After the heady mix of good feeling, good intentions and good looking technologies comes something of a hangover. It’s easy to get carried away with optimism after Ecobuild, such was the positivity on display. UK Green Building Council chief executive Paul King fed on this during a speech on the first day, piggy-backing on the “change” Obama rhetoric by hoping that the industry was in fact in the brink of really getting the green message. Yet it only takes a few scratches below the surface to put everything in perspective and make you go all James Lovelock. Couple of reasons for this, one general and global, the other closer to home:
- The Sunday paper gloomy global piece. There always seems to be one, at least in my paper of choice the Observer – tucked in between the gossipy celebrity pieces and the gossipy political pieces at the back. Yesterday Robin Mckie predicted worse that expected flood predictions from scientists. There is the threat of Greenland’s ice completely melting becoming more likely and McKie then runs his attention to how this will impact on low-lying areas of the UK, including the Thames estuary and the Norfolk Broads. He points to a report by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers called Adapting to the Inevitable, part of which raises pretty profound questions about how we will protect the nuclear plants we have in the region (there’s also an excellent piece on flooding and the Thames Gateway in Property Week last month).
- The BREEAM/LEED agreement. This was something to get excited about last week. The difference standards to work together on a new global one. Job done, we all seemed to think. But this agreement is merely a start, as an email from my friend from across the Pond Jerry Yudelson (who couldn’t make it to Earl’s Court due to a snowed-in airport) pointed out. He tempers the optimism by pointing out that the agreement is to establish a standard way of measuring CO2 emissions from buildings. I’ll just quote what he says:
The continental Europeans all use source (primary) energy in their measurements, whereas the North Americans use site energy. The difference is about 3x in CO2 impacts, so very important to have a common standard. The second (and bigger) issue for LEED is that we still measure
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on Mar 9th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
Thanks for pointing this out, Phil. On the issue of the partnership among the three leading environmental rating systems, I have just put up a post on the potential future role of the Green Building Councils and their rating tools. In some ways I share your cautious optimism – the Green Building Councils really are just scratching the surface of what needs to be done to transform the building industry to reduce emissions. But if I am reading things right, there could be a dramatic shift in the role they play.
on Mar 10th, 2009 at 9:12 am
Phil, you’re right – there’s still a long way to go and as you say the science seems to get worse by the day. But we’re optimistic about the willingness of our industry to respond to the challenge. Who said this?
“The challenge of economic recovery and the significant reduction of carbon emissions from our buildings are equally urgent and inextricably linked, and it is not acceptable for recession to be used as an excuse to downplay the sustainability agenda.”
Could have been Stern, or Greenpeace – actually it’s Bill Hughes, MD of Legal & General Property. OK, so we need to deliver on this – but that’s partly what we’re trying to achieve through the recommendations on the Code for Sustainable Buildings, which a remarkable number of big hitters have signed up to, i.e. setting out where we need to get to by when and making measurable progress.
On the rating tools – again, yes only a start – but a good one. Related point – the worldwide network of Green Building Councils is working closely with the UN Environment Programme to help place the built environment much higher up the agenda in the crucial Copenhagen negotiations at the end of this year.
on Mar 10th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
Thanks for your perspective Rory and good to hear from a blogger coming out of South Africa.
It’s certainly quite a balance to strike between universal standards and local detail, carrots and stick etc.
Good to hear John’s take on this as well. If the UN and other global bodies can shift the built environment up the agenda it we might see some real momentum.