CLIMATE CHANGE & SUSTAINABILITY

UNIT II
What are climate change and global warming, and how
are they related?
• Global warming refers to an increase in average global
temperatures, which in turn causes climate change.

• Climate change refers to changes in seasonal temperature,

precipitation, wind, and humidity for a given area. Climate
change can involve cooling or warming.

• Our atmosphere is made up of gases, such as nitrogen,

oxygen, and CO2, and water vapor, which act like a
“blanket” draped around the planet. Some of these gases—
such as CO2, water vapor, and methane—absorb heat,
reducing the amount that escapes to space, and increasing
global temperatures. This is what is called the “greenhouse
effect,” and these gases are often referred to as “greenhouse
gases.”
CLIMATE CHANGE FACTORS
• Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the
statistical distribution of weather patterns over
periods ranging from decades to millions of years.

• It may be a change in average weather conditions, or in

the distribution of weather around the average
conditions (i.e., more or fewer extreme weather events).
CLIMATE FORCERS
• The earth's climate is naturally variable on all time
scales. However, its long-term state and average
temperature are regulated by the balance between
incoming and outgoing energy, which determines
the Earth's energy balance.
• Any factor that causes a sustained change to the
amount of incoming energy or the amount of
outgoing energy can lead to climate change.
• As these factors are external to the climate system,
they are referred to as 'climate forcers', invoking the
idea that they force or push the climate towards a new
long-term state - either warmer or cooler depending on
the cause of change.
CLIMATE FORCERS
• Different factors operate on different time scales, and not all of
those factors that have been responsible for changes in earth's climate
in the distant past are relevant to contemporary climate change.
• Factors that cause climate change can be divided into two categories -
those related to natural processes and those related to human
activity.
• In addition to natural causes of climate change, changes internal to
the climate system, such as variations in ocean currents or
atmospheric circulation, can also influence the climate for short periods
of time.
• This natural internal climate variability is superimposed on the long-
term forced climate change.
▫ Natural Causes
▫ Human Causes
▫ Short lived and long lived climate forcers
NATURAL CAUSES
• The Earth's climate can be affected by natural
factors that are external to the climate system, such
as changes in volcanic activity, solar output,
and the Earth's orbit around the Sun.
• Of these, the two factors relevant on timescales of
contemporary climate change are changes in
volcanic activity and changes in solar radiation.
• In terms of the Earth's energy balance, these factors
primarily influence the amount of incoming
energy.
NATURAL CAUSES

• Volcanic eruptions are episodic and have relatively

short-term effects on climate.
• Changes in solar irradiance have contributed to
climate trends over the past century but since the
Industrial Revolution, the effect of additions of
greenhouse gases to the atmosphere has been about
ten times that of changes in the Sun's output.
HUMAN CAUSES
• Climate change can also be caused by human activities,
such as the burning of fossil fuels and the conversion
of land for forestry and agriculture.
• Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution,
these human influences on the climate system have
increased substantially.
• In addition to other environmental impacts, these
activities change the land surface and emit
various substances to the atmosphere.
HUMAN CAUSES
• These in turn can influence both the amount of
incoming energy and the amount of outgoing energy
and can have both warming and cooling effects on the
climate.
• The dominant product of fossil fuel combustion is
carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. The overall
effect of human activities since the Industrial Revolution
has been a warming effect, driven primarily by emissions
of carbon dioxide and enhanced by emissions of other
greenhouse gases.
SHORT-LIVED AND LONG-LIVED
CLIMATE FORCERS

• Carbon dioxide is the main cause of human-induced

climate change. It has been emitted in vast quantities
from the burning of fossil fuels and it is a very long-
lived gas, which means it continues to affect the climate
system during its long residence time in the
atmosphere.
• However, fossil fuel combustion, industrial processes,
agriculture, and forestry-related activities emit other
substances that also act as climate forcers.
SHORT-LIVED AND LONG-LIVED
CLIMATE FORCERS
• Some, such as nitrous oxide, are long-lived greenhouse
gases like carbon dioxide, and so contribute to long-term
climate change. Other substances have shorter
atmospheric lifetimes because they are removed
fairly quickly from the atmosphere.

