A brutal heat wave is gripping many parts of Europe, leaving millions of people struggling to adapt to punishing, record-breaking temperatures. Heat persists even at night, with temperatures in some places not dipping much below 90 degrees.
There is little respite. Air conditioning is very rare in European homes. Many residents are being forced to ride out the searing heat with the help of electric fans, ice packs and cold showers.
But Europe hasn't approached heat in the same way as the historically hotter United States. While nearly 90% of US homes have air conditioning, in Europe it's around 20%, and some countries have much lower rates.
A big part of the reason is many European countries historically had little need for cooling, especially in the north. Heat waves have always happened but rarely reached the prolonged high temperatures Europe now regularly endures.
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Sustainability in construction is advancing rapidly, with substantial investments in green infrastructure and policy support for environmental sustainability in construction. UK Export Finance’s €146 million guarantee for a major offshore wind project in Taiwan exemplifies the sector's shift towards sustainable building design and the adoption of renewable building materials. By facilitating global supply chains for low carbon construction materials and technology, this initiative directly impacts the carbon footprint of construction and aligns with net zero whole life carbon ambitions.
Energy-efficiency upgrades across Hungary highlight the importance of retrofitting existing building stock as a core driver of energy-efficient buildings. The government's funding initiative for small and medium-sized enterprises champions the principles of life cycle cost and whole life carbon assessment by incentivising investments in resource efficiency in construction. Prioritising upgrades over new builds ensures a lower environmental impact of construction and demonstrates whole life carbon thinking.
The construction industry’s embrace of digital transformation is further reinforced by ISG’s assessment of solutions that support sustainable construction. Digital tools offer robust lifecycle assessment capabilities, fostering eco-design for buildings by enabling data-driven decisions on sustainable material specification, embodied carbon in materials, and building lifecycle performance. This pivot supports sustainable design and efficient circular economy in construction strategies, allowing companies to build more resilient and low carbon building supply chains.
Innovative waste and water reduction practices from non-traditional actors, such as Lush’s AI-driven packaging elimination, provide vital insights for green construction. These methods offer a template for end-of-life reuse in construction and circular construction strategies, including the use of green building materials and low-impact construction techniques. Such approaches are essential for decarbonising the built environment by reducing both embodied carbon and operational resource use.
The global surge in renewable electricity generation, primarily via wind and solar, is pivotal for sustainable urban development and the creation of net zero carbon buildings. Enhanced access to clean energy streamlines low carbon design opportunities and supports net zero carbon policies in large-scale projects. For construction professionals, stricter regulations and client expectations on whole life carbon and environmental product declarations (EPDs) further embed carbon neutral construction as a requirement, reflecting the urgent need for system-wide change and sustainability led by continuous innovation in sustainable building practices.
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