Decarbonizing Cities - Pt 2: Green Grids and Greater Resilience
In cities, buildings are responsible for around 60% of emissions. Globally, building and construction account for 39% of carbon emissions. Although construction companies, developers and building owners can play a role in reducing the impact buildings have on carbon-neutral societies, without a green energy grid, government targets and milestones are unlikely to be met. Clean energy plays a central role in decarbonizing cities and our wider environment.
Rather than wait for governments to take bolder action, building owners, investors and occupiers should explore on and offsite energy initiatives to help meet clean energy targets. Energy initiatives that lend themselves to local and clean energy generation include the installation of renewable energy technologies such as solar panels, small building-mounted wind turbines, and joining, or starting, community solar power projects.
CAPTION: Green energy grids are a key thread in creating the fabric of decarbonized societies (Photo by Milada Vigerova on Unsplash)
How green is your grid?
Despite the ambitious net zero carbon targets governments are aiming for, many cities still derive much of their energy from brown grids. These grids rely mostly on conventional fossil fuels to generate electricity.
In 2017, coal accounted for 62% of Australia’s electricity production. A recent report from the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources shows a drop of 6% in coal-derived electricity and a 50% increase in solar power. Approximately 21% of Australia’s electricity generation now comes from renewables. The remaining 79% comes from coal, fossil fuels and natural gasses.
Faster action is needed if Melbourne is to reach its target to run on 100% renewable energy by 2030 or even for Sydney to reach its goal of 50% renewables by the same date. Decarbonizing the energy network is a massive undertaking and cannot be achieved in isolation. Multiple stakeholders must be involved for the requisite infrastructure to be created. A national plan that is coordinated across states and regions is the fastest and most comprehensive way of achieving these ambitious targets.
Amsterdam’s Regional Energy Strategy and Hamburg’s partnership approach with neighbouring Schleswig-Holstein Lander are two examples of cities successfully working with neighbouring authorities to achieve large-scale energy changes. Melbourne and Sydney are following suit with the respective Victoria and NSW Renewable Energy Zones projects.
Sydney’s streetlights and public buildings are already powered by 100% renewable electricity, plans are in place to address urban heat, install local renewable systems and make a 70% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 from the 2006 baseline. Melbourne is bringing together businesses, universities and large energy users to use corporate power purchase agreements in support of their 100% renewable energy by 2030 goal.
Scaling the change to net zero economies
Technology plays a crucial part in achieving net zero targets. Infrastructure geared toward neutral carbon creation or even negative carbon is a key element of this, but not the only enabler. Manufacturing techniques that embed carbon in materials, green transportation methods and installing green materials are other technologies that are required for net zero building visions to be realised. Operational carbon generation, as well as recycling and reusing materials after demolition also need to be considered.
With more and more technologies being used at each of these stages of a building’s life cycle, fragmentation of data and technology integration issues are becoming a challenge. Fully integrated technological solutions for carbon management are complex to create and install. Industry consensus for standardizing data and application programming interfaces (APIs) could engender more transparency in reporting and reduce the complexity of these challenges.
Circular approaches to creating resilient carbon-neutral cities
It’s not just carbon levels that are putting our world at risk. Loss of biodiversity, increasing waste and declining soil health are other aspects of environmental health that cities and governments are working to address. Combined, policies can fit together to create a picture of greener, more liveable cities that support residents’ physical, mental and emotional health.
Zero waste initiatives and plans for circular economies often work to support and even speed the transition to net zero carbon cities. Circular economies value the materials used for creating the products we use. These materials can increase the size of green spaces and pull carbon from the environment. Designs are created with the entire lifecycle of the product considered, always with a view to eliminating waste.