New Directions in Ecological Design

Actar, Energy and sustainability, expanding design practices, High Density, Michelle Addington, Urban Paradigms, XXL-XS

Architect’s challenge, Architect’s role, Architectural boundary, Carbon footprint, Consumption, Critique, Developing policies, Ecological footprint, Ecology, Emergent geographies, Energy consumption, Global Awareness, Greenhouse emissions, Human footprint, Planetary urbanizations, Sustainability, Urban Paradigms, Utopian practices

Published in "XXL-XS. New Directions in Ecological Design", 2017 -- https://lccn.loc.gov/2016938024

The numbers are omnipresent, the responsibility inescapable. Buildings consume more than 40% of the world’s energy, and more than 70% of its electricity. Even these dire numbers underrepresent the true consequences of our buildings as many collateral impacts are not properly counted and attributed; for example, the embodied energy of buildings is currently charged to the industrial sector. And, of much greater concern, the rapid development taking place throughout the world will consume resources and energy at levels far beyond our capacity to manage greenhouse gas levels and the accompanying global temperature rise.