CLIMATE CHANGE: ACTION FROM THE GROUND UP
THE MOST CONCISE WAY TO SLOW or reduce climbing temperatures is to minimise your carbon footprint, and an important way this can be done is through careful and considered building methods. Emissions from the construction industry in New Zealand rose 43 per cent between 1990 and 2015. Now, they make up 17 per cent of all CO2 emissions. The construction industry can play a large part in reducing this problem.
The uptake of home-owners designing their homes to meet Passive House or Homestar ratings is climbing. This means there are lower levels of carbon emission from electricity use and chemicals in materials used for building, but a large amount of emissions still come from factories producing materials for construction and fit-outs, as well as from waste when those materials come to
