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The blog of the Wilson Center's Environmental Change and Security Program
  • Tripp Shealy and Elke U. Weber, The Daily Climate

    Built-In Climate Solutions: Adjusting Defaults to Encourage More Efficient Design

    November 14, 2014 By Wilson Center Staff
    efficient-design

    The original version of this article, by Tripp Shealy and Elke U. Weber, appeared on The Daily Climate.

    New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has called for “urgent, daring action” to help deliver on his pledge to reduce New York City’s greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050. The Mayor asked us all to think about “the reckless way in which we live.”

    Unfortunately, many of us will have to continue to live recklessly because much of how we operate on a daily basis is already set in place: Once the buildings and highways are constructed, for instance, options for reducing our energy consumptions narrow considerably.

    While our individual choices can affect energy use, the decisions our city, state, and nation make on infrastructure such as heating, cooling, lighting and transportation have a dramatically larger impact, an impact that will easily persist for many decades.

    Continue reading on The Daily Climate.

    Photo Credit: A LEED-certified parking structure in Santa Monica, California, courtesy of flickr user John McStravick.

    Topics: climate change, energy, environment, mitigation, U.S., urbanization
    • Tim M

      Thank you for this article; it brings up some important points. For one, it addresses the large potential for energy reductions in the commercial sector, which is very true. LEED certification is a great first step, but is not a panacea for reducing our GHG emissions. Individual energy choices can have a huge impact – even if it is ultimately regulatory bodies, which dictate these behaviors. One approach that I would like to see more of would be smart metering paired with an influx of distributed renewables.

    • Joshelyn

      I agree it is certainly difficult to change the way people
      live to be more sustainable in a historically unsustainable
      infrastructure. I am all for technology and
      architecture geared toward a more sustainable future. In the midst of this development we need to
      change every day norms so that they are focus on sustainability.

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