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  • Published: May 23rd, 2009
  • Category: Europe
  • Comments: 1

Heated exchange over climate change at BCO conference


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Bjorn Lomborg, professor at the Copenhagen Business School and author of The Sceptical Environmentalist argued that cutting carbon emissions was not the most effective way to tackle global climate change.

Michael Pawlyn, one of the lead architects behind The Eden Project in Cornwall, said the property industry should be looking to cut carbon emissions from its buildings to tackle climate change.

Lomborg said that while climate change is real, cutting carbon emissions would only achieve minor benefits for the planet: We seem so curiously fixated on cutting carbon emissions but maybe its not the smartest way to go, he said.

He claimed cutting carbon dioxide emissions was one of the least effective ways to tackle global warming, and that the property industry could help tackle heat problems in cities with measures including adding more greenery, water features and cutting the number of dark surfaces on buildings.

He said this would help protect against an increasing number of deaths because of higher temperatures expected because of global warming.

Pawlyn disputed Lomborgs figures and said the recession could be a good time for firms to be more innovative in their approach to tackling climate change. He said developers could make their buildings produce far less carbon dioxide with very little extra cost.

Were at the start of a sustainability revolution and I believe the result can be outstanding architecture, he said. My approach is there are solutions so lets get on with it.

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One Response to “Heated exchange over climate change at BCO conference”


  1. Avery Ray Colter
    on May 26th, 2009
    @ 10:53 am

    Lomberg and Pawlyn do not seem that far from each other despite the rhetoric. California is set in August to begin enforcing a new version of the energy portion of the building code which will make cool roofing a very attractive feature to include in complying with required limits on energy expenditures. While stereotypically cool roofing is seen as white or light colored, and indeed that is the best kind, there are versions which are dark to normal vision but still reflect massive amounts of UV and IR wavelengths. This is one of a number of measures which can reduce the electrical demand of a building.

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