Extreme weather, increased forest fires, storms
of great magnitude, changes in flora and fauna in several areas: Climate change
is not a remote future event. What should be the role of the architect to this
event?
Much has been made of global warming and its
consequences, one of the activities contributing to this change is building.
Last December 12 at the head of French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, could
approve the Consensus of Paris, a navigation chart with instructions to curb
emissions of greenhouse gases with a global commitment of the participating
countries to reduce and keep the temperature rise no more than 1.5 °. And
architectural activity is the call to promote this task; its role in reducing
greenhouse gases is seeking professional actions, practices and solutions to
climate change, promoting responsible design. The home of our natural resources
are finite and we create energy to heat, cool and light our homes, businesses
and offices should not only reduce opening a faucet or turn on a switch. The
densification of urban areas, carries an unusual energy to heat or cool
environments in addition to parameters such as solar radiation, rainfall, and
the direction of the prevailing winds, temperature, vegetation and materials
will used in the construction of new works.
This awareness should start from the schools of
architecture and urbanism where a mandatory program that encourages creative
solutions to relevant problems by climate change and to incorporate this
concept of the relationship between nature and architectural creation is
included in all design workshops, evaluating projects which include ideas
towards mitigating the impact on climate.
The commitment also should take the productive
chain of building materials. My proposal here is to be incorporated into the
obligatory information for each product or material, with regard to energy
consumption. Materials that can be used in the bioclimatic building are those
who meet criteria such as minimum energy consumption and clean during the
production of the material; the idea of recycling these materials once they
are discarded and no addition of toxic substances.
The goal is to pursue reduction of between 50%
and 80% of energy consumption by buildings through sustainable design and there
are many examples to begin to implement the measure. However, accepting that
awareness is beginning to be felt in the new works are old buildings which
present the greatest challenge, since the implementation of energy improvements
translated into new construction, alone, are not enough to reduce energy
consumption and emissions of the building, was successful in slowing the growth
of these two variables, but not decrease, the impact is therefore very precarious
since the new construction represents only 2% of all the buildings.
The park already built was built with a
limiting demands very low energy demand, and in some cases nonexistent. The
task is difficult, but it requires a great effort from us as creators and
builders, is not unrealistic WWF's claim when he argues that "the single
most effective way to reduce emissions and energy consumption in the building
sector It is through the reduction of energy demand and built the park,
improving insulation levels of the buildings. The challenge is raised.
Arq. Pedro Nel Sánchez Molina.