Low carbon life - perspectives and prerequisites

17 June 2008
Low carbon life - perspectives and prerequisites

By Professor Sirkka Heinonen, Member of the Club of Rome

In the face of the acerbating climate change we should start opening up perspectives and prerequisites for low energy life, and low carbon life, in particular. It is important to think what kind of a new mind set is needed for achieving energy efficient communities. I wish to emphasize the importance of long-term systematic futures thinking and the importance of monitoring the continuous change of the operating environment.

Climate change can be seen as a driver for low energy life. We will perhaps see the emerging of a new life, a low carbon life, by introducing a new thinking into the economy.

Perceiving the changes in the operational environment is an absolute necessity as we aim for a low energy life. But we must do this observing on a very broad scale, and not only focus on those aspects which are directly linked to energy issues.

Once we have observed the different changes, we must stop and analyze the effects from the point of your welfare, for example. The final stage in such a process involves the interpretation and understanding of these changes.

We could set the vision for Finland as becoming a low carbon society, or as a society enabling low energy life. Action without vision is purposeless.

We have to seek for solutions to adapting the changing environment. Innovation has already been called for, but we must keep in mind that in addition to technological innovation we also need social innovation.

We live in an information society, which is now becoming more and more of an experience society. People are consuming services and products, while they are seeking experiences.

I would say that we are now in a stage in the development of our society, where on the one hand we have the demands of sustainable development and climate change, and on the other the experience society is a driver as well.

If we have low energy life and a low carbon society as our goal, households and consumer are also interested in this, they are willing to do something about it. How can an ordinary citizen compare the different heating solutions or various energy efficiency options, is still a problem.

The means and the methods of low energy life lie in conserving energy and natural resources, increasing energy efficiency, and in the better utilization of renewable forms of energy.

I would like to include in this new mind set, this new way of thinking, the concept of energy sufficiency. So, instead of talking only about energy efficiency, we should also talk about energy sufficiency.

In this context, we should also consider, whether we could adopt a more holistic approach to developing societies and cities so that they would become more energy efficient, sustainable, and also defined ways of measuring efficiency in these cities and for citizens as for example in the form of the ecological footprint.

How much could be saved if we were to construct all new buildings as eco efficient. The existing building stock could be renewed through energy-efficient auditing and repair.

In passive energy houses, the heat generated by the occupants and electronic equipments is to a large degree enough to provide the heat needed.   I’ve also talked about active energy houses, where the house produces more energy than it actually consumes.

Through the experience society, we also see more diversified concepts for living. People look for individual solutions, in housing they want to express their own way of life, their roles, their identities. What does this mean in practice?

There is a new trend of slow housing, where in fact people go back to the basic function of housing. People seek welfare in a slow, peaceful, calm environment and in this particular concept, the environment, the living environment is emphasized.

This is very closely linked to the lifecycle thinking. If we are building solutions, which are environmentally sensitive, it means that we are witnessing also a reduction in the operating costs.

We should emphasize the savings that are incurred for the occupants, if they are living in these slow energy houses. Bringing in new green elements, roof gardens, balconies, the growing of energy crops in cities is also coming.

If people can get in touch with nature in cities, in their own dwellings and immediate living surroundings, this might reduce the need for fragmenting our urban structures more. People would no longer have to leave the city to get in touch with nature.

In the planning stage, natural conditions and elements such as cliffs and rocks can been utilized in a very innovative and energy efficient way when building houses.

Self sufficiency is also a future goal in building a future, which is linked to empowering people. In the future, houses may produce their own energy, and process their own waste.

Moreover, the green infrastructure is not merely a factor that contributes to the wellbeing of citizens. It is also important environmentally, since parks and woods act as carbon sinks. It has been shown by research, that if people have contact with nature in cities, it improves their health and wellbeing.

We need versatile methods and ways to develop buildings and communities as more energy-efficient. A new research project has been launched at Finland Futures Research center on “Creatively Sustainable Communities”.

It aims at conceptualizing, demonstrating and testing various criteria and best practices for a sustainable and creative community. The main theoretical framework for the project is an ethically and ecologically sustainable experience society and low carbon life.

The creativity, and especially collective creativity of the residents, designers, authorities, researchers, as well as entrepreneurs will be harnessed for coming up and developing sustainable solutions for community planning.

This will be done in interactive futures workshops and dialogues.

Editorial note: Professor Sirkka Heinonen works for Finland Futures Research Centre Turku School of Economics. Since 2005 she is Member of the Club of Rome