Some recent sustainability trends
Transcript
“Australia is set to have its very own ‘Silicon Valley’.
Two towers just under 40 storeys in height will spearhead the project.
Run on 100% renewable energy and designed to target net zero emissions.
Hello and welcome back to weekly buying tips I’m Dean Berman from Berman Buys.
Inspired by the announcement of these two grande towers, I want to discuss sustainability with you today.
Do buildings have an affect on energy and emissions? In short yes.
Globally both residential and non-residential buildings account for 36% of global energy usage.
They also account for 39% of energy related greenhouse gas emissions annually.
These are significant figures on worldwide levels.
This is why green building credentials have become big business.
With environmental bodies such as LEED and Green Star to name a few.
We are seeing trends such as solar farms on the rise, accounting for 45% of the world’s new electricity production in 2019.
Largely driven by reductions in solar panel costs by upwards of 90% in the last 10 years.
We are seeing solar panels incorporated into many buildings worldwide such as the Crystal Building in England, BMW Welt in Germany and Apple Park in USA.
Environmental campaigns will become more prevalent such as CO2ts less in the UK encouraging more timber sourced from sustainable forests, due to its strong environmental credentials.
Businesses will start to re-think their practices such as ‘The Farm’ in Byron Bay focused on farm-to-plate concept.
Interestingly the site was purchased in 2013 for $2.7m and sold recently for $16m.
Innovative companies like BrewDog a multinational brewer are carbon neutral, meaning they remove more carbon than they emit though various practices, such as they generate their own power and own a forest which will have 1m trees.
A massive company like Amazon recently announced a deal to electrify 1,800 delivery cars in partnership with Mercedes Benz in Europe.
This is touted to save thousands of metric tonnes of carbon.
We can even start to see changes in the way clothes are made such as the CSIRO working out how to create coloured cotton.
Eliminating the need for dyes and chemicals.
Could this flow into more sustainable window coverings, sheets, bed linen and cushions?
In summary it seems we are beginning to see a greater adoption of sustainable practices, even if it’s just a start, with some of these practices and trends likely to flow into the property industry.”