Another website, another blog post to mark the occasion.
I look back to the first, self-built one, launched December 2016 into a world progressing incrementally – a shiny new Paris Agreement, Eco-building rising – despite Brexit and Trump shocks.
Today, April 2025, this rebuilt website is a great improvement, now beautifully designed thanks to webmaster Mahesi Caplan https://a1webdev.com.
But, eight years on, a world going backwards. Maybe this is what Chaotic Collapse looks like, prior to Emergent Re-Equilibriation – so much nicer than the traditional alternative, Pitchfork Revolution!
The biggest game-changer happened only last month – Mahesi introduced me to AI – both ChatGPT and its image-generating counterpart, MidJourney – to help tame my prose to his wisdom about ‘what works’.
ChatGPT – astonishingly effective at clarifying thoughts and structuring ideas. However, also a nightmare for teachers trying to detect AI-generated essays, and a potential mental health risk for those mistaking it for a ‘best friend.’
Midjourney – https://www.aecmag.com/magazines > Sept/Oct 2022 pp36-45 shows wildly imaginative yet credible architectural images. However, it still lacks an understanding of spatial concepts like ‘higher,’ ‘sloping,’ ‘left/right,’ or ‘3 metres’ – for now.
But this will change. Could MidJourney soon empower people to design their own dream extensions, making architects redundant?
Or, like previous hopes that the internet and social media would democratise information, will AI also end up monetised into trillionaires’ monopoly, with devastating global consequences?
They are certainly investing to ensure it does. Do we have the ability to say ‘No, it won’t’?
Regardless, AI will accelerate the emergence of Humanity v3 (v1 = pre-history, v2 = agriculture, science, technology, armies, hierarchies; v3 = TBA). I wish my grandchildren plenty of luck and wisdom for what’s ahead.
Meanwhile, my generation tries to make the best of Humanity v2, and for me, like other pioneers, that means not just reducing but reversing the Climate Emergency and Ecological Collapse we’ve caused. A tall order!
Perhaps my best contribution is helping to establish Restorative Reversal as a mainstream, practical imperative by building real-world examples – proving that it works.
A popular Restorative Urge and accompanying widespread Practice could serve as a powerful Chaotic Attractor, influencing Humanity’s emergent v3.
Eco-Building Rethought
So, what does this mean for my architectural practice and what I offer clients? It comes in two parts.
The first part is already here – a major shift in Eco-building thinking.
For 50 years, the focus has been on reducing buildings’ in-use energy demand – eventually achieving near-zero energy use with the Passive House standard.
The idea was simple: if a building imports no energy, zero CO2 from combustion gets added to the atmosphere, thus making zero contribution to Climate Emergency. Job done.
But a new realization has emerged: we need to focus on buildings’ CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent) emissions, rather than their energy consumption. As modern grid electricity rapidly decarbonizes, energy usage is no longer a reliable proxy for emissions.
Can a building use plenty of energy via electric heat pumps, without increasing its CO2e emissions? Sort of.
Further, can more usage of ‘harmless’ electric energy enable less incorporation of sophisticated insulations in buildings? Yes it can!
But why use less insulation, triple glazing, etc? Because their production, transport, and construction generate large CO2e emissions—before the building is even occupied.
For decades, this ‘Embodied CO2e’ was overlooked, assumed insignificant compared to in-use emissions. In reality, Embodied CO2e is roughly twice as harmful since it’s emitted immediately rather than gradually over a building’s lifetime.
The New Priority: Embodied CO2e
The new Eco-building priority is to minimize a building’s Embodied CO2e—the emissions caused by material extraction, manufacturing, transportation, and construction.
Since this is all added into the CO2e already in the atmosphere before the building is even occupied, its ongoing causation of Climate Emergency stays high and constant for the entire life of the building.
This makes it roughly twice as dangerous as the building’s subsequent in-use emissions, which start at zero and slowly accumulate through its life (‘area under the curve’, if that makes sense to you).
The key strategies?
- Minimise demolition,
- Retain and adapt existing structure,
- Re-use materials and components, and
- Select low-carbon construction methods and materials.
Do all that, and still make great architecture!
The method for measuring this is called Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), which also accounts for emissions from eventual demolition and disposal—though predicting what happens 60-100 years from now is tricky.
While Passive House offers a mature, accessible method for calculating in-use CO2 emissions, LCA tools that include Embodied CO2e remain in scientific controversy, and are complex, requiring expert operators, so not yet for the likes of me and my clients.
Paradoxically … We Can Relax!
This shift means we can relax a bit!
Small buildings and extensions don’t have to obsess over extreme insulation and limited windows—as long as
- heating is by electric heat pump, and
- the trade-off really does result in minimised Embodied CO2e.
For the time being I consult available data such as ICE. Manufacturers are racing to provide Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) to help us compare materials, though these are still scarce.
Beyond Zero
That was the first part. The second is still in early-stage flux. The excellent current-state guide is Build Beyond Zero by King and Magwood.
It will mean, for example, buildings not emitting, but absorbing atmospheric CO2 throughout their construction and life – which is what plants do, so it’s no surprise that the few pioneering built schemes look uncannily like the Midjourney images that can be accessed via the aec.mag link above.
To go Beyond Zero, to Restorative Reversal, to help create the right Chaotic Attractor for Humanity v3, is for me a life target – no doubt the subject of future blog posts.
Join me! Ring me!