0:00

Today we're going to talk to a doctor

0:01

but not your typical doctor.

0:03

Basically I'm a building's

0:05

doctor so that somebody who looks

0:07

at buildings, looks at how they're working, looks

0:10

at whether they're working well, and are they healthy

0:12

building? So,

0:13

like looking at all, the ways

0:15

that buildings, he keep us healthy and safe

0:17

or how they can make us vulnerable and

0:19

sick.

0:21

My name is Ian Hamilton and I'm a

0:23

professor of energy environment and health at

0:25

University College London.

0:27

when you think of how you might not think of

0:29

buildings but they go hand in hand

0:31

buildings protect us from the elements to keep

0:33

us healthy and safe in the middle of storms

0:36

and hot summers and cold winters they

0:38

can also filter out air pollution but

0:40

buildings also contribute to another

0:42

dain

0:43

[unk] to our house that climate change

0:45

so buildings each year are responsible

0:47

for around twenty

0:49

six percent of carbon

0:52

emissions and when you add on construction

0:54

related emissions last the materials

0:57

you know that we build buildings with the with the the

0:59

concrete the glass as another ten percent

1:02

that means that buildings account for about

1:04

one third of global emissions when

1:06

you consider both the embodied emissions in

1:08

the construction materials and the energy used

1:10

run the buildings and as building

1:12

softer he and has his work cut out for

1:15

every year we're ,

1:18

the floor area of japan to the world okay

1:20

so we have between

1:23

now and twenty sixty and estimate

1:25

that and city size of paris is being added

1:27

every week

1:31

that

1:31

means that we need to do two things at once

1:34

we need to retrofit tons and tons

1:36

of existing buildings while also changing

1:38

the way that we build new one in

1:42

this episode resuming and on residential

1:44

building like homes and apartments how

1:46

do we decarbonise them posted this

1:50

is big such show about show rebuild

1:52

the energy systems that all around us

1:55

i'm doctor most a lot and i'm the director of research

1:57

at columbia university's center global energy

1:59

policy all

2:04

that

2:04

our last episode we laid out the for

2:06

big steps to decarbonizing buildings in general

2:09

so first we have to make them energy efficient

2:11

and then second we have to replace all those old

2:14

oil gas appliances with electric one

2:16

third we have to make sure that all the electricity

2:19

that we're sending into our homes is coming

2:21

from zero carbon resources like wind and

2:23

solar and nuclear

2:24

finally the first step that we have to organize

2:27

people to support the rules that can make this

2:29

has happened this episode were

2:31

digging into this first two steps energy

2:33

efficiency and electrification and

2:35

gonna look in particular of residents of buildings

2:38

these are homes so how do we

2:40

make the places where people live more energy

2:42

efficient and what things do we need to

2:44

replace to get to net zero the

2:46

in hamilton the buildings doctor take the sun

2:48

a virtual tour to explain

2:51

so you live standing out on lawn and we're looking

2:53

this lovely ranch home and we

2:55

see that is you know maybe is made of bricks

2:57

maybe it's a know wood framed it

3:00

probably got probably aghast connection

3:03

for either is hot water may be

3:05

it's heating system may be as cooking system

3:07

so imagine were standing outside looking

3:10

at this single family ranch home the

3:12

kind home that you might see in any small town

3:14

or city in the us and we're about

3:16

to the sir it room by room to figure

3:18

out how to decarbonise it

3:20

one of first thing that we need to vision is

3:23

the installation levels of those walls need

3:25

to be addressed the ruse need to be addressed

3:27

so that means putting an attic insulation

3:29

for homes that can it means

3:32

adding insulation into the existing

3:34

while structure

3:34

this sort the given we know

3:36

that we need to insulate our homes to me

3:38

the more efficient and for decarbonization

3:41

you know

3:42

the adding installation is going to

3:44

help reduce demand so ,

3:47

that means that the next thing you

3:49

do which is about adding

3:51

is about heating system a cooling system is

3:53

going to be smaller i'm gonna be

3:55

able to work more efficiently because

3:58

that building can better hold it the

4:00

or hold cooling

4:01

that information isn't just about saving

4:03

energy and reducing emissions sir

4:06

it's one giant piece of decarbonizing

