Sustainable Infrastructure
A road is built through a forest to give people access to the city, a factory is built to provide people with
cheaper goods, a dam is needed to generate renewable energy and this infrastructure is needed to run a
modern, industrialized world. But the same road can damage soil stability, the same factory can cause
tons of air pollution, the same dam can cause huge deforestation and the same infrastructure might
cause more harm than it does good. This essay is an attempt to assess the impact of infrastructure on
our environment and look at different ways in which we can adopt a sustainable approach towards the
environment.
According to the ‘Infrastructure for Climate Action Report 2021’, infrastructure is responsible for 79 per
cent of total greenhouse gas emissions on Earth and 88 per cent of total adaptation costs. The Industries
discharge huge amounts of pollutants into the environment. The emissions of carbon dioxide, sulphur
dioxide, wastewater, smoke and dust from the manufacturing industries have a serious impact on our
climate. As a result of such human practices, one-fifth of the Earth’s land area was reportedly degraded
by 2020. Every year, around 7.3 million deaths are caused by air pollution and the water quality in some
water bodies is so bad that it is neither in a position to sustain aquatic life nor can be used for domestic
purposes. This has been because of neglecting climate in various sectors of infrastructure. This essay
particularly focuses on the building sector, that includes infrastructure assets such as schools, hospitals,
storage buildings and houses. We cannot completely stop their construction because these buildings are
necessary to achieve the other SDGs such as ‘Quality education’ and ‘Good health and well-being,’ but
instead we can use sustainable methods for construction. Sustainable infrastructure systems are those
that are planned, designed, constructed, operated and decommissioned in a manner that ensures
economic and financial, social, environmental and institutional sustainability over the infrastructure life
cycle. The focus of this essay is on environmental sustainability.
According to the ‘United Nations Environment Program’, the buildings and construction sector alone
accounts for about 36% of global energy consumption. The increasing consumption can be attributed to
a variety of factors such as aiming for thermal comfort and rapidly growing floor area. Residential
buildings and especially commercial buildings have large open spaces. This requires the use of more
lighting and cooling appliances such as tube lights and air conditioners. The plug load because of
computers, printers, refrigerators and a hundred other electronic appliances draws a significant amount
of energy each day. Heating and artificial ventilation appliances such as boilers and gas water heaters
and fans also consume a lot of energy. Another sector which causes a huge amount of GHG emission is
transport. During the construction and decommissioning of buildings, we use transport for the
procurement of raw materials and cleaning of waste. Vehicles though are primarily used for human
movement. This poses a serious threat to the climate because most vehicles still run on fossil fuels. But
what is the one thing that we absolutely cannot live without? Water. Along with using water for drinking
and domestic purposes, it is also used in our gardens and swimming pools. The UNEP has indicated that
over an entire life cycle, the building industry consumes a global average of 30% of fresh water and
generates 30% of the world’s effluents. This is because the building also consumes a huge amount of
water in all three stages of infrastructure- Raw material extraction, manufacture, and construction.
A road is built through a forest to give people access to the city, a factory is built to provide people with
cheaper goods, a dam is needed to generate renewable energy and this infrastructure is needed to run a
modern, industrialized world. But the same road can damage soil stability, the same factory can cause
tons of air pollution, the same dam can cause huge deforestation and the same infrastructure might
cause more harm than it does good. This essay is an attempt to assess the impact of infrastructure on
our environment and look at different ways in which we can adopt a sustainable approach towards the
environment.
According to the ‘Infrastructure for Climate Action Report 2021’, infrastructure is responsible for 79 per
cent of total greenhouse gas emissions on Earth and 88 per cent of total adaptation costs. The Industries
discharge huge amounts of pollutants into the environment. The emissions of carbon dioxide, sulphur
dioxide, wastewater, smoke and dust from the manufacturing industries have a serious impact on our
climate. As a result of such human practices, one-fifth of the Earth’s land area was reportedly degraded
by 2020. Every year, around 7.3 million deaths are caused by air pollution and the water quality in some
water bodies is so bad that it is neither in a position to sustain aquatic life nor can be used for domestic
purposes. This has been because of neglecting climate in various sectors of infrastructure. This essay
particularly focuses on the building sector, that includes infrastructure assets such as schools, hospitals,
storage buildings and houses. We cannot completely stop their construction because these buildings are
necessary to achieve the other SDGs such as ‘Quality education’ and ‘Good health and well-being,’ but
instead we can use sustainable methods for construction. Sustainable infrastructure systems are those
that are planned, designed, constructed, operated and decommissioned in a manner that ensures
economic and financial, social, environmental and institutional sustainability over the infrastructure life
cycle. The focus of this essay is on environmental sustainability.
According to the ‘United Nations Environment Program’, the buildings and construction sector alone
accounts for about 36% of global energy consumption. The increasing consumption can be attributed to
a variety of factors such as aiming for thermal comfort and rapidly growing floor area. Residential
buildings and especially commercial buildings have large open spaces. This requires the use of more
lighting and cooling appliances such as tube lights and air conditioners. The plug load because of
computers, printers, refrigerators and a hundred other electronic appliances draws a significant amount
of energy each day. Heating and artificial ventilation appliances such as boilers and gas water heaters
and fans also consume a lot of energy. Another sector which causes a huge amount of GHG emission is
transport. During the construction and decommissioning of buildings, we use transport for the
procurement of raw materials and cleaning of waste. Vehicles though are primarily used for human
movement. This poses a serious threat to the climate because most vehicles still run on fossil fuels. But
what is the one thing that we absolutely cannot live without? Water. Along with using water for drinking
and domestic purposes, it is also used in our gardens and swimming pools. The UNEP has indicated that
over an entire life cycle, the building industry consumes a global average of 30% of fresh water and
generates 30% of the world’s effluents. This is because the building also consumes a huge amount of
water in all three stages of infrastructure- Raw material extraction, manufacture, and construction.
