This directly drives the lab layout, plus the services requirements and the finishes specifications..
Of particular concern is the fact that we're currently expecting to see two terawatts of coal still in operation by mid-century, which would use up the entirety of our remaining carbon budget.The urgency of the situation is heightened by the fact that current energy demand projections are likely incorrect, and don’t account for the vast increase in demand we’ll see as a result of the projected population increase of four billion people.. Coal is contributing not only to electricity generation, but to industrial emissions as well, and unfortunately, the reality is we don’t really know what trajectory we’re on with temperature increase and the climate emergency.
The International Energy Agency modelling predicts a 1.8 degree trajectory, but that figure is based on all of the current commitments being met on issues like deforestation, methane emission reductions, and the updated nationally determined contributions (NDCs).Realistically though, it’s unlikely all of the commitments will be met..Furthermore, the 1.8 degree figure doesn’t include any meaningful increase in global energy access.
Gogan says she hopes that’s wrong, because there are currently four billion people in the world who lack access to enough electricity, and 850 million people who lack access to any electricity at all.In fact, the latter figure is expected to increase to three billion people by 2050.
It’s essential that we start addressing where all of this needed energy is going to come from.
Eric Ingersoll has conducted analysis which suggests that if everyone on earth had access to just a median level of electricity (about 4,000 kilowatt hours compared to an existing rate of 15,000 kilowatt hours in the U.S.), even then, we’d need to triple our energy infrastructure.This eradicated the need to replace or shut down the operation, saving the client more than £120 million – not to mention tonnes of embedded and emitted carbon in the construction of a new asset..
If building is the only option, then the hard questions need to continue:.What would a zero-carbon building look like across its whole lifespan?
There is a pressing need to reduce carbon emissions in the short term, so although having an efficient building over a 50-year period is a good outcome, it is insufficient if it causes a huge emission of CO2 in the next few years.There are technologies being developed that extract CO2 from the atmosphere to incorporate into building materials.