By Lauren Isenhour, LEED AP, and Robert Peoples, Ph.D.
In the early days of the USGBC, there was a dream and a vision to transform the built environment. Clearly the statistics prove that the built environment offers a major lever to be manipulated when it comes to the carbon footprint of buildings. It is also well known that people spend on average about 90 percent of their time indoors. Thus, indoor air quality (IAQ) and building comfort (lighting, temperature, space layout, color, etc) have a large impact on worker productivity.
Data generated by the USGBC reveals that buildings are responsible for a significant percentage of resource impacts, which may be summarized in the following table. Clearly the founders of the USGBC were accurate when looking for ways to dramatically reduce the impact of developed and developing societies and focusing on buildings was the right choice.
Resource Impacts of Buildings in the United States1
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Energy consumption: 72 percent
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Waste output: 30 percent
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CO2 emissions: 38 percent
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Raw material use: 40 percent
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Water Use: 14 percent
The current population of this planet is estimated at 6.7 billion people and is expected to grow to more than 9 billion by the year 2050. Most of this growth will occur in developing nations. People in developing countries expect and deserve an improved quality of life, and this will be enabled by the expansion of industrial jobs, ready access to safe drinking water, ample food supplies, energy and transportation. The demands on our environment to deliver modern "conveniences" are increasing at an alarming rate because they cannot be met in a sustainable manner using existing technology and infrastructure.
Did you know China plans to build 40 billion square meters of new space in the next 25 years? To put this number into perspective, we can compare it to the U.S. Pentagon, a building with 6.5 million square feet under one roof. Forty billion square meters is the equivalent of building 67,077 new pentagons in the next 25 years. Just think of the cement, steel, fenestration, plumbing, wiring, ceilings, flooring, wall systems, air handling/conditioning systems, lighting, furnishings, etc. it will take to meet this demand. India follows right on the heels of China in terms of growth. ...
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in the way buildings are designed and constructed. Moreover, they've made an impact as to how buildings perform once they're delivered to the client.
