Designed Environment

May 28

This sector is transforming an existing industry

How we define it

The Designed Environment sector encompasses technologies that reduce emissions and environmental impact throughout the built ecosystem: cities, buildings, and the systems used to heat, cool, ventilate, light, and manage energy for those spaces.

Why it matters

Embodied emissions: Production of cement, steel, glass, timber, and other construction materials is exceptionally carbon-intensive. Cement alone is responsible for a significant fraction of global carbon emissions. While these are GHG Scope 1 and 2 emissions of the Industry Edge sector, the adoption of cleantech building materials is driven by the Designed Environment sector. Since buildings and roadways remain in place for many years, they are excellent sinks for greenhouse gasses converted into building materials by cleantech.
Operational emissions: The vast majority of the buildings, roadways, and other built infrastructure in place today was not designed to minimize environmental impact. Mitigating cleantech includes LED lighting, high-performance insulation, ambient light management, low water use technology, efficient HVAC appliances, alternative refrigerants, novel air-flow systems, and numerous other solutions. Displacing the use of fossil natural gas and propane for water and building heat with renewable fuels or electric heat pumps also presents opportunities to reduce the emissions of the designed environment.

Metrics

Project Drawdown

The cleantech for this sector contributes to 15 Project Drawdown solutions and the reduction/sequestration of 123.88 - 170.24 gigatons of carbon equivalent (2020-2050).

Drawdown Solutions: Alternative Cement, Alternative Refrigerants, Building Automation Systems, Building Retrofitting, District Heating, Dynamic Glass, Green and Cool Roofs, High-Efficiency Heat Pumps, High-Performance Glass, Insulation, LED Lighting, Low-Flow Fixtures, Net-Zero Buildings, Smart Thermostats, Solar Hot Water