We call these costs PLANETARY COSTS. They need to become an essentional factor in any calculation in the construction business.
And here is why.
Very often we hear the argument from architects and developers, that the costs for CO2 better materials – meaning materials which have e.g. less CO2 emissions – are too high. “It’s too expensive to build eco-friendly!” That’s what people say.
It is true that alternatives to e.g. concrete are more expensive. BUT. There is a big BUT.
Prices of alternatives to concrete might be 10-20% higher in the beginning, yet the follow-up costs we have because of the tremendous usage of cement and its consequences for CO2 emissions will quickly demolish the price advantage cement had in the beginning. These are the PLANETARY COSTS – the costs construction businesses cause to fix the planet. So already midterm the cement solution becomes more expensive.
So why is NO ONE taking these follow-up costs into account first hand?
The industry needs to change!
It is high time to include the costs we need to “repair” our planet because of our “dirty” actions in all our calculations. If architectures and city developers do so, they show what “traditional” materials will cost our planet – and then it becomes much easier to argue for “alternative” materials. Their extra costs become marginal.