4:08

homes that we absolutely need to get out the

4:10

way but the remember back in episode one

4:12

of the south only covered the big freeze

4:14

that not our taxes as power grid and february

4:16

the money

4:19

the types freezing and breaking across

4:21

central and north texas right now faster

4:23

than summer since get out sussex the every

4:25

plumber in town is backed up the phones

4:28

are ringing off the hook other water says

4:30

modern it it's think it's success

4:32

mechanic and

4:33

and what was supposed to be rolling blackouts

4:35

to protect electrical grids has

4:37

turned for some in

4:40

two days without heat

4:42

they've got young to about fifty one degrees and are

4:44

how by six o'clock and we

4:47

a two month old baby we were smuggled out

4:49

but it was the will that too much

4:51

we need him fillet sense that we can stay safe

4:53

and healthy and our homes than the things that

4:55

we depend on for example power grub

4:58

break remember our

5:00

homes protect us from the element the

5:02

energy efficiency doesn't just mean less

5:04

carbon pollution this also means

5:07

better protection during he'd ways and winter

5:09

storms especially in an increasingly

5:11

unpredictable climate how

5:13

do we have more efficient homes insulation

5:16

that gonna make big difference then for the next thing we

5:18

need to address which is you

5:21

know at this moment in time if we

5:23

wanted to get to decarbonization and we say okay

5:25

let's let's go to wars electrification

5:28

so we're going to think about heat pumps as being

5:30

a good solution for the heating and cooling needs

5:32

of that home

5:33

keep coming back to energy efficiency throughout

5:35

this episode that now are moving on

5:37

to the second big player in building decarbonisation

5:40

i'm talking electrification which

5:43

means moving from fossil fuel powered appliances

5:45

to electricity powered ones like

5:47

he pumped now a heat

5:49

pump is

5:51

everybody already has one his refrigerator

5:54

he heard that right already has

5:56

heat pump and it's called your fridge it

5:58

works by sucking the here

6:00

the feds using substance called refrigerant

6:02

and that refrigerants and some heat into

6:04

space around the fridge like

6:06

, you ever put your hand behind a fridge back

6:09

with the coils are it's hot rice

6:11

that's the refrigerant moving through the coils releasing

6:13

he that it's picked up from inside the fridge

6:16

and , conditioner works roughly the

6:18

same it absorbs heat from inside

6:20

a home and than a dumpster outside that's

6:22

beautiful thing about he pumps pacific

6:24

the heat and cool and heating

6:27

is where they signed the heating system and

6:29

most homes here , north america

6:31

say is responsible for around a quarter

6:33

to to a house love your

6:35

energies and home home most

6:37

of us being done through you know

6:40

could be a boiler that you have senate

6:42

speeding or waters radiators

6:44

or it could be an air furnace which

6:46

is than heating the air and circulating that around

6:48

for some cases older buildings as well but

6:51

also built with electric resistance hitters

6:53

and baseboard heaters

6:54

all of the can that so heating systems

6:56

they generate new sheath gas

6:58

heater is ignite flame converting chemical

7:00

energy and the thermal energy electric

7:03

heaters warm up heating elements converting

7:05

was to city and a thermal wherever

7:07

you do a conversion like this you're going to

7:09

lose a lot of energy he

7:11

pans on the other hand they just compete they

7:14

move it around from inside the house

7:16

or outside the end and says like your

7:18

fridge they do this using substance

7:20

called the refrigerant which both absorbs

7:22

everly says he's which is much

7:24

much more efficient than generating new heat

7:27

if you want one of these he pumps didn't get some

7:29

pretty much anywhere at home improvement store

7:31

or for me heating and cooling contractor

7:33

and can proceed one of two ways either

7:36

you can get essential unit that will send air

7:38

threat your house as big air ducts that you

7:40

might seen up your addicts or see

7:42

once he is news ductless many split

7:44

systems with this means that you put machine

7:47

and each one of your rooms so the you can control

7:49

the temperature one room at a time

7:52

we've been on our line leave and looking the house

7:54

with now made it as efficient as possible

7:56

and least figured out our heating and cooling so

7:58

now we step into the house and

8:00

i'm thinking about coming home and washing

8:02

