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NewsDay

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Why the building sector is emission intensive

Opinion & Analysis
The building sector is part of the broad network of the land-use practices and changes which emit greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (C02), water vapour, methane, nitrous oxide, among others.

By Peter Makwanya

THERE are numerous community of practices that are highly carbon-driven and emission intensive. These include the topical burning of fossil fuels, thermal power generation, the transport sector, land-use activities, deforestations and land degradation, among others.

Rarely do people hear information pinpointing the building sector as one of the main drivers of carbon emissions. The continued backgrounding of such critical emission discourses pose a danger to the ecosystems, livelihoods and the environment.

It is the thrust of this discussion to navigate through the infrastructural development sector’s community of practice and lay bare the grey areas in the sector which are hidden from the public glare.

Building is one of the climate-proof sectors which is central and at the heart of human livelihood options including infrastructural development and sustainability.

The love for human expansion, settlement requirements and shelter acquisition as basic and status needs sometimes could cloud human minds leading them to ignore the ecosystemic dangers which usually go along with construction activities.

While this article does not delve deeper into the intricacies of architectural development, it helps open up the people’s minds and lead them into seeing what actually goes on behind the scenes in the construction sectors. These would also contribute to accelerating the rate of emissions leading to global warming.

The building sector is part of the broad network of the land-use practices and changes which emit greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (C02), water vapour, methane, nitrous oxide, among others. It is also the aim of this article to seek and empower beneficiaries and target audiences with information which would not attempt to separate the building sector community of practice from deforestations, bush clearing and burning, land degradation and expansion of settlements, including population explosion scenarios.

All these are sources and ingredients of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) directly associated with the whole concept of infrastructural development.

These land-use changes are known drivers of environmental and climate change, especially when they go hand-in-hand with agricultural expansion, while the increase in population density and pressures, forest destruction for fencing poles, firewood, charcoal, brick moulding, river and pit sand for building purposes have become emission intensive.

Building activities are emission charged and oriented practices that communities ought to live with, abide by and adapt to. For these reasons, more emission reduction pathways should seriously be propagated. In this regard, the plain truth and living fact obtaining on the ground indicates that urbanisation and expansion of rural settlements are currently unfolding.

There is demand for new houses, commercial buildings, schools, hospitals, clinics, roads and bridges among others. All these infrastructural developments have one thing in common, they are emission loaded, driven and intensive hence they cannot be simply wished away.

The production of cement, bricks, quarry-stones and other building materials are major sources of GHGs emissions. The construction industry is highly-driven by formal and informal human-induced activities. Despite the relevant emissions involved as off-shoots and products of construction, ironically more energy use is also inherent in building practices.

This is due to the construction sector having been identified as one of the major energy consumers through heating, cooling and lack of ventilation, air-conditioning, transportation of building materials and equipment, among others.

No matter how much the building sector can be experiencing transformation, its foundation and community of practice remains carbon emission intensive. Despite the involuntary stop-over due to the advent of COVID-19 pandemic, the building sector has resumed on a high and rejuvenated pace.

For the avoidance of doubt and for public knowledge and understanding, building sector emissions should not be classified separately but need to be integrated in the whole building framework.

The designs of homes, offices, commercial and industrial buildings can make big contributions in lowering carbon emissions. Opportunities to reduce building-related carbon emissions are abound in developed countries, mainly through improvements on existing buildings, improved insulation, air-conditioning, efficient bulb-uses, refrigeration, among others. The problems that many developing countries are experiencing emanate from a long list of housing backlog hence choices to reduce emissions are very limited.

Only adherence to the new green building requirements with more efficient designs, less energy intensive materials, equipment and mitigation options can solve the current emission intensive scenarios, thereby saving the situation.

In developing countries, the increase in the costs of building materials has also led people to invading forests for building poles, degrading landscapes.

This has also witnessed the emergence and concentration of old, obsolete and overused transport systems, with poor energy consumption mechanisms, being used to transport building materials, thereby releasing lots of emissions including e-waste gases in the process.

In terms of building and infrastructural development, towns and cities can be viewed as being in the frontline due to the high concentration of millions of people in locations that can be prone to disasters and other impacts of climate change.

Most of these urban centres have poorly serviced infrastructure, leading to various forms of emissions. Many of these towns and cities are emission intensive because of poor service delivery.

This brings us to the concept of nature-based solutions in infrastructural development within cities, around cities and away from cities. For the provision of cooling needs, reducing urban heat, providing natural shades, managing run-offs and reducing pollution within cities.

The establishment of recreational spaces, reduction and capture of C02 around cities and forest catchments, to provide clean water and store carbon, urban wetlands for capturing carbon, reducing flooding and purification of water is also recommended.

Green roofs are also designed to mitigate urban heat and energy demands for cooling.

  •  Peter Makwanya is a climate change communicator. He writes in his personal capacity.

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