The Importance of Sustainability

It's not widely known, but the construction industry, from harvesting raw materials, transport, manufacturing, to the actual construction of buildings, has a significant and negative impact on the environment.

So when it comes to making a difference to the impact of human activities on the planet, the construction industry is an excellent place to start. It is estimated that the construction and demolition of buildings is responsible for around 40% of the waste in our landfills, some of which is toxic and hazardous. When it comes to electricity use and green house gas emissions, it is estimated that the construction industry is responsible for around 30-40%. This includes extraction, manufacture, and transport of raw materials, through to the construction, lighting, heating, and cooling of our homes.

When we look at construction from a Life-Cycle point of view, we start to get an idea of the extent of its impact on the natural environment. Our homes are predominantly made from cement and concrete, brick and clay products, wood, gypsum products, and steel. These products are made from quarried rock, sand, and gravel, oil and gas, trees, plants, and animals. The ecological impact of the extraction of these raw materials results in landscape and habitat destruction, flooding and erosion of soil, water depletion and pollution including aquifer disruption, deforestation, landfill waste, and toxic and hazardous wastes. The transport and manufacture of these products produces wastes, some toxic, uses electricity, and burns fossil fuels. This results in air pollution from the release of CO2, NOx, SO2, CFC's, HCFC's, and volatile organic compounds. These gases cause ozone depletion, global warming, and photochemical smog causing repertory disease and cancers.

The construction of buildings not only produces more waste, but also requires more transport and electricity (emissions), and often results in landscape damage, ecological disruption, habitat destruction, and/or deforestation. Most of the electricity consumption comes from the energy required to light, heat, and cool our homes (around 30% of all energy required in New Zealand). The emissions produced from this activity, combined with the emissions seeping from landfill such as methane (a very potent greenhouse gas) make a very real contribution to global warming.

It is the global consensus of scientists that global warming will and is causing extreme weather events, more extreme and frequent flooding, desertification, loss of habitat and ecological decline, animal and insect extinctions, crop failure and starvation, coral damage and declining fisheries, melting polar ice caps resulting in the destruction of arctic eco-systems and animal populations, rising sea levels displacing millions of people, and the increase spread of tropical diseases due to warmer climates.

There are other effects also. Toxic wastes produced by the construction industry poison natural habitats, and pollute rivers, lakes, and groundwater. Ozone depletion not only causes cancer, but is also killing off ocean plankton, which lies at the bottom of the oceanic food chain. If this continues it could have devastating effects on ocean eco-systems and fish stocks.

On the whole, predictions for the next fifty years and beyond aren't looking good, and its our children that will have to live with the consequences of our inaction. That's why it is so important to for companies like Trilogy to take action now, to be at the forefront of innovative thinking and environmental responsibility. Its not about doom and gloom, its about facing up to an unpleasant reality, and doing something about it.