my hands and wanna do warm water how

8:05

do we see what today and

8:07

how do need to do it differently

8:10

the future

8:11

so today hot water's mostly

8:13

hit by an electric resistance heater so these

8:15

are elements to sit inside a big hot water

8:17

tanks and we

8:20

could also he'd that with gas so you know

8:22

literally lighting small fire under a tank

8:24

and boiling it's but

8:26

what we'd really like to be able to do is make

8:28

use the free energy this already in the home

8:31

with the temperature there and

8:33

so heat pump hot water

8:35

tanks are able to do that

8:37

and where back this is

8:39

another place where he pumps consign

8:42

heating water

8:46

before we were talking about pumping heat into

8:48

or out a space so into her out

8:50

of air but now we're talking about pumping

8:52

heat into water again

8:54

this is very different from gas boiler

8:57

or electric hot water heater or even

8:59

a tankless water heater all of

9:01

those generate new heat that

9:03

heat pumps actually absorb heat

9:05

from the surrounding air stay in your basement

9:08

and then they concentrated into your hot

9:10

water tank at , depot

9:12

or lowes these are called hybrid or hybrid

9:14

electric water heater and just

9:16

to give you sense of how awesome these things are

9:18

if you put one unit of electricity into them

9:20

you get two or three units heat out of

9:22

them because you're using all this free

9:24

energy that's all around you right now

9:27

whereas in puts it

9:28

he said a gas system where you're buying a

9:30

dollar of gas and you're getting eighty seven

9:32

sense of hot water out heat

9:34

pump will be buying dollar of electricity

9:36

and getting three dollars of heating

9:39

hot water out the

9:40

when we look at how we heat water today

9:42

the bottom line is that heat pump water heaters

9:44

are just way more efficient and

9:47

that translates into real savings according

9:49

to energy star dot as switching to

9:51

heat pump water heater could save you hundreds

9:54

of dollars per year the

9:58

come home we walked into the

10:00

door you know if wash our hands

10:02

last our shoes and now we're going

10:04

to make dinner so how

10:07

we cook today what kind of energy two

10:09

years and in a net zero

10:11

and into carbonized teacher have different

10:13

of cooking luck

10:15

the right now we use electricity for

10:17

a conductive cooking on the stovetop so that

10:19

is heating surface up and the pot

10:22

get hot and boil the water and

10:24

we're gonna move from that which is about seventy

10:26

five percent efficient to induction

10:29

cooking which is effectively

10:31

the whole pot getting warm and

10:33

transferring all of that energy to boil the water

10:35

which is about eighty six percent efficient

10:40

doctor says induction ranges are

10:42

another newer technology that you might

10:44

start hearing about some the conventional

10:46

letter coil or electric cooktop

10:48

we also call them class cooktop what

10:50

you're doing is heating it is elements

10:52

which then he's up pan which than heats

10:54

up your water as a lot us that

10:57

but an induction stove takes out a step

10:59

basically sense and electromagnetic current

11:01

into the pants so the pan becomes

11:03

the heating elements and so the gets warm

11:06

and then transferred the heat directly to your favorite

11:08

there

11:08

was much more efficient business

11:11

and the other thing is by comparison to gas

11:13

it which is only forty percent

11:15

efficient that's not releasing

11:18

any air pollution

11:20

so when , parents

11:22

it obviously creates obviously

11:24

particles that are related

11:26

to gas am one the big sources

11:28

are basically nitrous

11:31

oxide and carbon monoxide and

11:33

lots of things that we don't really want in the

11:35

home business and so we can avoid

11:38

putting gas in the home to be

11:40

burnt and efficiently and causing air

11:42

pollution is good thing and if we

11:44

can take queen cooking that

11:46

clean electric cooking and

11:48

make as efficient as possible through inductive

11:50

cooking that's gonna be big win and

11:52

then with our ovens being able

11:54

to use was called consecutive so this

11:56

so this up an element of the back and blowing

11:58

hot air across our food

12:01

compared to having an element

12:03

sit there at the bottom and

12:05

you know everybody knows that that oven

12:07

that's too hot on one side to unveil

12:10

this is a problem you get so convective cooking is

12:12

a lot more even with it's heat

12:14

and that means we need to use less of it and we

