Ed Mazria, Executive Director of the non-profit Architecture 2030, visited Denver last week to deliver a lecture on the relationship between climate change and the building sector. Speaking on the pursuit of climate stabilization without a global policy solution, Mazria addressed an auditorium full of architects and building professionals at the Denver Art Museum on Monday, November 14^th.  His presentation, “Architecture on the Brink” offered a call to action.

Mazria began his lecture with an overview of 20^th Century Architecture, drawing attention to the use of extractable resources like coal, natural gas, uranium, and their continental transportation and burning that make modern architecture possible.  He followed with a staggering list of global disasters beget by such reliance.  Perhaps we, as a building community, aren’t responsible for, or even capable of, global policy change on carbon mitigation, but we just might be the silver bullet, says Mazria.

Carbon Dioxide concentration levels, impacted by the burning of fossil fuels, are at a historical high, at 381 parts per million (ppm). In order to stabilize arctic ice sheets and alleviate a myriad of other global implications, the consensus among scientists and climate experts is to reduce the CO2 in our atmosphere to 350 ppm, at a maximum.

Mazria highlighted that 77% of the United States’ electrical consumption lies in the building sector and approximately 75% of the built environment will be either new or renovated by 2035, figures that necessitate the responsibility of architects and the building community as a whole to establish a movement toward net zero, and the global phase-out of coal-fueled power plants.  But how do we achieve such a significant transformation in the market?

A solution may be found in Architecture2030’s strategy of statewide zero net energy plans. Mazria suggests that homeowners’ renovation costs can be incentivized and stabilized with non-refundable tax credits.  Further, energy efficiency in new building construction could be incentivized by tax credits, with HERS ratings benchmarks structuring the amount allocated. The economics behind the proposition indicate that $1 million in tax credits would generate $18.9 million in construction and $1.29 million in state and local taxes. The ZNE Plan for Colorado could give way to $1.18 billion in construction, 19,055 jobs, and $80.3 million in state and local taxes, $62 million of which would be rebated to homeowners and partially cycled back in to be recurred in taxes.

Given the evidence of how first-time home buyer tax credits stimulated home sales, incentivizing homeowners and buyers with similar assistance could be the answer we’re looking for –  not only for the energy economy in Colorado, but for the future of our planet.

Learn more about the 2030 Challenge and the non-profit’s efforts.

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