We can construct buildings that reduce atmospheric CO₂ by more than their lifetime emissions. They now don’t cost much more – and a project involving 1.2 million homes would drive costs down further.

The national cabinet has announced plans to build an extra 1.2 million homes by July 1 2029.

What if we committed to building homes that produced net negative emissions? Put simply, such buildings remove more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than are emitted during their lifecycle.

Building these homes in Australia would do much more than reduce national emissions.

Building airtight homes - known as a tight building envelope - avoids unwelcome heat gain or loss.

Examples of buildings with low, zero or negative net emissions already exist in the United Kingdom and the European Union.

Building 1.2 million homes that use such technology would scale it up, driving down costs.

Building all of the promised 1.2 million homes in a future-friendly way would show our governments recognise both the long-term imperative of climate action and this immediate opportunity.

  • Treevan 🇦🇺@aussie.zoneM
    ·
    1 year ago

    Not only decades, probably thousands of years. There are written records of fuel (wood) becoming scarce so architecture was changed for passive heating etc., particularly through Roman times.

    The wheel keeps getting reinvented...