12:16

can run for less time friends

12:18

about the max texas

12:27

the we've gone through space heating and cooling

12:29

and covered water heating and now cooking

12:32

but they're a lot of other technologies that can

12:34

help us save energy like smart thermostats

12:36

which allow us to auto adjust our temperatures

12:39

to help save money and energy and also

12:41

smart appliances which allows to shift

12:43

when and how we use energy when

12:45

you talk about decarbonizing soames

12:47

there's one technology that always

12:49

comes to mind rooftop solar

12:52

for a nerd speak photovoltaics

12:54

though

12:56

photovoltaics being able to generate

12:59

electricity on your roof

13:01

and then be able to use that in your home

13:04

or export that was you

13:06

don't use back into the grid

13:08

electricity grid

13:10

this allows the person that's living

13:12

in home to go from just consuming

13:14

electricity to actually producing

13:16

it a power producing consumer

13:19

we also call them person

13:20

you're going be actively generating

13:23

and using electricity the you generate on

13:25

your own home you're going to be sending

13:27

that back into the grid that the neighborhood

13:29

has more availability of

13:31

renewable energy directly within

13:33

that grid

13:34

and if you pair solar panels with energy

13:36

storage like home battery or

13:38

an electric vehicle battery you can use

13:41

low carbon power in the case of emergency

13:44

and you're also going to be able to potentially

13:46

store that renewable and low

13:48

carbon energy in your home and

13:50

for many who might experience ah

13:52

you know power outages or if

13:55

during storms and like this

13:57

is not produce to ensure that your home

14:00

maintains a certain amount of fuel

14:02

onsite you know that's one of the big

14:04

advantages to being able to generate on site

14:06

is to use on site store on sites

14:09

there's also another thing which is during the

14:11

night time when the sun is not signing

14:13

again if you want to be completely low

14:15

carbon this is another way which you can ensure

14:17

that your meeting those needs over course the night

14:20

right and so what's the catch he

14:22

pumps and insulation induction so

14:25

solar panels batteries they all

14:27

sound amazing supply

14:29

don't we all have them in our homes right now

14:32

oh no soccer a lot of it comes

14:34

down to cost specifically

14:36

the up front cost i'm talking sticker

14:38

price while these things can save

14:40

us in the long run it's just pay for them

14:42

up front to get them into your home in the first place companies

14:45

and governments nonprofits while they're all working

14:47

to lower the costs of these technologies

14:50

and just last week the biden administration

14:52

announced that it's using something called the defense

14:54

production act to boost manufacturing

14:56

of heat pumps and solar panels but

14:58

it's gonna take gonna lot more work to get these technologies

15:01

into our homes the other

15:03

catches that every location every

15:05

house loads difference for

15:07

example homes and tropical climates will

15:09

need different solutions and homes and temperate

15:11

climate

15:12

there is going look very different depending the location

15:15

so when we're thinking about hot

15:17

and humid countries knows really important

15:20

for us to be able to school those

15:22

buildings effectively

15:24

through say dc modification

15:26

that's gonna really helped to make sure that they're comfortable

15:29

and we can keep them cool but

15:31

importantly in those locations is making sure that

15:33

son doesn't get into the space to begin with so

15:35

ventilation is going to be really important but

15:38

also solar shading when you see

15:40

those net zero buildings that exist

15:42

in tropical climates they have effectively

15:44

large umbrella over the whole building and

15:46

that's to keep the solar radiation off

15:48

from heating up the space and any sense and

15:50

then making them as open as possible until

15:53

you start using air conditioning and then that means

15:55

ceiling them up so that they are able

15:57

to keep that cool they're inside

16:00

and again opening on back up again

16:02

when it's appropriate to do so so nighttime

16:04

cooling is really important for low those locations

16:07

but maybe something to add to that melissa that

16:10

melissa in many parts the world multi

16:13

unit buildings in high rise buildings

16:15

is the fastest growing

16:17

form of building that we see the

16:20

