Industry Report – Blueprint for Net Zero
Access now: Bell & Gossett’s most groundbreaking report yet, bringing together insights from top decarbonization thought leaders in one interactive resource
The state of the built environment
With large buildings accounting for as much as 60% of a city’s emissions, commercial buildings play a vital role in the push to net-zero.
Envisioning the future of the built environment requires us to consider where the commercial building sector is currently and where we need to go to achieve a net-zero and decarbonization reality.
- Nearly two-thirds of buildings that exist today will still exist in 2050
- Energy demand is expected to grow 18% by 2050
- Large buildings generate 60% of a city’s emissions
- The average age of a commercial building is 44 years old
Xylem’s Bell & Gossett’s new industry report, “Blueprint for Net Zero: Innovations Driving Decarbonization in the Built Environment,” illustrates our commitment to sustainability and the innovative strategies driving decarbonization. As part of the Building Better Futures platform, the report explores strategies, insights and partnerships essential to fostering resilient, sustainable communities and advancing a net-zero future.
Net-zero building blocks
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Buildings
To meet aggressive energy targets, we must view buildings as opportunities, not obstacles. This starts with assessing net-zero investments for what they can potentially become: a viable business strategy.
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Solutions
From digitalization to predictive maintenance and variable speed drive solutions, a focus on holistic, end-to-end system design is critical to reducing carbon footprint and optimizing system efficiency.
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Technologies
New technologies are on an unprecedented growth path and have the potential to transform the built environment when employed strategically – through real-time insights, advancing collaboration and fostering connections.
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Environment
Reimagining the cities that we build, live and work in is critical. Doing so means harnessing innovative, creative solutions that prioritize water and energy conservation, renewable resources and reuse and recycling.
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Communities
Designing the communities of the future requires that we transform the buildings of today by generating support from community stakeholders, forging partnerships that advance training and education and aligning around common objectives and goals.
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Partnerships
Decarbonization cannot happen without progressive, partnership-driven solutions, and achieving it involves uniting diverse stakeholders around strategic collaboration to spur collective action.
Featured contributors
Check out our comprehensive report exploring the challenges, insights and trends driving sustainability and decarbonization in the built environment and emerging strategies and approaches to ensure an environmentally responsible future.
Featured industry expert insights
“The goal is to prove to others that improving HVAC&R systems and improving building science are essential to our survival and to creating a sustainable built environment.”
ASHRAE president and inaugural member of ASHRAE’s Integrated Building Design Technical Committee
“A focus on end-to-end solutions that holistically address the built environment will be crucial to effectively address the challenge of decarbonization.”
Xylem, market development manager
“Our approach has always been ‘What is achievable?’ If the goal is investing in those properties to make them more sustainable and more high performing, then that’s where the money should go.”
Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA), former president and chief operation officer
Decarbonization resources
Interested in learning about decarbonization and sustainability? View additional resources from Xylem exploring future-proofed technologies, our mission to achieve net-zero and building better futures.
