低碳建筑新时代的机遇

BREAKING THE CARBON CEILING

资源短缺和人们日益关注碳排放的问题将对与建筑环境相关的各行业产生重大影响。为此,世界各地陆续探究以监管手段、经济上的奖惩、碳交易、碳税等措施处理有关问题。碳交易的运作模式源自美国专为处理地区污染问题而设的碳排放权交易。2009年12月在哥本哈根举行的气候峰会说明了,要达成关于减少CO2排放的全球共识是很困难的。然而,由于城市居民已开始感受到气候变化所带来的影响,这次峰会可能会激发地区或城市采取行动。城市的决策过程往往较国家甚或全球政治组织的决策更为迅速有效。城市大可从其建筑环境入手,为应对气候变化出一份力。外界对建造业有所期望,而建造行业在这个低碳建筑新时代充满机遇。本文探讨的问题还包括政策及订价的配合,以及先行者的机遇。

Resource constraints and concerns about carbon emissions are going to seriously affect industries servicing the built environment.To deal with these issues,communities around the world will increasingly be looking to regulation,financial incentives and disincentives,carbon trading,carbon taxes,and others.Carbon trading is a model based on the emissions trading schemes originating in the USA to deal with local pollution issues.The international negotiations in Copenhagen in December 2009 exposed the difficulties of coming to a global consensus on reducing carbon emissions.However,this may spur regions and cities to take the slack as city-dwellers begin to feel the effects of climate change.Cities often have decision-making processes that enable them to move more quickly and effectively than national and global political bodies.A large part of the contribution of cities in this regard will be related to the built environment.There will be increasing expectations on the building sector to act,but also the best opportunities in any sector for emissions reductions are building-related.Other issues outlined in this paper include the need for strong policy and pricing signals and the opportunities for early adapters.