As a planet, separate countries, corporations, and individuals, we are failing badly at our most important mission- making certain no further damage is done to our ecosystem and that collectively we are on path to meeting or exceeding net zero energy consumption goals and passing on a net zero emission country and planet. Though billions of dollars have been spent and the greatest minds of our generation have provided input and effort, we are further from our important goals than ever in our history The flagship UN report on climate change indicated that harmful carbon emissions from 2010-2019 have never been higher in human history, providing proof that the world is on a “fast track” to disaster!
We need to change what we are doing and develop disruptive plans that will achieve the necessary results then apply those plans on a global level. I believe the place to start is obvious. If all corporations, governments, and individuals become net zero energy consumption entities then we can meet or exceed our zero emission goals. This should start by focusing on the well-known concept- Reduce Before You Produce. We must minimize our energy use in every way we can THEN right size our renewables.
The area we need to focus on first is the largest source of energy consumption, energy waste, and emissions is our buildings, structures, and homes. The US Department of Energy estimates that 30% of the energy produced is wasted. If we can eliminate two thirds of that wasted energy in all our buildings, structures, and homes it will be much easier to get to net zero with renewables.
The best first step to achieving this huge reduction in energy use is reducing the Overall Thermal Transfer Value of our buildings, structure, and homes. “The Overall Thermal Transfer Value or OTTV is a value that determines how much solar heat gain is transferred through the building envelope into a building. The OTTV value is determined by the building’s orientation, colour, fenestration area, shading design, glazing properties and U-value of the materials used.” Arguably our biggest failure in our energy demand reduction effort is the lack of doing a much better job on reducing energy consumption in new building design and building retrofits. Thermal Management and Infiltration should be a focal point.
We can dramatically reduce the OTTV of our buildings with radiant heat barriers that instantly stop most of the heat gain, heat loss, and infiltration. Radiant heat barrier for the glazing on new buildings and retrofits and cool roofs will provide huge energy demand reduction and exterior and interior barrier coatings can take us even closer to minimizing energy loss globally. We cannot keep doing the same things and expect better results. Let’s minimize our energy use to obtain more easily net zero consumption and zero emission goals.
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Source:
https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/
file:///C:/Users/Owner/Documents/E%20Phase%20Inflector%20Review.pdf