• Therefore, their effect on the climate system is similarly

short-lived. Together, these short-lived climate forcers
are responsible for a significant amount of current
climate forcing from anthropogenic substances. Some
short-lived climate forcers have a climate warming
effect ('positive climate forcers') while others have a
cooling effect ('negative climate forcers').
Global warming & Climate Change
What do most scientists agree upon?
As in any scientific debate, there are uncertainties, but
most scientists agree on the following:
• The average temperature of the Earth has been
increasing more than natural climatic cycles would
explain. This episode of “global warming” is due to
human activity. It began with the industrial
revolution, two centuries ago, and accelerated over the
last 50 years.
• Fossil fuel burning is mostly responsible, because it
releases gases (particularly carbon dioxide) that trap
infrared radiation. This “greenhouse effect” creates a
whole system disturbance, that we call climate
change
The enhanced greenhouse effect
• Greenhouse gases are a natural part of the atmosphere. Without these
gases the global average temperature would be around -20ºC.

• The problem we now face is that human actions – particularly burning

fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas) and land clearing – are increasing
their concentrations. The more of these gases there are, the more heat is
trapped. This is known as the enhanced greenhouse effect.

• Naturally occurring greenhouse gases include water vapour, carbon

dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. Greenhouse gases that
are not naturally occurring include hydro-fluorocarbons (HFCs),
perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6), which are
generated in a variety of industrial processes.

• On average, about one-third of the solar radiation that hits the Earth
is reflected back into space. The land and the oceans mostly absorb the rest,
with the remainder trapped in the atmosphere. The solar radiation that
strikes the Earth’s surface heats it up, and as a result infrared radiation is
emitted.
CO2 emissions
Will climate change actually bring
benefits to some areas?
• As a result of global warming and climate change, some regions—
such as Siberia—will likely become warmer and more habitable.
The growing seasons in some regions will lengthen, as spring
arrives earlier and winter frosts set in later.

• Developing countries will likely be hit hardest as warming

continues because they have fewer resources with which to
address and adapt to the impacts of climate change. But residents of
the United States and other industrial countries will also experience
negative consequences, such as increased coastal flooding and
more frequent and intense heat waves, droughts, storms, and
wildfires as well as the associated economic and health costs.

• Most scientists believe that, at least on a global basis, the costs of

climate change will far outweigh any benefits that it might bring to a
given region.
What are some of the impacts we can
expect from climate change?
• The impacts of climate change will vary from place to
place, but we can expect more severe and frequent
storms (such as hurricanes and ice storms), heat waves,
floods, droughts and wildfires.

• Warmer temperatures will increase the range of

disease-bearing mosquitoes, while also increasing
the range and numbers of insects and other agricultural
pests, such as weeds.
• Melting glaciers and expanding sea water (water
expands as it warms) will further raise sea level,
inundating low-lying islands and flooding coastal areas,
while warmer ocean temperatures will kill many if not
most of the world’s coral reefs.
Which countries contribute the most CT.Lakshmanan

to global warming?
• Wealthier industrial countries contribute the most to global
warming since they use most of the world’s fossil fuels. Europe,
Japan, and North America—with roughly 15 percent of the world’s
current population—are estimated to account for two-thirds of the
carbon dioxide now in the atmosphere.

• With less than five percent of world population, the United States is
the single-largest source of carbon from fossil fuels—emitting 24
percent of the world’s total. U.S. automobiles (more than 128
million, or one quarter of the world’s cars) emit roughly as much
carbon as the entire Japanese economy, the world’s fourth-largest
carbon emitter in 2000.

• China, despite being home to one-fifth of the world’s population and

its heavy dependence on coal, ranks a distant second behind the
U.S., emitting 12 percent of the global total. The average person in
China produces less than one-eighth as much carbon dioxide as the
average American.
How bad is the problem?
• Since pre-industrial times (about 1750), the
atmospheric concentration of CO2 has increased
by 31 percent.

• Over the same period, atmospheric methane—

another heat-trapping gas—has risen by 151
percent, mostly from agricultural activities like
growing rice and raising cattle.
How bad is the problem?
• This heat-trapping blanket has warmed the Earth 1°F during the
past century. This trend is rapidly increasing, according to the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an
international body of the world’s leading climate experts.

• The IPCC concluded that average temperatures will likely increase

2.5° to 10.4°F by 2100 if heat-trapping emissions are not
significantly reduced. But we don’t have to look into the distant
future for climate change.

• The year 1998 was the warmest year, of the warmest decade, of the
last 1,000 years. Global warming is here now, and it’s going to get
worse if we do nothing.
 CT.Lakshmanan

How bad is the problem?

• Warmer temperatures are only part of the
problem.

