Webinar: Building for a Hostile Planet

Green Builder's Editor-in-Chief Matt Power gives specific details about what we need to build (and rebuild) homes for resiliency. 

Extreme heat. Wildfire Smoke. Monster storms. Deep Freeze in the South. Climate Change has become an existential threat. We need to build and rebuild our homes now, to function as if we live on an alien planet. But what does that mean in terms of building science? More insulation? Solar panels and backup batteries? Metal roofs? Smart sensors and controls? All of the above.

Green Builder ’s Editor-In-Chief Matt Power looks at what works and what doesn’t, as we rush to make our homes and communities more resilient: from solar-powered air conditioning to hospital-grade air cleaning, metal roofs to automated, low-cost emergency alerts and responses.

The right technology can protect us in the short term, as we face the bigger challenge of changing human behavior to avert global disaster.

“To survive and begin to reverse the dire climate change disaster that is unfolding we may need to live like pioneers on an alien planet,” says Power. “How much solar power will it take to keep our homes viable? What kind of materials can stand up to the inferno of a wildfire that has become the new normal in the West? How can we beat the extreme heat when rolling blackouts threaten to shut down our home cooling lifeline?”

“Extreme weather events are intensifying faster than scientific models predicted, propelling us into uncharted territory,” adds Sara Gutterman, CEO of Green Builder Media. “As each year passes, we see more temperature, fire, flooding and superstorm records broken.”

In fact, the benchmarks that climate scientists have predicted for 2030, 2040, 2050 and beyond, are actually happening now. “The result is towns from coast to coast charred by wildfire, flooded by superstorms, or drowned by rising sea levels,” Gutterman says. “Entire neighborhoods are on the front lines and are being forced to make heartbreaking and life-altering decisions about whether to rebuild or abandon the communities they love.”

This webinar was made possible by: