Energy and the Built Environment: the journey begins

It is really inspiring reading all the students posts, while there are different backgrounds we are all concerned about the environment and trying to make things better. It encourages me to realise that there are many new students of the Master of Sustainable Built Environment Program, what will definitely make the learning experience valuable. There is no mystery that 'Sustainability is a broad concept that has to be addressed in a holistic way, so the more students with different backgrounds the more visions and ideas to achieve it. It is also important to keep in mind the “17 Sustainable Development Goals To Transform Our World” that several countries adopted in September 25th 2015, as part of the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. I believe that achieving these goals needs participation of stakeholders that are familiar with sustainability issues, then having the skills and abilities that the UNSW program gives is essential. If anybody is not familiar with the goals, they can be reviewed in depth in the following link: UN Development Goals.

Among all the post cards, one that caught my attention is the one that wrote Sabrina Atker. She shared a picture of 1 Bligh Street Building, a green building designed with ESD principles that has received several awards in regard to this matter. Fantastic, but, is this type of sustainable development for everyone? I think that no, just considering that leasing a space here probably is affordable by a few. Although, i think this is the first step, in which big corporations demonstrate their commitment with sustainable development in the built environment. The second step should be what i would call "democratic sustainability", materialised in all the range of elements of the built environment in which all can be part of it, this means, not just in fancy corporate buildings. The following video shows the timeline of the development and through its different stages it is possible to infer that a big amount of energy must have been used to its construction. A bit paradoxical, considering that it is a 6 Star Green Star Office Design v2 and Office As-Built v2 Certified Ratings from the Green Building Council of Australia.

Consciousness. That is the moral of the first session to me. Energy, what a powerful concept, that is involved in everything we do, but we don't make time to think in detail about it. The time is now, we must do it. Everything is linked, so we need to act now. Make a change, in consumption and production. There are several ways to make it. I just would like to analyse the fact that going veggie could reduce the food related GHG emissions. In theory it might be true but it is possible to accomplish it? With less land available due to overpopulation and climate changes, where are we going to grow that huge amount of veggies? Green walls farms and kerbside farming might be some options but don''t think would be sufficient to feed millions.