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Mariha Kozinska edited this page Nov 28, 2020 · 2 revisions 
      --- Problem - understanding the "why?" ---

  1. Worldwide, buildings account for 14% of greenhouse gas emissions: 6% is being produced on-site [1] and 8% off-site, as a result of their electricity usage [2]. As much as 80% of energy consumed is wasted [3]. For an individual, for example in Poland, house heating alone accounts for 45% (?) of their personal carbon footprint.

  2. For residential buildings, many energy efficiency solutions exist and are well known, such as accurate insulation, as well as new technologies emerge, yet people rarely implement them. For example in the US, solar panels providers spend 44% of the cost of an installation on customer acquisition. [4]

  3. Great diversity of households makes centralized solutions to reduce energy demands impossible. This is a global issue that needs to be solved locally.

[1] https://drawdown.org/sectors/buildings [2] https://drawdown.org/sectors/electricity [3] https://drawdown.org/solutions/building-retrofitting [4] http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy15osti/64746.pdf

How bad the climate change is, globally?

As a user, I'd like to know where are we going? how bad the climate change is, globally? so that I know what the problem is and I understand why everyone on the planet, including me, needs to strive to achieve carbon neutrality.

[ ] current emission [ ] past - present - future: trends

Climate change indicators: biodiversity loss, temperature growth, level of seas, ice melting, number of natural catastrophes (floods, drought), greenhouse gases emission

Where do we stand? What my family/my community/my country contribution (to the problem) is? Absolute and relative to others (map or values: EU, US, China, maybe India, Brazil, best: Norway, Denmark, Bhutan)?

  • CO2 emission per household, all levels (*) (maybe: includes how much is neutralized)

  • Energy consumption per household, all levels (maybe: includes how much comes from renewable resources)

  • (?) our responsibility: including historical (industrial era, developed vs developing countries) and future contribution (population growth) historical: https://ourworldindata.org/contributed-most-global-co2

Assumption: every human being has equal rights to consume energy (as a mean of development)

(*) Levels: Household, community (administrative), country, world (mój dom, moja gmina, ..., Polska, świat)

How much was done? Progress towards carbon-neutrality, ex % by which emission was cut since 2010, 2020.

How do we do in comparison to others? in my community, country, world? Do we stand out positively or are we slowing down the efforts?

Why households? Residential heating/cooling and energy consumption contribution to co2 emission.

Levels: Household, community (administrative), country, world

top - down: global scale bottom - up: individual's perspective

Building emissions:

  • ongoing use: direct and indirect emissions
  • embodied carbon

direct emissions including fossil fuel combustion for heating and cooking needs, management of waste and wastewater, and leaks from refrigerants in homes and businesses

indirect emissions occur offsite and are associated with use of electricity consumed by homes and businesses.

embodied carbon: materials that comprise buildings and the process of construction, renovation, or demolition

https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions#commercial-and-residential

Worldwide, buildings account for 32% of energy use and 19% of energy-related greenhouse emissions. They pull from the electric grid or natural gas lines to heat, cool, and light the spaces within them and to power appliances and machinery. As much as 80% of the energy consumed is wasted — lights and electronics are left on unnecessarily and gaps in the building’s envelope allow air to seep in and out, for example.

https://drawdown.org/solutions/building-retrofitting

Through direct, on-site sources buildings produce 6% of heat-trapping emissions worldwide. Fuels are burned on site, primarily to heat space or water or for cooking. The chemicals used for cooling and refrigeration can escape as emissions.

https://drawdown.org/sectors/buildings

Building emissions from ongoing use: direct, on-site + indirect, off-site emissions

Worldwide: 6% + 8% => 14% Indirect: 32% z 25% => 8% 25% of co2 comes from electricity, 32% of energy is consumed by buildings => buildings account for 8% of co2 emission from electricity

In the US: 12% + (?) 9% => 21% (?) Indirect: 32% z 27% => 9% (32% of electricity is consumed by buildings, 27% of co2 is emitted by electricity production)

https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions#commercial-and-residential - direct emission, US https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions#electricity - indirect emission, US

https://behavior.rare.org/resources/seven-pathways-to-achieve-climate-impact/

Any solution to the climate crisis must involve the United States dramatically reducing its greenhouse gas emissions, but as individuals, we often feel powerless in the face of the scale of change needed. However, voluntary actions at the individual and household level can significantly contribute to overall U.S. emissions reductions and can do so in the absence of policy.

This report from Rare’s Center for Behavior & the Environment identifies seven behaviors that have the greatest practical potential to reduce U.S. emissions. Increasing adoption of each of these behaviors among relevant demographics by just 10% could reduce the projected gap to delivering the U.S. commitment under the Paris Agreement by 80%.

Each Behavior’s Contribution Toward Target Adoption Goal in 2025 Mitigation Plan Reducing emissions from a Business as Usual (BAU) scenario to a behavior change adoption scenario. Highlights: Carbon offset - 46%, Purchase green energy - 11%

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