• Another highly likely consequence of global

warming is rising sea level. As the temperature
of water increases, it expands. Scientists predict
sea level will rise 1 to nearly 3 feet over the next
100 years, putting low-lying areas and millions
of people at risk. Coastal areas will be
increasingly vulnerable to hurricanes and floods.
Other impacts of global warming will
likely include
• More extreme weather, including increasingly intense rainfall and
drought

• Disruption and degradation of critical habitats for many plants and

animals, with an increase in the rate of extinctions

• More coastal erosion, flooding during storms, and permanent

submersion of low-lying coastal areas and islands

• Heat waves and poor air quality, resulting in a greater risk of heat-
related illness and death for vulnerable people like the elderly, the poor,
and people with respiratory disease

• Additional threats to human health—and additional health care costs—as

mosquitoes and other disease-carrying insects and rodents spread
diseases over larger geographical regions

• Disruption of agriculture in some parts of the world due to increased

temperature, water shortages, and sea-level rise in low-lying agricultural
areas
we cannot reverse climate change
overnight
• While our primary goal must be to reduce the quantity of heat-trapping
gases we release into our atmosphere, we must also take steps to limit the
damage to our communities and sensitive ecosystems that will be caused by
climate change in the coming decades.

• Each year we do nothing to slow climate change, we will risk more

irreversible damage to our environment and increase the bills for ourselves,
our children and our grandchildren.

• From healthcare to treat heat-related illness to protection of our fresh water

supply during droughts and increased energy costs as we blast our air
conditioners for more days each summer—these costs are real and argue for
action now.
• Our planet is warming, and we are helping make it
happen by adding more heat-trapping gases, primarily
carbon dioxide (CO2), to the atmosphere.

• The burning of fossil fuel (oil, coal, and natural gas)

alone accounts for about 75 percent of the increase in
CO2.

• Deforestation—the cutting and burning of forests that

trap carbon—accounts for about another 20 percent.
• We’re treating our atmosphere like we once did
our rivers. We used to dump waste thoughtlessly
into our waterways, believing that they were
infinite in their capacity to hold rubbish.

• Our atmosphere has limits too. CO2 remains in

the atmosphere for about 100 years. The longer
we keep polluting, the longer it will take to
recover and the more irreversible damage will be
done.
 Do we want to be
responsible stewards
of our environment
and help slow
global warming?
Better vehicles
Better transmissions and engines, more aero-
dynamic designs, and stronger yet lighter
material for chassis and bodies can cost-
effectively increase the average mpg of today’s
automotive fleet from 24 to 40 mpg by 2012.

This would be equivalent to taking 44 million

cars off the road—and it would save individual
drivers thousands of dollars in fuel costs over
the life of a vehicle.
 Because transportation accounts for
over 30 percent of US annual CO2
emissions, raising fuel economy is one
of the most important things we can
do to slow climate change.

The government can also help by

offering tax credits to consumers who
buy advanced technology vehicles like
today’s hybrids (a combination of
gasoline and
self-charging electric battery engine)
and new fuel cell vehicles that will hit
the market within the next decade.

Honda and Toyota already have highly fuel-efficient hybrid vehicles on the
market that get 61 and 52 mpg in the city, respectively.
Modernising country’s
Electricity System
• Electricity is produced from outdated, coal-burning power
plants that dump pollutants and heat trapping gases into our
atmosphere. In fact, power plants are the single largest source
of CO2 By increasing

• our use of clean renewable energy, investing in energy

efficiency, and reducing pollution from fossil fuel plants we
can save money for consumers, reduce heat-trapping
emissions, and lessen the need for new coal or gas power
plants.
• renewable sources such as solar, wind, geothermal, and
biomass (fuel from plant matter) produce clean energy
Energy Efficiency

• technology for more efficient motors, appliances,

windows, homes, and manufacturing processes
is here today. These simple solutions save
consumers money and can have an enormous
impact on climate change at the same time.
Protect Threatened Forests
• In addition to sheltering more than half of the
planet’s species and providing benefits such as
clean drinking water, forests play a critical role
in climate change: they store carbon—the main
ingredient of CO2.
• When forests are burned, cleared, or otherwise
degraded, their stored carbon is released into the
atmosphere. Tropical deforestation now
accounts for about 20 percent of all human-
caused CO2 emissions each year.
Support Country’s Ingenuity
• Vigorous support for research and development
is critical to achieving practical solutions. Yet
today we invest far more in subsidies for the
fossil fuel and nuclear industries than on R&D
for renewable energy or advanced vehicle
technologies.
• fuel cell technology, which runs engines on
hydrogen fuel and emits only water vapor, is key
to moving our transportation system away from
the polluting combustion engine
Reducing Other Heat-Trapping Gases
• While reducing CO2 emissions must remain our top
priority, other gases contribute to climate change and
should be addressed as well.

