The Greenhouse

At the risk of stating the obvious for you enlightened construction industry aficionados, according to Defra some 40% of energy consumed in the EU is related to buildings. WRAP - the Waste and Resources Action Programme - says 50% if you include the construction process. Given that energy consumption is the prime cause of human-induced global warming there can surely be no better explanation for why the construction industry should take the issue of sustainability seriously. And if construction can be persuaded to try and tackle the problems associated with sustainability – what does it mean? is it compatible with a capitalist economic system that is inherently incapable of putting a value on finite resources? Can I ever type it without making a mistake? – then we’re in with a chance of finding an answer. After all, taken at its broadest construction means all those who use buildings, which is pretty much all of us (troglodytes excluded, unless they nip down to Tesco’s for their weekly shop). You don’t even need to be totally convinced by some of the more outlandish claims made in the name of global warming to want to join in the debate – you only need to be aware of the scale of the risk of doing nothing.