ADDITIVES

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A CONCRETE FUTURE

RETROFITTING

MODULAR HOMES

PLASTIC PIPES

These are much better for the environment than other traditional materials such as copper pipes. There are several reasons for this: they can be made with recycled plastic (which can itself be recycled), they are easier and cheaper to transport and they have a longer life.

After concrete is laid, the hydration process –called curing — typically lasts a month or so. As it cures, concrete absorbs some CO2. Several companies are working on tweaking the composition of cement in order to improve its CO2 absorption capability.

Swiss chemicals company Sika is developing concrete mixtures that can reduce emissions by replacing up to 50% of clinker, a key ingredient in the production of cement that generates significant amounts of CO2.

This renewable material (planks of sawn lumber which are glued together in perpendicular layers) can be substituted for cement and concrete in certain contexts. The world’s tallest timber building, Mjostarnet in Brumunddal, Norway, uses CLT for stairwells, elevator shafts and balconies.

Recognition of the problem and nascent technological developments to address the climate impact of buildings are a helpful start. But much more needs to be done and for governments and consumers a key question will be “Who pays, and how?” For investors, the crucial thing to consider is the need for the buildings and construction industries to dramatically reduce emissions, and differentiate between companies that are at risk and those that are developing the solutions.

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The value of your investments and the income from them may go down as well as up, and you could get back less than you invested.

Source: IEA, The Future of Cooling

Source: US Department of Commerce

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BUILDINGS HAVE A CRUCIAL ROLE TO PLAY IN TACKLING CLIMATE CHANGE

The industry’s share of global final energy and energy–related CO2 emissions, 2020

Figure 1: Building, construction and the environment

Energy

Emissions

Building houses in a factory allows greater precision, which makes them more energy efficient compared to homes built onsite using traditional methods. Materials are used more efficiently in factory production, with less waste generated, adding to the environmental benefit of modular versus traditional house building. And with labour and materials prices rising, there is also potential to lower costs.

MODULAR HOMES

PLASTIC PIPES

But the reality is that existing building stock will still represent the majority of floor space in 2050, so meeting ‘net–zero’ targets for reducing global emissions will mean ‘retrofitting’ them to higher energy efficiency standards. This will be expensive, and is currently unaffordable, but some interesting developments are enabling renovations to be financed by future cost savings on energy and maintenance.

RETROFITTING

Cooling in summer

The evaporator absorbs heat from inside by forcing the liquid to transform into a gas.

DAINKIN EXPLANATION STEP 1

The compressor compresses the gas, which raises its temperature.

DAINKIN EXPLANATION STEP 2

Heating in winter

The condenser transfers the heat from the gas to the outdoors, and the gas returns to a liquid state.

DAINKIN EXPLANATION STEP 3

The expansion valve lowers the pressure of the refrigerant, which triggers evaporation and the cycle begins all over again.

DAINKIN EXPLANATION STEP 4

The expansion valve lowers the pressure of the refrigerant, which triggers evaporation and the cycle begins all over again.

DAINKIN EXPLANATION STEP 4

The condenser exchanges the heat from the gas to the heating system, and the gas returns to a liquid state.

DAINKIN EXPLANATION STEP 3

The compressor compresses the gas, which raises its temperature.

DAINKIN EXPLANATION STEP 2

The evaporator extracts energy from the renewable source (air, water, geothermal or solar) by forcing the liquid to transform into a gas.

DAINKIN EXPLANATION STEP 1

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Buildings matter. We spend the vast majority of our lives in them – whether that’s in our homes, when we go out, in the office or on the factory floor. Vast resources are spent making, powering and heating them, creating a huge carbon footprint. For humanity to win the fight against climate change, buildings and the way they’re made have to change dramatically.

THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY’S VITAL ROLE IN FIGHTING CLIMATE CHANGE

BUILDING A MORE SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

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BUILDING CONVERSATIONS

CREATIVE CONSTRUCTION

BACK TO THE FUTURE

A series of short videos on some of the key aspects of the Building a more sustainable future report Click on the thumbnail to watch the video

BUILDING CONVERSATIONS BACK TO THE FUTURE

BELOW ZERO

BUILDING CONVERSATIONS BELOW ZERO

BUILDING CONVERSATIONS CREATIVE CONSTRUCTION

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