En-en adult card 3 building
Card #3: Building
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The building sector (housing and commercial use) uses fossil fuels and electricity.
It accounts for 20% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Explanation
We consider here buildings usage, not their construction (which is part of the industrial sector). Heating, air-conditioning, lighting, electronics, etc. The big topic in our latitudes is the thermal insulation of buildings. As far as new construction is concerned, it is important to build well insulated buildings. But the stakes are limited because the standards for new buildings are much stricter than in the past and only a small part (1%) of the buildings already built are constructed each year. The challenge is therefore much more in the thermal renovation of buildings.
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Consequences
- River flooding Soil artificialisation is also responsible for flooding because the soil is no longer able to absorb rain water.
- Aerosols Buildings emit few aerosols directly. The only significant emissions are chimney fires. In Chamonix, 85% of the fine particles present in the atmosphere come from wood heating [1].