AE Today

In the second installment of our Climate Change Conversations, Climate Science & Modelling Specialist, Jeremy Fyke, explores what is causing current climate change, and how this change could accelerate in the future.

Recognizing the risks of climate change to our natural and built environment, Associated Engineering now offers expertise in assessing climate change impacts on all our projects. Climate Science & Modelling Specialist, Jeremy Fyke, answers some Frequently Asked Questions on climate change.

The climate is changing. World leaders have, for the most part, accepted this fact and are committed to working together to stem rising global temperatures. In November 2015, 195 countries, including Canada, signed the Paris Agreement, pledging to cut emissions by 30% from 2005 levels by the year 2030.

Recent extreme floods and associated infrastructure and environmental damage have demonstrated the need to consider the impact of the changing climate on all our projects. At Associated, during the design and construction of roadways and associated infrastructure, we consider two strategies: adaptation and mitigation.

Most projects, especially multi-discipline projects, involve a number of stakeholders, including the client with its departments and user groups, community groups, authorities having jurisdiction, the general public, and of course the design team. On projects large or small, there is generally a lot of background information to review: planning documents, project definition reports, programming documents, user requirements, reports, and site information, for example.

Building owners and tenants tend to treat the expense of energy improvements for a new building or a renovation as a cost rather than an investment. The term cost is associated with a onetime expense with no consideration of future recovery, while an investment would consider the future benefit and potential financial return. By reframing the evaluation, energy efficiency can be proven to be a good investment.