Resources & Potential

 

Limited Resources

The world's prosperity is built on limited resources. Excessive consumption and rising CO2 emissions restrict the prospects for future generations.

Peak Oil

Crude oil and gas are the driving factors of industrial development. Fossil fuels provide 80 percent of the energy consumed worldwide. Consumption is rising and reserves are disappearing: "peak oil," the maximum level of worldwide oil production, is imminent. The lion's share is consumed by Western industrialized nations–at the cost of poorer regions and future generations. Political conflicts over oil are increasing.

Global Climate Change

CO2 emissions heat up the atmosphere. Climate change has consequences: melting glaciers, rising sea levels, and threatened coastal areas. Storms and natural disasters are becoming more frequent. Drought plagues vast areas of the world, reducing agricultural productivity and causing famine.

Worldwide (since 1960): plus 1.3°F
Switzerland (since 1960): plus 2.7°F

According to climate researchers on the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), a rise in temperature of 3.6°F is just tolerable. However, to achieve this, our CO2 emissions must be at least halved by 2050.

 

Global Warming

How quickly is the Earth heating up? Four scenarios from the IPCC: Depending on the increase in greenhouse gases, the temperature of the Earth's atmosphere is expected to increase by between 2.7°F and 7.2°F before the end of the century.

Scenario A) Constant increase in emissions
Scenario B) Global economic growth with a balanced mix of energy sources
Scenario C) Global growth with improved energy efficiency
Scenario D) Global warming with constant CO2 concentration in the atmosphere

Source: IPCC


Peak Oil

Discoveries of new crude oil fields (quantity: black bars) have been decreasing since 1964, while consumption (white line) continually rises.Source: ASPO"Discoveries," "Consumption",

Oversized Footprint

We are living beyond our means. Not only is crude oil becoming scarce, but land, water and ores are also finite resources. Global consumption of raw materials exceeds the sustainable level. Switzerland's ecological footprint, which measures the consumption of all (domestic and imported) natural resources, is three times larger than that of a sustainably developed society. In other words, if all countries were to consume as much as Switzerland, three Earths would be required.

Renewable, Not Fossil

Solar energy, wind and geothermal heat are plentiful. One solar power plant in the Sahara Desert measuring 990,000 acres would supply more utilizable energy than the world currently needs. The big challenge is to enable passive and active utilization of the potential offered by renewable energies.


Global Footprint

The footprint of each ecological debtor country (dark) exceeds its own biocapacity, the capacity to generate an ongoing supply of renewable resources and to absorb spillover wastes. Countries with ecological credit (light) have a footprint, which is smaller than their biocapacity.Source: Living Planet Report WWF 2008

The Potential in Buildings

Real estate properties take up the largest share of the raw materials consumed in Switzerland: almost half of the fossil energy is used as fuel in buildings. Sustainable construction is an essential element in lowering our consumption of fossil fuels and serves as a model for our overall development.

Buildings Consume Too Much Energy

In Switzerland, half of the consumption of fossil fuels (oil and gas) is used for heating and cooling buildings, or for heating water. This far exceeds the consumption by industry or transportation.

The Good Old Days

Resources have always been scarce. Traditional construction methods took this into account. Only locally available construction materials were considered and those were used sparingly and recycled over long periods. In the big old farmhouses, it was common for only a few rooms to be heated. The stove in the kitchen was often the only source of heat. However, if traditional buildings are heated according to today's requirements, they can become energy hogs.

After the Oil Crisis

After the 1973 "oil crisis," architects and forward-thinking contractors tested ways of building houses for an ecological lifestyle. "Solar houses," which passively and actively utilize solar radiation, emerged. Natural materials such as wood, loam and straw were rediscovered, and new forms of living together were tested.


Gas-Guzzling Houses

In Switzerland, buildings consume half of all fossil fuels; transportation accounts for 35.9 percent.Source: Swiss Federal Office of Energy, 2008 — "Mobility, transportation" 35.9% – "Other" 1% – "Industry: motors, processes" 0.3% – "Industry: process heat" 12.8% – "Hot water" 9% – "Room heating" 44.1%

CO2-Neutral Construction

Today, the main concern is to limit greenhouse-gas emissions. Two different approaches complement each other in that regard: - "Save Energy": Efficient buildings become thermos flasks. Thickly wrapped, they reduce the outward flow of heat and thus decrease energy consumption. - "Use Renewable Energy": Glazed southern facades passively capture solar heat. The additional energy required is obtained on-site from solar irradiation, geothermal heat or biomass (wood).

Consumption Per Person Is the Decisive Factor

Stricter building regulations have limited leverage: While buildings are becoming more efficient, the individual requirements of comfort and living space have simultaneously increased, undoing part of the savings achieved.

Sustainability Is Lucrative

Green building" has become a key investment segment in the real estate market. In economic terms, sustainability generates added value over the long term. Energy-efficient residential houses and office buildings guarantee stable value as energy prices rise.


Toward the 12 Therms House

Development of the heat requirement of new buildings: in the crude oil equivalent per 10 square feet. Source: ETH Zurich, CEPE — "5.8 gallons / Conventional new building / 1975 – 3.2 gallons / Regulation / 1992 – 1.1 gallons / Minergie / 1998 – 2.4 gallons / Regulation / 2000 – 1.3 gallons / Regulation / 2008 – 1 gallon / Minergie / 2009 – 0.8 gallons / Minergie-P / 2009"


The Turning Point for Energy

The 2,000-Watt Society's downward curve shows how the aggregated energy required per person to maintain their lifestyle can be reduced from 6,300 to 2,000 watts by 2150. The CO2 emissions per person decrease from 8 tons to 1 ton per year. Fossil fuels are reduced to one quarter of overall consumption. Source: Novatlantis — "Watts per person" – "Intermediate goal: 50% reduction of fossil fuels by 2050" – "Nonfossil fuels" – "Fossil fuels" – "Imported energy"