Pivoting Towards Green Buildings to Secure a Liveable Future For All
Article by Bent Jensen, CEO, Commercial Building Services, Grundfos
Climate risks continue to spell greater uncertainty in our future. Europe and North America saw their most brutal heatwaves, while severe drought has left millions facing famine in East Africa. Asia was equally battered by record heat, flash floods and droughts, which scientists say will only become even more frequent and intense due to climate change.
In the face of all this, while it is important to prepare our cities against the unpredictable nature of extreme weather events, we also need to recognise that managing our carbon footprint is imperative in ensuring a liveable future for the next generation.
Specifically, buildings have a huge potential to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, and in turn make a real difference towards the environment. Globally, 40 per cent of the world’s carbon emissions come from existing buildings[1], and they also account for half of the global electricity consumption[2]. With Southeast Asia’s urban population expected to grow by another 100 million people by 2030[3], the region will be seeing greater urbanisation and buildings within the next decade.
Southeast Asia is also one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change, making the building sector’s sustainable ambitions high on the region’s agenda. Countries in the region are increasingly recognising the importance of green buildings – 43 per cent of green bonds in ASEAN are used for financing green buildings[4].
However, given the soaring demand for new buildings and pace of climate change, there is a radical need to reduce carbon emissions from the building sector. It has become increasingly urgent to make the sustainable transformation necessary for our built environment, by tapping into new innovation and leveraging strategic partnerships.
Beating the heat sustainably
Climate change’s most pertinent consequence on cities has recently been in the form of urban heat, a phenomenon where metropolitan areas experience warmer temperatures due to factors like urban surfaces retaining heat and a denser population.
In the region, most countries have been well equipped with cooling solutions to cope with the heat, being located in the tropical belt where hot and humid weather is commonplace. To further brace for rising temperatures, local researchers are studying the factors that contribute to urban heat and testing different cooling strategies.
However, as our solutions work harder to keep us cool and comfortable, urbanisation and a demand for increased comfort will increase the expected energy demand for buildings. As there are no short-term pathways to make energy production non-carbon based, it is vital to increase the efficiency of energy use in buildings – in both new constructions and existing buildings.
Notably, pumps control the water and cooling system of a building, operating, and using energy year-round. Particularly in commercial buildings, the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems accounts for up to 40 per cent total energy use[5]. They are also responsible for all water management processes such as potable water supply, wastewater removal, and even fire protection. Therefore, we need pumps in buildings to be energy efficient.
To help reduce the carbon footprint of buildings, building solution providers are increasingly looking at smart technology to achieve systems that can operate in optimised conditions at any time, using water and energy in an efficient manner. For example, intelligent pumps can now instinctively adjust its operations based on changes in demand, which ensures that pump systems run only when needed, thereby halving the amount of electricity consumed by traditional pumps that operate at a constant rate.
With more efficient pump solutions, the world’s energy consumption can be heavily reduced. The result of which is not only a positive impact on carbon emissions and climate change but also higher performing buildings, greater indoor comfort, and increased water safety.
Innovative thinking key to greening a building
Beyond tackling the important issue of urban heat management, it is also crucial to examine all aspects of a building’s operation with an innovative lens. For example, solar energy has presented great potential, with solar panels and building-integrated photovoltaics proving to be effective ways to harvest renewable energy to power buildings. Notably, these were some of the solutions we tapped into to further green our facilities in Singapore, through working closely with the staff and students of Singapore Polytechnic as part of their industry attachment arrangement with us.
Other trends include moving the building sector’s current project-based construction approach to one that is product-based, by pivoting industry players towards modular and prefabricated solutions. By producing standardised components off-site and then assembling on-site, we can achieve greater resource efficiency and also drastically reduce project timelines.
Last but not least, urban biodiversity and applying biophilic design principles – integrating natural systems into the fabric of our cities – can play a role in helping our built environment achieve climate change adaption, by improving overall air quality.
Creating value through strategic partnerships
Looking beyond these existing sustainable solutions and approaches, at the end of the day sustainable innovation cannot be achieved in silos; it is through partnership that we can better facilitate industries’ green transition and capture the best value out of it.
This is why industries are increasingly expanding their expertise and experience through collaboration with regional and local institutions and organisations. For example, earlier in June, Grundfos signed an MoU with Singapore’s Ngee Ann Polytechnic (NP) to co-develop energy and water efficient smart solutions that will contribute to a more resilient and sustainable built environment across Southeast Asia, through collaboration, talent development and sustainability education.
This partnership has been a win-win both ways – staff and students have received greater industry exposure in the areas of sustainability and experience first-hand innovative new technologies, while we have benefited from leveraging NP’s academic rigor and knowledge to improve our sustainability credentials.
Conclusion
As we emerge from the pandemic into the new normal, the hope for a sustainable world is picking up again among the next generation, businesses, and governments. Facing increasingly harsher climate changes, how we survive and thrive in the next decade and beyond relies on how we set our sights on sustainability, and how we can achieve our goals of restoring the world’s ecosystems.
Going green with our buildings is no longer a question of making a business case for it. It is a clear win-win situation for both its builders and occupants, not only making a positive impact on the environment, but also reducing overall operations cost without compromising comfort.
It is thus imperative for us – governments, businesses, and individuals – to think long-term and invest in the global transition to a more sustainable future, by committing our resources to pivot our built environment to a sustainable one that will ensure a liveable future for all.
[1] https://www.iea.org/topics/buildings
[2] https://www.iea.org/reports/the-critical-role-of-buildings
[3] Florida, R. and M. Fasche (2017). The Rise of the Urban Creative Class in Southeast Asia, Martin Prosperity Institute, Toronto
[4] Azhgaliyeva et al. (2020) Green bonds for financing renewable energy and energy efficiency in South-East Asia: A review of policies, Asian Development Bank Institute Working Paper Series
[5] Australia Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources (2013). HVAC factsheet – Energy breakdown.
