In 2015, Pakistan's rural areas faced blackouts of over 11 hours a day while urban areas suffered up to eight hours of daily power cuts. The total power shortfall stood around 6,000 megawatts. Therefore, energy conservation can’t be ignored in a country like Pakistan. Hotter, drier summers and an increase in extreme weather events last year are facts we can’t change. But the construction strategy should be revised to counter dynamic climate challenges.
“For decades, our country has struggled to manage urgent crises, ranging from infrastructure woes to pollution. While Pakistan focuses on short-term conventional threats, a potentially devastating threat lurks in the shadows: climate change,” NisarMohyudin, spokesman for Diamond Jumbolon, told the audience at University of Engineering and Technology in Lahore. “Energy and sustainability issues have increasingly come to the forefront with growing demand and consumption in Pakistan,” he said.
“A high-performance building uses less energy, water and money than an average building. Better building design and state of the art technologies in building materials and systems will greatly reduce the energy consumption.”
“The building sector in Pakistan needs to play a major role in combating climate change and reducing CO2 levels,” he emphasized.
I attended the international workshop on Energy-Efficient Building Design organized by the Department of Architectural Engineering and Design in coordination with Prof. Norbert Lechner, an expert in energy responsive architectural design. His book, Heating, Cooling, Lighting: Sustainable Design Methods for Architects is popular with building professionals.The workshop aimed to determine the preparedness of Pakistani professionals to adapt to climate change, and to develop resources and projects that will build that capacity.
Keynote speaker Norbert Lechner presented Building Orientation strategies and Day Lighting strategies. He also overviewed indoor air quality and solar-responsive designs. “More than a hundred million people worldwide live within one meter of mean sea level,” Lechner quoted National Geographic. He equated population, affluence and technology with climate change. He explained major strategies for achieving zero energy buildings in Asian countries including Pakistan. He showed pictures of Zero Energy office buildings constructed in Colorado. “A building can’t be sustainable if it is not solar responsive,” he said. “When the sun is out, it will shine down on windows and amplify the heat. Use blinds and reflective materials in your windows to minimize the impacts of solar gain,” he advised. “The successful design of buildings relies on an appropriate understanding of the climate,” Norbert said. “White is the greenest color,” he repeated while endorsing white roofs. “Enhancing efficiency through home insulation is a great step toward creating a climate-safe energy system,” Lechner concluded.
During the two-day workshop, different Pakistani companies presented smart ways to design low energy buildings in Pakistan. The importance of insulation in reducing energy usage was discussed.
The idea behind the workshop was to create a greater understanding of issues like Global Warming. Global warming is primarily a problem of too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere - which acts as a blanket, trapping heat and warming the planet. The present weather calamities and catastrophes are not happening by chance. Every day is Earth Day, folks, as we were reminded by this Climate Change conference.