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@NASA climate scientists travel far and wide to study water in all its forms.
Celebrate #EarthDay by sharing a #GlobalSelfie with us – and bonus points if it’s near water!
Image descriptions:
1: A woman kneels down in the snow, wearing snowshoes and a bright orange jacket. She is looking down at a scientific instrument in her hands.
2: A man wearing a black leather jacket and brown shirt takes a selfie in front of a light blue glacier. Between the man and the glacier is a small area of patchy grass. A second person in the background is walking toward the glacier.
3: A woman sits on a wooden boat with her legs stretched out toward the camera. She is smiling and wearing a bright orange life vest. In the background is a light blue body of water. A blanket of white clouds cover most of the blue sky.
4: A woman sits on a tan-gray rock to the right of the image. She is wearing a deep purple colored shirt and black pants. One of her legs is tucked up while the other hangs off the side of the rock, and her arms are gently crossed. The woman is at a higher elevation than the background, so the landscape behind her can be seen a far distance. The landscape to the left of the image is a nearly flat ground in dark green, brown, and orange colors, and centered in the image is a lake which is reflecting the color of the sky off of it. Above the horizon, the sky is a bright blue color, but is covered slightly by sparse gray clouds.
Sustainable construction is moving from aspiration to measurable delivery, with whole life carbon, embodied carbon and whole life carbon assessment becoming central to project viability. UK pressure for a 2035 electrification target is intensifying demand for heat pumps, rooftop solar, batteries and energy-efficient buildings that reduce exposure to volatile gas prices. Electrification alone will not deliver net zero carbon buildings unless fossil-fuel demand is designed out through sustainable building design, low carbon design and robust lifecycle assessment.
Regulation is tightening around building lifecycle performance, comfort, roofing, flooring and material choices. The Future Homes Standard, BREEAM and BREEAM v7 are reinforcing the need for environmental sustainability in construction through better fabric efficiency, eco-design for buildings and sustainable material specification. Developers face growing scrutiny over the carbon footprint of construction, embodied carbon in materials, life cycle cost and evidence-led procurement using environmental product declarations (EPDs), low embodied carbon materials and low carbon construction materials.
Global clean-tech manufacturing capacity, led by China, could make renewable technologies and green building products more accessible as renewable capacity expands towards 2035. Supply-chain risk remains material, placing greater value on circular economy principles, circular economy in construction, resource efficiency in construction and end-of-life reuse in construction. Green construction is becoming an industrial procurement challenge, not a niche specification.
Climate adaptation is now inseparable from decarbonising the built environment. Heatwaves, flooding and coastal risk are forcing sustainable architecture, green infrastructure and sustainable urban development to address resilience as well as carbon footprint reduction. The next test for the sector is net zero whole life carbon delivered through sustainable building practices, circular construction strategies, renewable building materials and credible low-impact construction built for a climate already changing.
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