• Methane (CH4) can be reduced through better practices

in rice farming and cattle production. In addition,
methane and other heat-trapping gases can be captured
during mining, landfill, and oil exploration operations.

• CFC and other fluorocarbon emissions can be reduced by

strictly enforcing the Montreal Protocol of 1988, an
international treaty that calls for eliminating pollutants
that deplete the ozone in the stratosphere.
Sustainable Farming
• Soils store carbon just like trees. Sustainable
farming practices can increase the carbon-
storing organic matter in soil, and reduce or
eliminate the use of nitrogen fertilizers that
release heat trapping gases into the atmosphere
when they break down.

• In addition, “no-till” farming methods, which

cause less soil disturbance and erosion, can
further decrease the release of CO2 and nitrous
oxides (NOx).
Kyoto Protocol
• The first protocol to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC, the
international treaty on climate change).

• It assigns legally binding commitments for industrialized

countries to reduce their greenhouse-gas emissions by
2012, and includes some funding mechanisms for
adaptation to climate change.

• The Kyoto Protocol was adopted in 1997 and entered

into force in 2005. It is expected to be followed by a
second protocol to the UNFCCC, in 2009.
Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC)
• The most credible source of knowledge on
climate change, IPCC is a panel established in
1988 to assess scientific, technical and socio-
economic information.

• Every five or six years, it produces assessments

based mainly on peer reviewed and published
scientific/technical literature on climate change,
its potential impacts, and options for adaptation
and mitigation.
Mitigation
• This word has different meanings for practitioners in the climate change
and disaster-management communities, often leading to confusion:

Mitigation (climate change)

• Measures to reduce greenhouse- gas concentrations in the atmosphere, and
thus ultimately the magnitude of climate change. Measures include energy
conservation, using renewable energy such as wind or solar energy instead
of coal, oil or gas; and planting trees that absorb carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere.

Mitigation (disaster management)

• Measures aimed at moderating or reducing the severity of disaster impact.
They include such things as building retention walls, water reservoirs, and
reforestation to avoid landslides. From the perspective of the climate
change community, these measures would be labeled as “adaptation”
because they help reduce the negative impacts of climate change.
 Sustainability planning and
architecture-Unit II
ECO ARCHITECTURE,CLIMATE SENSITIVE ARCHITECTURE
Eco- Architecture
• Architecture that reduces the impact on the
environment & sustains the ecosystem of which it is a
part
• A holistic approach to design which integrates
rather than eliminates the elements that link built
forms to their environment
• Aims to create a self-sustainable unit which has a
minimized ecological footprint
• Creates buildings which are least detrimental to the
natural ecosystem and social fabric – considering
hydro-geology, vegetation, fauna, soil, environment and
social ecology
Eco Sensitive Architecture

• Climate Sensitive Architecture

• Eco Friendly materials
• Renewable Energy sources
• Ecological Landscape Design
• Water Resource Management
• Solid Waste Management
• Other methods.
Climate Sensitive Architecture
Climate- India

• Temp Zones
Climate Sensitive Architecture
• Response to the climate
• Based on analysis of climate zone and micro-climate needs
• Based on attaining comfort level in bio-climatic chart
• Identification of Passive design elements
such as walls, openings, roofs, etc. & the use of appropriate
technology & materials
• Preparing Passive design strategies – heating, cooling,
ventilation, humidification/ dehumidification.
Implications
• Reduced energy costs and loads during active life of
building
• Thermal comfort of occupants
• Reduced impact (heat island )on the external environment
Climate Sensitive Architecture Analysis

• Sun dial or sun-path diagram - shading

• Solar radiation – external heat gain
• Wind rose & wind square - ventilation
• Climate response matrix – sun and wind
• Bio-climatic chart
• Occupancy
• Lux levels
• Internal heat gain
Eco- friendly materials
Use of Eco-friendly materials
• Materials with low embodied
energy
• Materials that contain recycled
content or are recyclable
• Local or rapidly renewable
material
• Non-toxic/Low Toxic Materials

Implications
• Reduce the release of GHGs
• Safeguard health of occupants
• Reduced impact on the external
environment
Use of Eco-friendly materials:
• Fly Ash: nearly 100mt produced annually has occupied nearly
75,000 acres for past 30 years – can be blended with cement up to
40%
• Recycled plastic or post-industrial waste can be used as
excellent insulating materials for flooring and roofing
• Use of municipal solid waste as a building material
• Alternatives to cement & concrete include masonry cement,
blast furnace slag cement, fly ash cement and fiber-reinforced
composite cement
• Light-weight, weather resistant and rigid, sisal based composite
panels with polyester resin which can be used for wall partitions
• Organic materials can be use of wood composites, biogases and
coir based boards and tiles.
Use of Eco-friendly materials:

