I was a bit disappointed reading this brief workshop report as the conclusions are very cautious. It started strong by reviewed some epic keynote points like ice free summers at the North Pole by 2030 (12 years away by my math) and the need for negative carbon emissions to stay below 2 degrees increase. Then went on to how industry speakers spoke of the need for doubling or tripling the thermal efficiencies in NZBC and how with population growth we will need to massively build out the electrical grid but building energy efficiency could help mitigate this. After all that the next steps are research programs.
I like to be able to accurately predict things before I do them but at some point we need to build better buildings. Some of the scientists at BRANZ working on this and they are sharp but we need to step up our game now not in five more years.
“NEXT STEPS:• On the 24th July a MBIE partnership applicationwas submitted with the intent of developing the lowcarbon as a research programme.• Exploring and developing potential relationshipswith key partners has continued….”
Per Professor Tim Flannery, Chief Councillor Australia Climate Council
“As of 2018, we’re currently emitting 50 plus gigatons of CO2 equivalent into the atmosphere per year globally. The built environment generates around 40% of this CO2 globally. This is unbelievably large. If we were to try and withdraw 10% of that volume from the atmosphere, around five gigatons, we would need to cover the size of the USA, including Alaska, in a forest. “