Digital Tools Enable Companies to Build Sustainable Communities

Imagine that by the end of this month, a new city the size of New York will be built—all the roads, sewers, homes and offices of a major metropolitan area erected in a single month. And imagine the same building boom happening every month for the next 40 years, adding up to nearly 500 cities the size of New York fortified with concrete and steel and powered by electricity. That’s the estimated building stock required to accommodate the Earth’s growing and increasingly urban population.

Now put this growth into the context of our climate crisis. The built environment—from skyscrapers and homes to bridges and tunnels—is the world’s largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for nearly 40% annually. It’s projected that between now and 2050, half of this carbon output will come from the materials used to build our cities and infrastructure, while the other half will come from the energy required to operate them; together these comprise the total carbon output produced by these structures.

To have any hope of stemming the impact of climate change, as recently detailed in the UN-sponsored IPCC report, we must fundamentally transform how buildings and infrastructure are built and operated. Digitalization—adopting digital tools and processes that enhance automation and insights—is the solution we need to meet this monumental challenge, and it’s time for both the building industry and governments around the world to fast-track adoption.

“To create a thriving future—for business, people and the planet—the world demands new ways of living, working, designing and making,” says Amy Bunszel, Executive Vice President, Architecture, Engineering and Construction Design Solutions at Autodesk. “Our customers know this. They are seeking new solutions to innovate and transform themselves and the projects they deliver.”

Bringing speed and scale to meet climate objectives

While the construction industry has begun to embrace sustainability, transformation at the speed and scale needed to fight climate change remains insufficient. Data and technology—cloud computing, computer simulations, AI and generative design—are integral tools in this effort. Even five years ago, it could take architects and engineers months or years of costly planning to achieve a low-carbon building, but today, those designs can be simulated, assessed and the outcomes measured in a fraction of the time, at a fraction of the cost.

Dekker/Perich/Sabatini (D/P/S), a New Mexico-based architecture firm with a focus on green design, demonstrates what’s possible. As the importance of decreasing greenhouse emissions becomes more urgent, the expertise of firms like D/P/S in designing net-zero, energy-certified buildings is crucial to slowing down the effects of climate change.

By using Autodesk technology during the design phase, D/P/S can conduct a thorough analysis of the site and a building’s shape to maximize both energy efficiency and cost. With these tools, D/P/S can show clients sustainable designs that can save money and create healthy environments for occupants.

For a recent D/P/S multifamily housing complex project, covered parking with solar-panel roofing was installed to make utilities more affordable for the complex’s low-income tenants. Additionally, because the complex’s water is now heated via the solar-panel roofing, energy consumption is less taxing on the grid, residents and taxpayers.

It’s not just companies with big budgets that can do advanced energy modeling. Autodesk Insight, the analysis tool used by D/P/S, is off-the-shelf technology that can be integrated into the early-stage design process. Energy modeling is just one step toward a transformed industry, according to Vincent Martinez, President and COO of Architecture 2030.

“Decarbonization of the built environment—encompassing infrastructure, buildings and materials—is required to meet the emissions reduction targets laid out by the scientific community,” says Martinez. “This can only be achieved through multidisciplinary collaboration and coordination within the architecture, engineering, planning and construction sectors.”

The good news is that we’re seeing how digital tools can make advances in every sector, at scale. The electrical industry, for example, has long been one of the slowest to switch from analog to digital, but that’s changing, with companies like Schneider Electric leading the transformation. Using machine learning and generative design, Schneider Electric is reimagining electrical engineering systems with energy efficiency and carbon reduction as a primary objective. Without digital tools, planning an electrical network with carbon reduction goals is time-consuming and cost-prohibitive. By using these tools, sustainable infrastructure is within reach.

Transparency fuels better choices

Energy-efficient buildings and infrastructure are one part of the solution; the materials we use to build them are the other. “Embodied carbon” refers to the emissions from manufacturing and transporting building materials. Concrete and steel are among the biggest carbon polluters, requiring energy-intensive processes to create and deliver them to job sites. But here again, technology is changing the game by connecting decision makers to better information.

An industry-led initiative, the Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator (EC3) is a global open-source database to help designers and contractors choose lower-carbon materials. Microsoft, a founding funder and pilot user of the tool, is leveraging EC3 for the redevelopment of a portion of its 500-acre headquarters in Redmond, Wash. With this resource, Microsoft is reducing the embodied carbon of the project by nearly 30%.

The Carbon Leadership Forum, a University of Washington-led initiative, is also working to accelerate the transformation of the building sector through collective action to reduce the embodied carbon in building materials and construction. “Digital design and decarbonization go hand in hand,” says Kate Simonen, Executive Director of the Carbon Leadership Forum. “Increasingly, embodied carbon data is being used both by the industry and policy makers to inform strategies and drive low-carbon solutions.”

Driving change across the industry and globe

Data, automation and insights enable innovation across processes, supply chains and industries, forging new paths to efficiency, sustainability and growth—truly a win-win for businesses. Both Simonen and Martinez point to the two forces that must drive the adoption of digital tools: industries and governments.

The building and construction industries in the U.S. and globally need help to transform their processes and workforces to put climate first. Digital tools provide actionable information to enable this transition. Governments have the responsibility to drive the digitalization that can propel these business imperatives and enable processes such as energy modeling, carbon measurement and waste reduction for design and construction projects. They can also encourage and invest in the digital skills needed for the future workforce to perform this work. “Through public policy, governments have the ability to rapidly scale and accelerate the progress being made by the industry,” said Martinez.

As governments work on Covid-19 economic recovery efforts, many are thinking strategically about how their investments can best enable innovation and sustainable development. The European Commission’s €750 billion NextGenerationEU stimulus package—the largest ever—invests in making Europe greener, more digital and more resilient. South Korea's New Deal initiatives include green transformations tied to data and technology investments, with increased focus on the built environment. In the United States, the Biden administration is prioritizing reducing carbon emissions and investing in infrastructure, and legislation is pending to promote better adoption of digital tools to ensure more sustainable development.

In November, we must build on this momentum. Countries around the world are heading to COP26—the United Nations climate change conference in Glasgow, Scotland—with the goal of a new and decisive global agreement to tackle climate change. Global leaders should champion digitalization as foundational to meet climate commitments, especially in the built environment.

The pace of construction is not slowing. Neither is the pace of climate change. So, we must accelerate our efforts. Technology solutions that provide the insights, efficiency and scale to change our course are here today. It’s time we embraced them.