• The entire 40-truck load of debris from an existing

building in Dahisar, Mumbai, is being recycled to
generate 50,000 bricks for the new structure: implying
no debris goes to dumping ground, no pollution and use
of top soil involved in conventional bricks
Renewable Energy resources
Renewable Energy Resources
• Solar thermal for water heating
• Solar Photo Voltaic for electricity
• Wind & hybrid systems
• Geothermal, tidal, micro-hydel energy
• Use of Renewable Energy Resources

Implications

• Reduce dependence on fossil fuels

• Reduce the emission of Green house gases
& thus the threat of global warming
• Pollution and emission-free
Use of Renewable Energy Resources

• The use of solar water

heating for a ongoing
building in Andheri
consisting of 152
tenements at 25,000
lpd, is Rs. 35 lakhs will
lead to savings in
electrical energy to the
tune of 4,36,046.51
units and at Rs. 4.50
per unit.
Use of Renewable Energy Resources

Building Elevation with

integrated photo voltaic
system.
Ecological Landscaping
Ecological landscaping
• Based on knowledge of topography, drainage, geology as
well as flora and fauna of the region, biologic: passive
design with trees
• Protection of soil and vegetation
• Long term ecological sustainability of the bio-region

Implications
• Prevention of soil erosion & subsequent
ecological devastations
• Protection of native, indigenous species of vegetation
• Including water shed, waste and Water Management
Ecological landscaping
• Geology, hydrology,
vegetation, soil erosion,
conservation of local fauna,
were some of the key
considerations in the
revitalization plan for
lakes.
Bio remediation
• Phytoremediation
• bio venting,
• bioleaching,
• land farming,
• bioreactor,
• composting,
• Bio augmentation,
• Rhizo filtration,
• Bio stimulation.
Water Resources Management
 Water Resources Management
• Roof-top rainwater harvesting
• Water shed management
• Water recycling through
nonconventional
biological methods such as
DEWATS & Reed-bed system
or LIVING MACHINES
Implications
• Water conservation using
efficient equipments
• Restore nature’s hydrological
cycle
• Recharge ground water and
underground aquifers
• Prevent ground water
contamination & pollution
Water Resources Management
• Nearly four lakh liters of sewage is treated using reed beds
and aquatic plants for gardening and water a golf course in
Mumbai
Water Resources Management
• The public security building at Santa Monica, USA, recycles
sewage water in an innovative way – as a public fountain. The
building also uses passive design
Solid Waste Management
Solid waste management

• Segregation of organic, dry and

hazardous waste
• Composting organic waste using
techniques such as vermi composting, organic composting and city
farming
• Recycling of dry waste such as plastic, glass, aluminum, steel and
paper

Implications
• Better health and hygienic surrounds
• Production of bio gas to be used for cooking and lighting
• Free inputs in the form of organic fertilizer
• Conservation of precious resources
• Utilization of a greenhouse gas – alternative for conventional energy
Solid waste management
• Subhasri Bio- energy private ltd
• Production of 2 – 4 MW electricity from poultry
waste in Salem from 10 tones of poultry waste.
• Organic Manure from residue material for
farmers.
• Zero pollution and eliminate litter .
Solid waste management

• The 5 ton capacity biogas plant

at shatabdi hospital
maintained by Stree Mukti
Sanghatana produces 10 – 15
kg of Methane gas which is
used by the hospital canteen
Green Roofs
• The green roof atop Schipol Amsterdam International Airport,
replaces the net concrete surface of the structure, breeds faunal
habitat and acts as a natural insulation
City/ Terrace farming
• The concept of city farming developed at the BPT canteen utilizes all
the organic waste directly to grow plants, a technique developed by Dr.
R. T. Doshi, whose 1200 sq. ft. terrace in Bandra yields 5 kg of
vegetables and fruits daily for 300 days
Environmental and Economic Benefits
of Eco - Building

• Enhance and protect ecosystems

• Improve air, water quality – quality of life
• Reduce solid and liquid waste
• Reduce operating costs
• Optimize life-cycle economic performance
• Conserve natural resources for a sustainable future
QUESTIONS IN UNIT 2
• Brief about Eco System

• “Climate change is everyone’s challenge and

architects must play an important role
commensurate with their impact”- Discuss

• Describe the significance of Ecological foot print.

Also suggest ways to minimise it

• Explain in detail the strategies for Eco-

Architecture