Top 10 Issues That Will Impact the Building Industry in 2024
Paul Young
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Net Zero Carbon
Dare I say that Net Zero Carbon homes are becoming all the rage?? In my decades of experience in the green building industry, never before have I witnessed as robust of a conversation among builders, developers, architects, manufacturers, lenders, investors, and consumers about decarbonizing the built environment.
Green Builder Media, LLC a’s COGNITION Smart Data shows a remarkable surge in consumer demand for decarbonization across all sectors of our economy. The data reveals that early adopter consumers—particularly Millennials and Gen Zs—have a positive sentiment about decarbonization and will pay more for net zero carbon packaging, vehicles, apparel, and even homes. In order to decarbonize their lifestyles, these consumers are driving electric cars, increasing the energy efficiency of their homes, and turning their homes all-electric.?
PY: Green transition will always come back to viable technology. There needs to be the right balance - Blog – New Green Building Codes – HUD – US Housing and Urban Development and Department Energy - https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/paul-young-055632b_hud-announces-new-building-decarbonization-activity-7140091465203929088-kO0m?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
All-In Electrification
Lead by the heat pump revolution and tumbling battery storage costs, the building and transportation sectors are electrifying at light speed. The primary drivers: reduced carbon emissions, enhanced resiliency, and cost savings.?
Electric vehicles can already outcompete their gas-guzzling counterparts on a lifetime-cost basis in most markets. More than 1 million EVs were purchased in the U.S. in 2023, and we can expect to see 30 million of the on the roads by 2030. Inflation Reduction Act incentives, which offer as much as $7,500 in rebates for new EVs and $4,000 for used EVs, will spur this growth.?
PY: The all-in electrical strategy is plague with many challenges including slow adoption, EV costs, control of the EV change, etc. https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/blog-analysis-truckings-electrification-problem-paul-young-vucmc/
Climate Responsive Design
2023 was the hottest year on record. El Ni?o promises to make this year another scorcher, triggering extreme temperatures, drought, storms, floods, and wildfire. For the built environment, these climate impacts will likely lead to ratcheted regulation and increased demand for climate-responsive design.
As temperatures rise, cities that suffer from the heat island effect—resulting from oceans of impermeable asphalt, concrete, steel, and other heat-absorbing materials—are becoming intolerable, impacting the health, wellness, and quality of life for inhabitants. Many cities are responding by adopting climate-responsive design practices to manage the intense heat, while simultaneously reducing carbon emissions and enhancing resiliency.
PY: There are fiscal challenges with urban planners including fiscal gap, infrastructure gap, shrinking tax base, and other policies - Blog - Sinking US cities already face ‘real impacts’ as subsidence poses risk to buildings and roads - https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/sinking-us-cities-already-face-real-impacts-subsidence-paul-young-xzugc/
Resiliency and Insurance Conundrum
According to COGNITION Smart Data, resiliency is top of mind for Millennials and Gen Zs, namely because their homes are being impacted directly by hurricanes, tornadoes, extreme temperatures, wildfires, drought and flooding.?
Approximately 60% of Gen Zs Millennials report that they have considered moving due to climate change, and 62% indicate that they are concerned about the climate change impacting the value of their homes.?
PY: Insurance sector continues to review their policies. Insurance payouts are big concern for insurance - Blog – Insurance Risks and Costs due from Weather Events – Climate Change – Public Sector – ESG – Crisis and Risk Management - https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/paul-young-055632b_etats-unis-le-risque-climatique-fait-flamber-activity-7096773656759975936-DNzV?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
Solar Domination
In 2023, investments in solar outpaced oil investments for the first time ever—a trend that will likely continue in 2024. Solar is the workhorse of the clean energy transition . Since the early 2000’s, the cost for solar modules has plummeted from $4 per watt to an astoundingly low $.10 per watt, and global solar installations grew from 1 gigawatt in 2004 to 413 gigawatts in 2023 (driven largely by China’s massive deployment of the technology.)? Soon, both annual global installations and manufacturing capacity will reach into terawatt territory.?
Battery storage is also surging. The third quarter of 2023 boasted more grid storage installations than ever before. Grid storage capacity in states like California and Texas has grown tenfold since 2020.?
PY: Solar panel investments has been on the upkeep due to government incentives. There are many issues with solar panels including recycling, fires, etc.
Blog – Energy Management – Solar Landscape solar project for Monroe and South Brunswick Township - https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/paul-young-055632b_warehouse-roofs-house-new-jerseys-largest-activity-7137524822745522176-uGLR?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
Blog - US to award up to $440 million for Puerto Rico rooftop solar power - https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/paul-young-055632b_us-to-award-up-to-440-million-for-puerto-activity-7126585380488826880-oW3c?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
Blog -? Which housing policies do Americans really want in their cities and states
Green Concrete and Steel
Concrete is the second-most consumed material in the world after water and the most widely used building material. On a global scale, concrete’s ton for ton usage is twice that of steel, wood, plastics, and aluminum combined. Over ten billion tons of concrete is produced each year globally, with 500 million tons produced in the U.S. annually.?
