Transforming homes kick starts rapid transition. Providing affordable, energy-efficient and decent shelter is a primary responsibility of a society to itself.
Big global shifts in recent decades have seen populations rise and move to cities and urban areas where space is limited and the provision of housing a challenge. The built environment is one of the biggest users of energy and emitters of carbon, both in construction and day to day use.
Story of change
A fast plant for rapid shifts in construction – how the ancient supercrop Hemp can help build low carbon homesReducing emissions in the construction industry, with its dependence on carbon-intensive concrete, is notoriously difficult and extraordinarily important in tackling the climate emergency. When...
But there are huge economic, environmental and social gains to be made from making sure that new buildings are zero carbon, and existing buildings are retrofitted to become energy efficient. New thinking about how where we build relates to where we work can also radically reduce energy use and improve quality of life by, for example, designing out unnecessary commuting in cars.
New or revived interest in common land ownership, and cooperative or part-communal housing developments are further demonstrating how to change how we live to radically and rapidly reduce our climate impact, while also easing a range of social and health problems.
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Story of change
The first flush of transition: the rise of British indoor plumbing and what it tells us about rapid transitionA little over 100 years ago, most households in the UK did not have access to an indoor bathroom fitted with a toilet, bath, or even running water. The rise...
Story of change
Building back better: South Korea shows the challenge and opportunity of green stimulus spending for Covid recoveryIs the world poised to learn from the missed chance of 2008 and take the opportunity of rebuilding after a huge economic shock to make a rapid, low carbon...
Story of change
The lightbulb moment: the rapid shift to LEDs and ultra efficient lightingThe invention of the incandescent light bulb brought enormous changes to the way that people with access to electricity live and work, but it was not until...
Story of change
The dash away from gas: how the Netherlands kicked a big fossil fuel habitOne of the biggest problems in making a rapid transition away from fossil fuels is because whole industries become dependent on them and infrastructures get...
Story of change
The jump to pumps: how Finland found an answer to heating homesHow to heat homes and workplaces without relying on fossil fuels is one of the more difficult challenges for moving rapidly to zero carbon economies. Within...
Report
Cambridge Sustainability Commission report on Scaling Behaviour ChangeA major new report by the Cambridge Sustainability Commission on Scaling Behaviour Change calls on policy makers to target the UK’s polluter elite to...
Story of change
Reclaiming power: The rapid rise of community renewable energy and why the added benefits of local, clean power can help accelerate transitionRenewable energy is on the rise. It made up more than a quarter of global electricity generation (27%) in 2019 and is outpacing all other energy sources’...
Story of change
A fast plant for rapid shifts in construction – how the ancient supercrop Hemp can help build low carbon homesReducing emissions in the construction industry, with its dependence on carbon-intensive concrete, is notoriously difficult and extraordinarily important in...
Story of change
Heating households not the planet: from China to Denmark rapid transition in heating brings warmer homes with less climate costWinter is coming in the northern hemisphere and keeping homes warm is on everyone’s minds. Much housing stock is old, inefficient and leaks heat, and the...