Building Sector Emissions

Direct Emissions:  About 48 percent of all energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions is from buildings through their use of energy to heat, cool, operate and house people, businesses, and manufacturing facilities. The residential sector generates 21 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, the commercial sector 17 percent and the industrial sector 10 percent. The most significant factor in the building sector’s greenhouse gas emissions is electricity use.

Indirect Emissions: Buildings also contributed indirectly to greenhouse gas emissions. Indirect effects include the energy required to source and transport materials for construction, the fuel used to move people to and from work, the energy required to transport and treat water for drinking and flushing toilets, and the fuel expended to recycle and dispose of occupant waste streams.

While impossible to completely quantify these indirect sources of emissions, it’s still possible to address them by keeping energy efficiency and conservation in mind when decisions are made about transportation patterns, water use, waste generation, land use, stormwater flows, and a myriad of other issues—all of which have indirect impacts on climate change.

Future Growth in Building Stock:  Over the next 30 years, the building stock is projected to grow to nearly 400 billion square feet. About 75 percent of the buildings will either be built or renovated in that period. This creates an extraordinary opportunity to achieve significant emissions reductions in the building sector. Local governments can take the lead by adopting green building standards for their own projects and promoting them throughout the community.