{"id":1672,"date":"2021-01-26T17:08:26","date_gmt":"2021-01-26T23:08:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ramirezsandi.com\/?p=1672"},"modified":"2024-01-12T10:37:51","modified_gmt":"2024-01-12T16:37:51","slug":"3-potential-positive-effects-of-real-estate-on-sustainability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ramirezsandi.com\/en\/2021\/01\/3-potential-positive-effects-of-real-estate-on-sustainability\/","title":{"rendered":"3 potential positive effects of Real Estate on sustainability"},"content":{"rendered":"

So I’ve been sharing a little bit about energy, from the cost of making a recovery<\/a> to the importance of policymaking and how to properly demand it<\/a>. Today I want to talk about something related to both topics, which will be the effect of the Real Estate sector in finding and developing the proper solutions from a People-Profit-Planet<\/em> perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Energy efficiency<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The real estate sector uses more energy than any other sector (~40%) and is a growing contributor to Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions. On top of this, the construction industry consumes tons of energy and mineral<\/strong> resources every year. According to World Bank estimates, a 36% reduction in total CO2 emissions in the real estate sector is required by 2030 in order to stay within the 2\u00b0C thresholds, but thankfully sector has acknowledged environmental sustainability in its decision-making through the promotion and use of different certifications as LEED and BREEAM just to mention a couple. Nowadays, ~50% of new commercial builds are \u201cgreen\u201d, compared to only 2% in 2005, and we expect this number only to rise as new guidance on construction codes are enforced. So the industry has improved a lot in terms of efficiency and that is good news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is expected that, by 2030, the global population will exceed 8 billion and over 60% of the world\u2019s population will be living in urban environments, this means a cities’ requirement for more houses, offices and industrial spaces. This necessity for new infrastructure highlights the challenge to mitigate these events when one realizes that the age of the fleet of buildings could be long periods of time, generally decades and even centuries. The question then is how much of these new measurements should be done through the improving and upcycling of existing structures or via designing better spaces from the ground up? There’s not a single answer for this question, but retrofitting and making more efficient old buildings have to be part of the conversation since 13% (293 Mt CO2 e) of total carbon emissions savings will come from retrofitted buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Healthy buildings<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I mentioned we have come a long way to ensure that an important share of our buildings can be considered as green and efficient structures. But it is crucial to understand that green buildings are not necessarily healthy buildings<\/strong>. Just as Harvard Business School professor John Macomber says in his book Healthy Buildings: How Indoor Spaces Drive Performance and Productivity<\/em>, we should focus on more than just energy efficiency, we also have to pay great attention to ventilation, air quality, moisture, dust, noise, lighting, security, etc, because the attention to these details will help business leaders to find new ways to attract, retain, and most importantly enhance the performance of their employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let’s take a look at\u00a0EDGE Olympic<\/a>\u00a0in Amsterdam, a large circular redevelopment. This building is based on an old, existing building that had exceeded its lifespan. Instead of demolishing the structure, it was redeveloped since the basic structure was still very much usable. As a result, no new raw materials were needed. Apart from these remarkable environmental key achievements, the developers focused their efforts on making this place an inspiring workplace through ventilation, lighting, and biophilic design. In this new type of office, employees have no set workspaces and can dial in their individual climate and lighting preferences via an app.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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