For many countries, the aggressive measures discussed to reduce carbon emissions at the COP21 summit in Paris this week will be seen as a threat to their national economic development, but with talks taking place at the end of what has been the hottest five-year period on record, the impetus to behave as a global citizen couldn’t be stronger.
In areas that have suffered catastrophic flooding, taking people out of poverty is seen as the most effective way of protecting them from the effects of climate change, but ironically the traditional step-wise evolution from an emerging to an advanced economy is exacerbating the problem.
During the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, only three emerging economies ranked the top 12 greenhouse gas emitters. This number has now risen to seven.
Comfortable buildings with lower emissions
With an ever-increasing demand for good quality housing and for secure and comfortable places to work, a rise in carbon emissions might seem inevitable, especially considering that, even in developed economies, such as the EU and US, commercial and residential buildings account for about 40 percent of primary energy consumption.
A rise in carbon emissions is not, however, inevitable – energy savings can be made by installing technology that will reduce electricity consumption, even while improving performance, and therefore reduce emissions.
In buildings, energy is used mainly for heating, cooling and powering electric appliances*. In addition, among the fastest growing commercial buildings are data centers, which use in excess of 30 times more power per square meter than other building types – 3 percent of total energy consumption.
In this area, significant gains can be made with intelligent building solutions that manage temperature, lighting and electrical appliances to exact requirements. A study by the German Electrical Industry Association (ZVEI) found that energy consumption and costs for lighting in buildings of all kinds can be reduced by up to 80 percent by using intelligent building systems.