Thank you @mazria for encouraging remarks.
I consulted ‘A US Success Story’, the source of your statement about 50 billion sq feet not increasing energy consumption. It seems based on building operations, excluding embodied energy.
The RIBA recently released ‘Built for the Environment’, where it calls for the focus to shift onto reducing absolute emissions, not reductions per square meter of building area, which must involve building less, much less.
RIBA also states (p. 14) “rapid increases in floor area and demand for energy-consuming equipment and services are contributing to the growth of carbon emissions, outpacing emissions reductions gained from efficiency improvements…”.
The topic of building less was also raised on 9 Sept at CLF Vancouver event on Circular Design. Link to my own talk: Circular Design in the Built Environment | David Ness (UniSA STEM) - YouTube
Furthermore, EU is introducing carbon budgets based on top-down allocations for countries & sectors. These are likely to dramatically reduce new construction and advantage retrofit/adaptation, in EU and beyond.
Hope we can continue this important conversation and that other CLF members may join in too.
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