So you thought it was that swarm of cars on the freeway or that refinery’s smokestack belching black fog that was the major contributor to CO2 emissions.   Well it turns out that it isn’t cars or even industry that is the biggest contributor to this CO2 mess….it’s buildings.

Take a look at these charts and graphs from the U.S. Energy Administration.   If you add both residential and commercial real buildings together, a new picture of the energy drain emerges.    The website Architecture 2030 has parsed some of the data from the US government in a slightly different way.  Their pie chart shows that 48 percent of U.S. energy consumption goes to buildings.

There is regular discussion about developing countries, particularly China, and their increasing appetite for fuel and energy.  Once again increasing car ownership and fuel consumption in China usually get the lion’s share of attention.  Yet building is a major contributor, perhaps the largest overall contributor, of CO2 emissions.  Why isn’t this the topic for the evening news?  If you have close to 50 percent of the problem being generated around the world by our houses and our office buildings, green building and re-building should be at the top of the list.

I’m irritated and inspired by this information.  Irritated that there isn’t more attention given to green building.  Irritated that the general public—me included—have spent a lot of time wringing our collective hands over transportation issues (cars and fuel) when I should have been more focused on homes and buildings.  I’m inspired by all the options for green building and rebuilding.  I feel like this is something that every person can actually do something about.  I’m probably not qualified to develop hydrogen fueled cars, but I can analyze my own home and start making changes.

Additional posts you may be interested in:

• Terms of Use (0)
• Sustainable Suite Design Competition (0)
• Straw Bale Construction (0)