The service building in West Woods Park, Geauga Park District, Russell Town, now has a "green" roof. Dr. Marcia Silver wrote in today's guest column that as the world aims to substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, more environmentally friendly construction practices may have a huge impact.

Cleveland-According to a 2018 assessment, buildings account for nearly 40% of energy-related global greenhouse gas emissions, derived from the carbon costs of heating, cooling, lighting, and building materials. As we are experiencing massive growth in urban population and buildings, the global building stock is expected to double by 2060. This is like adding an entire New York City "every month, 40 years", non-profit building 2030 calculation.

In the climate change and health course I audited at Case Western Reserve University, we learned that current technologies and innovations provide a roadmap for the urgent need to correct the harmful effects of our destructive greenhouse gases on the atmosphere. It can be completed in the next ten years or so, at a cost of approximately 2% of the annual GDP of the United States. This can be managed-if we can gather the will of the community to maintain a livable world for our children and grandchildren. Mainly good news.

Part of the roadmap has to do with replacing sources of greenhouse gases with better alternatives, as the useful life of these old technologies is about to end-for example, most cars and light trucks can only be used for about ten years and will soon be replaced To use safer energy electric vehicles.

But the life cycle of a building is much longer, so it will bring more difficult challenges.

What we need to do now, not later: As new buildings and renovation projects are proposed, and approval and funding procedures are passed in our communities, we need to embed and require planning for the system that we need to significantly reduce carbon emissions. .

New buildings that are currently not close to net zero should not be built, or new buildings that are easily converted before 2030. If it is not implemented immediately, the transformation should be similarly carried out in accordance with such a plan. Refurbishments are good because they preserve the hidden energy and limit the emission costs of new buildings.

If anyone doubts the credible science that has predicted over the years that we will destroy the livable world, then the current wildfires, droughts, heavy rains and floods, and deadly high temperature emergencies should be the wake-up call that we must act now.

My experience with construction projects at home and at work shows that one of the main obstacles to the implementation of zero or near-net-zero carbon emission buildings is that most architects, builders, contractors and businessmen are neither knowledgeable nor familiar with new technologies. However, if they cannot obtain zoning approval or loans from the local building review committee without meeting these emission requirements, then the knowledge, skills, and comfort of all these important groups will rapidly improve.

Ian Bogost's article on the switch to electric heating and cooling, published in The Atlantic magazine in February, shows the way forward.

So how might this work? We can urge this requirement in community governments at all levels-the district committees, building review committees, and housing inspection professionals in each town or city or county. In the Cleveland area, the Cleveland Restoration Society (CRS) has a major family estate loan program that provides low-cost loans and expert assistance for the renovation of old buildings. CRS should definitely be part of such a project.

We don’t want new buildings and renovations to be too costly to complete-we need to improve housing options and repair our cities and old buildings. Therefore, it will require some creativity and perhaps some government subsidies. However, it's better to do it right from the beginning (now we know we have to do it!) rather than having to tear it down and start over. The latter will be much more expensive.

Expert resources and ideas can be found in Architecture 2030 and Cleveland 2030 District.

We must immediately involve architects, builders, funders, community leaders and all of us in repairing our world.

Dr. Marcia Silver is Professor Emeritus of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University. The views expressed here are those of the author, not those of CWRU.

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