As cities and countries continue to declare climate emergency, they are now faced with the economic burden that it takes to switch over to more energy efficient systems.
However, in their article, Climate change: real estate worth billions could become obsolete – unless owners act now, Kevin Muldoon-Smith and Paul Michael Greenhalgh, professors at Northumbria University, are finding that the repercussions of not taking action now could cost more in the long run. Muldoon-Smith and Greenhalgh go as far to say that, “It’s even reasonable to expect benefits to the economy from the growing building retrofit industry.”
This begs the question, should the building industry declare climate emergency and begin to take action as well? Could the building industry benefit from changing over to more energy efficient standards sooner than later?
Cassie Pospishil is an Architectural Associate at CO-OP Architecture in Rapid City, SD.