Approximately 50 percent of the emissions from concrete production come from the chemical process and 40 percent from the burning of fossil fuels. Furthermore, concrete production requires large amounts of water, accounting for nearly 10 percent of global water use.
PY: Green construction materials will continue to expand as part of technology evolving around the production of green materials - Blog - 9 tips to get started with low-carbon concrete - https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/9-tips-get-started-low-carbon-concrete-paul-young/
领英推荐
Carbon Capture
If we’re going to meet our climate goals, it will be necessary to remove hundreds of gigatons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. While progress is undoubtedly being made in direct-air capture technologies, they are still fairly nascent and quite expensive.?
Many states are turning to natural solutions, like planting trees and restoring wetlands, for sequestration. As two examples, Seattle has pledged to plant 8,000 trees and 40,000 seedlings to create a tree canopy that will counterbalance the urban heat island effect and improve air quality, and Louisiana launched a $3 billion project to restore 21 square miles of wetlands along the coast to serve as a carbon sink and reduce the impacts of climate change.
PY: There are challenges with carbon capturing: https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/an-oil-giant-quietly-ditched-the-world-s-biggest-carbon-capture-plant-1.1988209
Climate Disclosure Requirements
While U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) deliberates its long-awaited rules for climate disclosure, California passed its own climate disclosure law , requiring companies that make over $1 billion annually reveal their scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions and the content of the carbon offsets they purchase.?
These climate disclosure requirements will impact large and small companies alike, because anyone in the value chain doing business with companies that have to report will need to be in compliance, which may force companies that don’t emit a substantial amount of their own emissions but engage with vendors, clients, other stakeholders who do—like architects, designers, banks, investors, law firms, and other professional service firms—to make hard decisions about customers and partners they remain aligned with.
PY: ESG policies and reporting will continue to evolve: Blog – Why is it difficult to report Scope 3 emissions - https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/scope-3-whos-responsible-how-do-report-paul-young-euzgc/?published=t
Escalation of ESG
Sustainability has been deemed by many business leaders as a moral imperative, and the pace at which companies are committing to comprehensive ESG strategies is accelerating at a remarkable rate.?
ESG strategies help companies minimize risk, enhance long-term performance, and improve resiliency against market volatility and idiosyncratic events.
A growing body of evidence shows market-rate (or better) returns for ESG investments, meaning that we can expect increased demand for ESG commitments from lenders, venture capitalists, private equity funds, pension funds and other stakeholders that prioritize a triple bottom line.
PY: Pensions continue to face solvency challenges - Blog – Pensions and Risks - https://medium.com/@paulyoung_81567/what-is-next-for-pension-funds-178427b30e4a or https://www.benefitscanada.com/pensions/defined-benefit-pensions/canadian-pension-plans-average-funded-ratio-reaches-120-in-first-quarter-report/
Persistent Labor Challenges
As homes electrify, there has been a surge in demand for skilled contractors, and the dramatic shortfall of qualified workers is throttling progress in many markets. Ongoing labor shortages—especially for the installation of advanced technologies like heat pumps, smart electrical panels, and geothermal—will continue to plague the industry.?
In California, as one example, there is only certified electrician for every 478 housing units in the state, according to the U.S. Census, California Department of Industrial Relations. A recent survey conducted by the Associated General Contractors of America shows that 72 percent of contactor firms reported having open salaried positions that they couldn’t fill because “available candidates weren’t qualified to work in the industry.”
PY: Labour shortages are not new
Blog – Labour and Employment – Canada – December 2023 – https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/canada-labour-market-december-2023-paul-young-1uopc/
Blog – Labour and Employment – USA – December 2023 - https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/united-states-labour-market-december-2023-paul-young-79azc/
Amazing work by Sara Gutterman
Source - https://www.greenbuildermedia.com/blog/top-10-issues-that-will-impact-the-building-industry-in-2024
Blog – Construction Technology Procurement - https://www.dhirubhai.net/posts/paul-young-055632b_dirtt-and-sourceblue-announce-partnership-activity-7149017787477241857-BLo2?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
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Blog – Construction Spending – United States – November 2023 - https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/construction-spending-united-states-november-2023-paul-young-knvoc/
Paul Young CPA CGA
Paul is a former IBM Customer Success Manager that has deployed over 300 data and AI solutions across geographies and industries for the past 8 years