The recent Glasstec tradeshow provided some insights into the international trends, which will likely influence the North American market. In part two of a two-part blog series reviewing these trends, we focus on a call to action by leaders in our industry (several from the U.S.) to work together to create a more sustainable approach to glass and façades in alignment with a circular economy.
As a precursor to their call to action, the following experts shared a presentation program called, “Clarity revisited – (re) shaping the future of glass”
- Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, founder of Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact (PIK) in Germany.
- Hanna Jürgensmeier, an executive board member of Scenario Management International AG (ScMI AG) in Germany.
- Linda Hildebrand, a professor for recyclable construction at RWTH Aachen University in Germany.
- Lisa Rammig, director and leader of Eckersley O’Callaghan’s Los Angeles (L.A.) office.
- Sophie Pennetier, associate director of special projects, at Enclos, located in L.A.
- Adrian Betanzos, self-proclaimed “glass lover” and glass design expert.
- Ulrich Knaack from the Netherlands’ Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) and Technical University Darmstadt (UT Darmstadt), who also leads the European Façade Network.
Why is Action Needed?
To open, Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, gave an overview of the tipping points in many of the Earth’s systems that are rapidly being approached because of the continuation of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions.
He reviewed how these critical systems are at risk of being changed irreversibly if these tipping points are reached, including:
- the Amazon rainforest (deforestation)
- the Arctic winter sea ice (collapsing)
- the Greenland ice sheet (collapsing)
- the Boreal Permafrost (releasing large amounts of atmospheric warming methane)
- the circulation currents in the Atlantic Ocean (Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation) (diminishing strength)
(See the image below for the location of tipping points and their estimated trigger global temperatures.)
These systems are responsible for the Earth’s climate and biological ecosystems. Changes in these systems caused by rising global average temperatures are directly driving the changes we are experiencing in our climate: heat waves, periods of severe cold, wildfires, droughts, and more severe storms such as hurricanes, tornadoes, snow and floods. All will result in more death, economic loss, land loss, food and water shortages and significant population migration and societal stressors.
These are changes we have already started to experience. Climatologists are observing that these system changes and the resulting increases in weather severity are happening faster than they predicted.
This sobering opening presentation at Glasstec underscored the urgency of taking more collaborative and purposeful action to reduce emissions in the built environment – particularly in our façade systems.
Sustainable Curtainwall?
In a follow-up conversation, Rammig explained that the Glasstec presenter group’s goal is to get the participants in the industry to work together and commit to delivering a more sustainable approach to the use of glass and façade systems in alignment with a circular economy.
She noted that “everyone has sustainability on their radar and people are doing little things, which are not always being openly shared.” She said, “We can’t wait for legislation; we need to act now. We need to work across all borders and leave the competition to the side and ask ourselves the question ‘what can we realistically do to do better?’ If we each do a little and share what we do, we make progress much faster.”
Rammig is interested in understanding glass and façade system recyclability, building energy use, lifetime extension and system re-use. She identified that curtainwall systems are component-based, which theoretically, could lead to better standardization and modularization. Yet, particularly in the U.S., customized systems are typically designed, which are hard to replace and upgrade later.
As an example, she suggested that a standardized curtainwall system could be developed wherein a base chassis could be used as a framework onto which components could be added. This would provide an easy path for upgrades too, or replacement of, components to enable recycling or reuse once they are past their service life, or if there is a change in the building’s use, and therefore, in the façade’s requirements.
When thinking about an adaptable, upgradeable and recyclable curtainwall, she notes that warranties become more of a challenge. A solution may be to develop a recertification program, akin to refurbished computers.
What Does the Future Façade Look Like?
Many approaches could be taken to reduce carbon in our façade systems, but it is not yet clear which has the optimum balance of feasibility and impact. As examples:
- Should we focus primarily on using sustainable energy to power our buildings and manufacture our materials?
- Is it realistic to collect building materials at their end of life, and recycle and/or re-use them?
- Or is it better that we leave them in place as they reach the end of life and replace elements, or put a new layer over the top? This additional-layer approach has been done a lot in Europe, where new glass skins are placed over older building structures.
- Is it better to extend the lifetime by building better? Alternatively, if it is feasible to set the façade up for easy recycling and reuse, then maybe longevity is less important.
Choosing which path(s) will best achieve sustainability in glass and façades is not clear. Since time is of the essence, it is important to identify what strategies are most likely to be successful and then drive in those directions.
To this end, the team brought in Scenario Management International (ScMI). ScMI is a specialist in scenario planning that helps organizations and governments develop a range of potential scenarios and predict which are most likely to occur. During the Glasstec session, Jürgensmeier reviewed ScMI’s recent work with global experts to identify eight different global scenarios for the world economy, power shifts and global architecture in a post-pandemic world. (Side note: For anyone involved in developing a strategy for their business, this is a very insightful read).
Rammig is hoping that, by working with ScMI and a variety of façade and material experts, academics, and glass and façade fabricators, several scenarios will be generated to identify unique pathways to achieving sustainable façade systems. These pathways will then be analyzed to identify the most likely to succeed and how the future façade – and perhaps the future building – will likely look. From there, industry participants can focus on driving change within their businesses in alignment with the identified scenario(s) to achieve the end goal.
Call-to-Action
The Glasstec session’s presenters issued their call to action and asked audience members to volunteer their companies to collaborate on this work. I volunteered myself and Technoform. The next step this volunteer group is taking is to prepare a survey, which will identify important topics and ask respondents how they could contribute.
After the survey is analyzed, Rammig anticipates smaller groups will work on fleshing out different scenarios. They are looking for partners to sponsor the program costs for ScMI’s support. If you or your company are interested in getting involved, please reach out to Rammig. Let’s work together to rapidly shape the future of façades!