Week 12 Reflections 

“The Problem with Net-Zero Buildings (and the Case for Net-Zero Neighborhoods)”  by Nadav Malin

The author seems critical of the concept of net-zero buildings and argues that low-rise building, spread on a large site (urban sprawl) could be made with more ease into a zero carbon building through the use of PV panels. Whereas this would be much harder to achieve with a high-rise building, where the roof area for PVs is significantly less. I do not entirely agree, as PV technology advances in a very fast pace and PV panels can also be mounted vertically on the façade.

However, another important aspect to look at is urban sprawl. In less dense areas, where buildings are generally lower, the PV systems are most efficient because the roof area is maximized and overshadowing is minimal. For urban areas with high-rise buildings the opposite holds true. But while lower and spread buildings have better conditions to become net-zero energy buildings, they also promote urban sprawl, which would lead to more energy use for commuting and infrastructure, which would be the less of a problem for dense urban areas. Thus, it is really important to look beyond the net-zero carbon building, but look at the immediate context, and to create sustainable neighborhoods and green communities.

1.What are the energy/emission related impacts of your actions and lifestyle currently? What do they mean to you?

Refer to Summarised Reflections

2.Which areas of your lifestyle are of particular concern to you? Why?

Travelling especially long haul flights, as I have learnt that air travel has a very large carbon footprint. I also feel like my diet creates a lot of waste. I drink a lot of canned soda drinks and also packaged drinks. At least I sort my waste for recycling. Hopefully that can mitigate some of the negative impacts on the environment.

3.What have you already done in response to these energy/emission impacts and your concerns?

I don't travel as often by air as I used to. If I do travel I try to go to more surrounding countries in one go so that at least the long-haul trips are reduced.

I sort my trash as mentioned and I also changed to a more plant-based diet with minimal red meat after I learnt that beef and lamb have very high embodied energy and also produce methane which is a far worse greenhouse gas than CO2.

4.What are you currently working on or would like to do in the future in response to the remaining issues? What is preventing you? How will you overcome these barriers?

I would like to reduce my carbon footprint. I do not want to own a car in the future but instead rely on public transport and also cycling. In terms of food, after becoming aware that food has embodied energy, I hope to eat more vegetables that are home-grown in the garden or at least eat food that is locally sourced to reduce embodied energy. I would also like to switch to a complete plant-based diet as that has a lower carbon footprint too. 

5.What other positive impacts do you see yourself making beyond your immediate personal lifestyle? How?

Please refer to my summarised reflection which talk about my future career plans where I hope to work on more sustainable architectural projects.

6.Are you indirectly investing in or financing climate change and fossil fuel industry? Have you checked if your banks and your Super funds are funding climate catastrophe? Do you know you can switch, divest and go fossil free?

No, I am quite clueless and ignorant when it comes to investments. I am still young and do not have much savings that momentarily this is not a concern to me. However, once I graduate from my masters and earn more, I will definitely do a bit more research into this.