Buildings consume 48 percent of all energy in the U.S., 76 percent of all electricity, and are responsible for almost half of all greenhouse gas emissions. To seriously affect climate change, we need to address the design, construction, operation, and deconstruction of the built environment. Existing U.S. buildings total approximately 300 billion square feet; every year five billion square feet of new space is built while another five billion square feet is renovated. By 2035, approximately 75 percent of the built environment in the U.S. will be new or renovated. A huge opportunity exists, here and abroad, to significantly reduce the impact of the built environment on climate change.
RMI’s Built Environment Team has launched a new Initiative titled “Cooling the Warming.” Programs within the initiative will provide the resources, create the partnerships, and launch the tools to fundamentally change the way architects, engineers, building owners, developers, investors, utilities, and a host of other stakeholders approach the design, construction, operation, and deconstruction of buildings, communities, and cities.
This initiative is organized into Research and Development: action-promoting investigation in several areas of systematic inefficiency; Influence Change: stimulating and informing the general public regarding the benefits of sustainable building through a variety of technologies including print literature, video guides, and an interactive website; Transfer Technology: stimulating demand for better building practices; widespread professional agreement and competency is integral to the implementation of modern intelligent design practices and to providing comprehensive tools and guides for professionals in the field.
The Cooling the Warming Initiative takes an integrated approach to climate change by seeking greenhouse gas reductions while simultaneously addressing building and community design, comfort, and health. The Built Environment Team hopes to dispel the notion that mitigating climate change negatively affects economics, comfort, or aesthetics. This three-year initiative will cost an estimated $3.75 million.
