Off-Grid A Sustainable Approach to the Next 30 Years of Climate Change.

Abstract

The next 30 years of climate change are poised to significantly impact civilizationworldwide. The built environment and the processes required to erect, maintain, and destroy it are all large contributors to climate change, and must change in order to reduce the built environment's carbon footprint. From an architectural perspective, building for more communal, off-grid lifestyles while utilizing sustainable and efficient building materials enable numerous opportunities to accomplish this. An off-grid residential program was used to understand the current and future potential of limiting global warming contribution from building. Current practice was used to establish a baseline and understand impacts, and a second scenario served as means to examine future opportunities and limitations. Two contrasting climates: Minneapolis, MN (ASHRAE climate zone 6) and Phoenix, AZ (ASHRAE climate zones 9&10), were selected for the analyses. They represent a range of contrasting climate change impacts. The factors included in the analysis include climate, operational energy, renewable energy production, primary building assembly material life cycle across global indicators, potable water use reductions, and agricultural production. Consideration was given to housing accessibility and adaptability for residents. The findings demonstrate that regenerative/recycled building materials (when grown nearby the site), onsite food generation and waste management, rainwater harvesting, PV panels, and Passive House strategies can play pivotal roles in reducing embodied carbon emissions and lower embodied energy usage, and make unnecessary a central city grid for resources. Moreover, off-grid building and living practices are poised to become essential in order for architectural design to be effective as the climate continues to change.