CCAP’s Adaptation + Mitigation Formula for Green Building

How can our buildings be designed to limit energy, water, and land use but also be built to withstand our growing extreme climates? Last month, The Center for Clean Air Policy (CCAP) held a Green Resilience: Climate Adaptation + Mitigation Synergies Meeting to discuss this very question.

From: CCAP-Green Resilience: Climate Adaptation + Mitigation Synergies Meeting

Top Climate experts from the public and private sectors and academia came together for a high level discussion offering a number of available measures to reduce current and anticipated building risks, while limiting impacts on the environment. Some of the considered strategies with potential for climate mitigation and adaptation co-benefits included:

Energy Efficiency (EE) – EE retrofits such as smart metering and the use of efficient appliances create energy savings for building owners, operators, and tenants, and reduce emissions. Simultaneously, limiting a building’s dependence on centralized energy grids reduces the risk of power disruptions for homes and businesses.
Building Code Updates – Standards limiting energy, water, and land use can reduce the environmental impact of a building while also minimizing its dependence on utility networks which often fail in the case of extreme climate events.
Green Infrastructure – The use of green roofs, green walls, and sustainable landscaping can serve as a passive indoor cooling measure and reduce urban heat island, but also capture storm water runoff and increase flooding resilience.

These are just a few examples of the available green building strategies which can address both climate mitigation and adaptation. Through integrated planning and full life cycle analysis, green building designers and planners have the opportunity to leverage similar practices to address the future needs of the building sector. Click here to read the full report.