Only Conscious Architects address climate change and achieve sustainability

Climate change, sustainability, and sustainable development concepts have gained momentum in recent decades. Are they trends or demand? Before the beginning, remember that diagnosing the definitions and understanding the background will help you decide better.

So, in this article, I will guide you to understand these issues,

Climate Change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. These can be natural due to the onset of solar activity or significant volcanic events. Human involvement (the primary factor) has been present since the 19th century, in the aftermath of the Industrial Revolution, mainly through burning fossil fuels, primarily oil. This leads to increased greenhouse gas emissions, which are more than expected to trap the sun's heat, leading to global warming and climate change.

The greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions mainly comprise carbon dioxide (72%), besides some other gases, all of which are equivalent to Carbon Dioxide Equivalent (CO2eq). The following figure shows the evolution of GHG emissions since the era of the first industrial revolution (right panel). Consequentially, these increases lead to an increase in the global average surface temperature (nearly only one °C in 100 years), so the balance of our world has changed.

Did you notice, for example, that Egypt faces heat waves, and the winter period has become too short and very cold, not like 20 years ago? In Italy and many European countries, the summer temperature reaches 48 °C, so the tourists will not go in summer to, which means a loss in the economy.

Motivation for Sustainability

The global community, since the 1970s, intensified the efforts to work together for "Our Common Future," in parallel with an important milestone was the energy crisis, which resulted in deciding to avoid relying on non-renewable energies (fossil fuel) and fostering new approaches for development to be sustainable development until it reached the peak in 2015 A global partnership in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all UN Member States in 2015 to deliver on national commitments to mitigate climate change. The following figure visualizes the effort of the global community towards sustainable development until 2020 (please search for the efforts since 2020 right now)

Global community's effort toward sustainable development since the 1970s until 2020

So now, can you imagine what sustainability is? It considers three pillars: positively impacting the environment, people's well-being and health (social), and achieving profitability (economy).

If you design a climate-responsive building, do you think you will meet sustainability standards? Suppose you consider building orientation to improve natural ventilation and achieve natural daylighting, add green areas to improve the indoor microclimate or any similar passive design strategy. In that case, you will make the user happy and in good health (positive social impact); you will make the user switch off the air conditioners and artificial lighting, and then the user will pay less for the electricity bills (positive economic impact). Meanwhile, you will harvest renewable energy (wind, sunlight, etc.) and will reduce the energy consumption from the mechanical means used in cooling and heating (positive environmental impact); also, you will reduce the associated GHG emissions with energy generation (address climate change, right?) Congratulations, you can meet sustainability and tackle climate change.

Remember, sustainable architecture is an enjoyable journey. There are so many ways to start, not only those mentioned above. Decide to consider sustainability. I believe you are a conscious architect!

Dr. Ahmed Abouaiana, November 25, 2024