way that they're being constructed you know a lot

16:22

of times with a lot of concrete a

16:24

lot of a concrete block making

16:26

, that those buildings are low carbon

16:28

in the future is going to be a real struggle

16:31

they need to be designed now

16:33

so that they are more efficient in the

16:35

future when people may be

16:37

are affording to install air conditioning

16:40

systems and right now what we're doing

16:42

and is doing and these giants

16:44

structures that can be very hot

16:47

taking step back when we talk

16:49

about getting net zero emissions and residential

16:51

buildings how close are we we

16:53

miles and miles away or is it

16:55

just around the corner

17:00

net zero for new buildings can

17:02

be around the corner so by

17:04

twenty thirty we need to see that

17:06

all new buildings being built our net zero

17:08

carbon so that means that the grid as

17:10

it decarbonise is is going

17:12

to ensure that that efficient building

17:15

operating the carbonized

17:18

and we do that through building codes we

17:20

do that through making sure that they're

17:22

designed efficiently and

17:24

, do that with all the equipment is being

17:26

used inside them meeting really high performance

17:29

standards for existing buildings

17:31

the challenges bigger we are

17:33

not around corner for decarbonizing

17:35

our existing buildings in the same way so

17:38

there's a real challenge eighty percent of the buildings

17:40

that are gonna be here in twenty thirty or twenty

17:42

fifty have already been built know

17:44

so the amount floor space where adding

17:46

although in enormous number

17:49

or existing buildings are going be eighty percent

17:51

of already was here how

17:53

we decarbonise those decarbonise and

17:55

how quickly decarbonise those is the real challenge

17:57

we have to face so in the you

18:00

the for example to meet our net

18:02

zero carbon targets by twenty fifty we

18:04

have to be decarbonizing a building a

18:06

minute and that

18:08

of the twenty three million buildings that are in

18:10

the uk residential buildings

18:12

in the uk we need to be

18:14

investing in their walls the windows the rules

18:16

are he's small the south and we

18:18

need to have the skilled workers who can come

18:20

in and do that work we need to be

18:23

able to finance that works so that

18:25

is done effectively and cost

18:27

efficiently we need to make sure that people

18:29

who don't have normal access to that

18:31

level of financing can do so and

18:33

so's really important for us to be really equitable

18:35

and how the decarbonization agenda

18:38

addresses buildings because

18:40

that's where we live is where we work

18:51

and in most cases is one

18:53

the single largest investments we've ever

18:55

made the

18:56

let's recap the carbonized

18:58

residents of buildings the have to make all

19:00

our new buildings much more efficient

19:02

and the you for natural world that's

19:04

the biggest challenge that's gonna be that's

19:07

or fittings the in the

19:09

, that we already have in those

19:11

homes fancy dress inflation first

19:13

because about incited hum as more efficient

19:15

and healthy humble second we

19:17

need replace fossil fuel appliances and

19:20

inefficient electric appliances with highly

19:22

efficient a lot of one i keep

19:24

up precise heating and cooling or

19:26

for water heating heating also want

19:28

induction stones and where possible

19:30

rooftop solar panels and batteries which

19:32

can some power to are wider communities

19:35

for service back up during an outage so

19:37

he has so our approach every

19:39

building in every location and

19:42

we need make sure that all these technologies

19:44

are affordable and accessible the people

19:46

in one thousand

19:50

martha question we're going to dive into the next

19:53

episode of make switch how do we make

19:55

sure that everyone benefits from the technologies

19:57

that will move our building the net zero for

20:01

most affected by climate change on

20:03

big switch has produced at columbia university

20:05

center on global energy policy in partnership

20:07

with has media this episode

20:09

was produced by daniel waldorf announcing her

20:11

announcing her sensory editing with my and

20:13

failing mixing in scoring by sharmarke

20:16

on and greg bill frames and the theme

20:18

song with my son mark on a

20:20

special thanks to club the a person necessarily

20:23

listen and napoli hop on are managing

20:25

producer as as lame as a my tennis and

20:27

i executive editor didn't listen i'm

20:29

doctor martha life under the workplace