The IPCC report, did you see it pass by?

It seems as if our planet and our world, cannot catch a break… After finally being able to go back to life after those dreadful Covid-years and seeing the horrific war that is taking place in Eastern Europe, we would almost forget that we are still battling the prevention of another global and humanitarian dilemma: the climate crisis.

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The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, also known as the IPCC report, wasn’t necessarily a confidence booster. But after over 200 scientists, convened by the United Nations, gathered to discuss their findings and the future of our planet, the results are not necessarily calling for celebratory drinks… We are moving forward, but you best believe we need to put a bit more pep in our step to make the 2030, and ultimately the 2050 deadline!

We are not going to go into every single detail, but we will however focus on our area of expertise: HVAC installations!

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Calling all building owners!

In short, the building sector, and more specifically its heating and cooling systems, is dragging down our collective efforts to reduce carbon emissions! As much as we would love for it to not be the case, it sadly is. Buildings contribute to approximately 40% of global emissions and 40% of that comes directly from heating and cooling of said buildings. So, meeting the climate targets is impossible without the built environment taking its responsibility and reducing its emissions. Not to worry, the good news is we have all the necessary solutions at hand. The only thing we need to do is implement them.

At the end of the day, it’s simple: our HVAC systems are wrongly designed. As humans, we have a tendency of treating the climate crisis as a short-term little obstacle. We are patching this problem rather than preparing for a dramatic change. We keep sticking band-aids on a big gaping open wound instead of having it properly treated. In 2021 the total amount of energy-related CO2-emissions were approximately 31.5 gigatons. But the world’s largest carbon capture company can only process about 4000 tons per year. That equals about 3 seconds of humanity’s annual output… So, if we want to stop our planter from going above that famous 1,5°C it is crucial that the built environment becomes net-zero by 2050!

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The cost of carbon reducing laziness

Now, in case you haven’t started minimising your carbon emissions, we strongly advise you to do so, time pressure is real! After multiple years of creating awareness and subsidising those who do take more sustainable actions, the next phase is on its way: penalising those who don’t act in a carbon-reducing way! You may think you have some time left, but the current political and social climate in Europa with Covid, the war in Ukraine is eating away at our spare stock.

The window to act “voluntarily” and maybe benefit of some of the governmental help, is slowly closing. Before you know it, you will not only overpay on your energy bill, but on all the additional costs that come with not having reduced your buildings’ carbon emissions. According to ‘The net-zero transition’ McKinsey report, the estimated cost of carbon emission abatement between 2021 and 2050 would amount to about 275 trillion dollars! Governments simply don’t have the luxury of subsidising forever. Sooner or later carbon taxes will be introduced. The estimated spendings to get us out of this climate threat are significant to say the least. But many investments have a positive ROI. So, they should not merely be seen as costs.

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Meet the game changer

Tackling your buildings, whether new build or renovation, can be done in many ways. But many of the options can be cost intensive and can take years, if not decades, to produce some sort of advantage. Attacking your HVAC system however is what will give you and our planet fast, tangible, and effective results. Heating and cooling installations are often overlooked. And that is a shame, because their invoices can often reach very high numbers. Our Hysopt Digital Twin Software has shown us time and time again that it can help a company not only economise an average of 30%. Think about it, overpaying on your energy bill means over emitting CO2. Because we not only cut your energy costs, but also your carbon emissions with about 40%!

We have said it before, and we will say it again: Pointing fingers and feeling like “somebody else will fix it” is a dangerous path to go down. So, let’s all own up and do what is needed! 2030, here we come!