Every minute, enough solar radiation reaches the Earth to satisfy mankind’s global energy requirements for a year. The wind could also singlehandedly satisfy all our energy requirements, according to Stanford University in California. Yet last year renewables supplied only 9.4% of the electricity generated in the UK. 

There are real technological and social issues to overcome before renewables can improve their record – technological issues include finding ways of storing the energy so it is available when and where it is needed, while social issues include the NIMBY attitude towards wind turbines and fields of solar panels to generate the electricity.

And with Governments beginning to renege on commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions it looks as if we are all going to have to accept some measure of individual responsibility towards tackling global warming – and the architectural and construction industry more than most as its work results in 60% of global CO₂ emissions. 

There are, of course, a lot of global warming deniers who do not believe anything should be done because there is not a problem and a lot of others who shrug their shoulders and do not believe they can make a difference. 

But if you stop looking at sustainability as a threat and start to look at the business opportunities it offers, suddenly it looks not only as if you could make a difference, but as if you could also make a profit.

That was the message from Charlie Luxton, architect, TV presenter and sustainability champion, speaking at the Natural Stone Awards after he had presented the prizes at Lord’s cricket ground in London at the end of November.

Charlie Luxton accepted that most people felt the world’s governments should be dealing with climate change but, he said, they’re not. So we all have to take responsibility for our own actions.

He maintained that energy efficient buildings designed with more fresh air and natural light led to a 10% increase in productivity of the people working in them. As the salaries of those people would typically account for 90% of a building’s costs over a decade, a 10% improvement in output would make a significant difference – far outweighing any extra cost involved in achieving energy efficiency in the first place.

He pleased his audience at the Stone Awards by saying he believed improving energy efficiency of buildings would have more to do with issues such as thermal mass (where stone has an obvious advantage over steel, glass and resins) and longevity (again an obvious plus for stone) than with technological solutions such as heat pumps. “Stone, well detailed and well used, has a real role,” he said. 

And it was not just a question of design. “It’s all well and good to sit down at a computer and design a building that’s low carbon, but how well it’s made is enormously critical.”

He urged everyone to take sustainability to the core of their businesses, concluding: “In 2050 when someone says what did you do, you can say: Well, I did everything I could.”