Breathe Architecture

Architecture firm Breathe is calling on all architects to reduce carbon emissions in their projects through six steps, which they revealed at an event in Melbourne on 20 September.

"The built environment is the single biggest emitting sector," said Breathe founding director Jeremy McLeod. "37 percent of all emissions come from the built environment. That's the place where we work, so we have agency to change that."

McLeod explained that 27 percent comes from operational carbon - the carbon emitted through a building's energy use. "The good news is this is the biggest single easiest chunk to solve," he added. The remaining 10 percent is embodied carbon, which is harder to reduce, and much more work needs to be done.

He outlined three steps to achieving zero operational carbon, and a further three steps to reducing embodied carbon:

Use heat pumps for hot water, and electricity for heating and cooling, induction cooktops, solar power and EV chargers.

"Buying 100 percent certified Green Power is cheaper than putting solar on your roof. We can all buy Green Power tomorrow," McLeod said. "As we buy Green Power out of the grid, it forces [energy companies] to commit to building large-scale renewables - wind, pumped hydro, large-scale solar.

Green Power is a government-managed program that makes 100 percent renewable energy available to households and businesses.