Brookfield Global Integrated Solutions (BGIS) held their annual ‘An Inspired Future‘ event on Wednesday, January 20, 2016 with the goal of raising awareness on the impact of global warming and climate change to corporate management. The event focused on reminding the corporate world of their responsibility to address sustainability in operations and emphasised the need to work together towards a more sustainable and environmentally friendly future. The keynote speaker, Jeremy Rifkin, started to address the issue with a solemn reminder of how our planet and the ecosystem is changing with the rise in temperatures due to greenhouse gas emissions. The EPA projects that with the increase in global temperatures and the resultant increase in water cycles that traverse our Ecosystem, precipitation levels are increasing and this is leading to more violent storms and hurricanes, an increase sea levels, and an increase in wind speeds.

Rifkin pointed out that the present economic model of the world is directly responsible for the current climate situation as it pre-dominantly uses carbon-based fuels as the main sources of energy. In addition, labour productivity levels in North America have decreased over the past 20 years and are projected to continue to decrease in the next few decades as the global GDP growth slows down. Rifkin attributes this to the fact that the peak of the 2nd Industrial revolution is behind us, yet our economic models continue to be based on it. We have reached the maximum levels of efficiencies that the technologies of the 2nd Industrial revolution allowed us to reach, and we need to re-engineer future economic models to recognize the upcoming third industrial revolution represented by the burgeoning digital economy.

In order to save our ecosystem from eventual disintegration, to counter climate change and to improve levels of productivity, Rifkin called for a change to the economic paradigm to one which uses renewable energy sources, shifts us to a laterally scaled economy that fosters collaboration, uses Big Data and analytics to increase efficiencies and decrease the marginal cost of goods and services. Instead of vertically scaled corporations and organizations with centralized operations, Rifkin sees the new economic system to have laterally scaled organizations and cooperative “regions”. With the progress of renewable energy technologies, the widespread use of the existing communications internet and the development of driverless automated transport and drones, this vision of a new economic paradigm might not be too far ahead in the future. The Energy Internet, Communications Internet and the Logistics & Transportation Internet would all be connected under the upcoming Internet of Things (IoT) platform.

The communications internet has matured over the past 20-25 years and renewable energies have also come a long way in the past 30 years. Solar electricity cost has been plummeting from $78 per watt in the late 1970s to a present level of $0.36 per watt and is projected to fall even further. With major automobile and technology companies getting in on developing autonomous vehicles powered by renewable energy, we could see driverless cars on the street within the next 5-10 years. If this new economic era is powered by renewable energy sources, we could finally see global green-house gas emissions decreasing in the next few decades and reverse climate change (hopefully).

Buildings consume 40% of the world’s energy and are, consequently, the largest contributors to global warming. However, they also represent the greatest potential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The future of commercial and residential buildings in this new digital economic environment would likely see buildings serving as nodes, connecting the 3 Internets. Powered by renewable energy sources and implemented with smart controls, these buildings would have a net-zero energy consumption and would serve as hubs for autonomous transport and the communications internet. They would communicate with driverless vehicles and/or drones and serve as charging stations with available on-site energy storage. Continuous data flow and analytics would increase energy efficiency and improve building operation and communication in real time.

Those involved in Real Estate and Property Management might look at this concept of a smart building and mistakenly assume this is unrealistic and not achievable in the near future, especially in North America. However, Rifkin pointed to the example of Germany, where renewable energy fulfils 35% of the country’s total energy use and the plan is to get to 80% by 2050. This has resulted in buildings generating their own electricity through renewable energy sources and sharing the excess electricity on the grid with others. This is an impressive feat and provides a compelling argument to those who have doubts about renewable energy. However, given that the adoption of green technologies and smart buildings in North American is still in its infant stage, there is a long road ahead to achieve true energy sustainability that positively impacts our ecosystem. The Inspired Future event provided interesting food for thought for all the players in the Green energy, Real Estate and sustainability markets on how we need to re-prioritize our goals to work towards a common cause: reducing greenhouse gas emissions and preventing climate change.

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