Whole Buildings

The report advocates for a "whole buildings" approach, treating buildings as integrated systems rather than collections of components. It highlights the significant energy and environmental impact of the US buildings sector and argues that federal R&D is currently too fragmented and underfunded to realize the potential benefits of systems integration. The author proposes five policy criteria: establishing the whole building framework as a cornerstone of policy, funding collaborative R&D, supporting verification efforts, embracing education, and stimulating market demand.

• Buildings have a massive impact on US resource use and emissions, accounting for 36% of the nation's direct energy resources and 66% of its electricity consumption. They are responsible for 35% of US carbon emissions, 47% of SO2 emissions, and 22% of Nitrogen Oxides.
• The "whole buildings" concept treats a building as an integrated system of interacting components, incorporating siting, design, material selection, and long-term operation, while considering the full life cycle from material production to demolition.
• Improving building quality through integrated design can yield economic returns far exceeding energy savings by increasing occupant productivity and reducing absenteeism. For example, a 10% improvement in employee productivity over a 40-year building life can be worth four times the entire first cost of the building.
• Technical potential for energy savings in buildings is high; achieving 50% savings in new buildings and 20% in existing buildings could save up to 10 quads of energy by 2010, reducing building energy consumption by one-third.
• Federal funding for building R&D is fragmented and insufficient for integrated systems. In fiscal year 1998, the US government spent approximately $476 million on building R&D, but funding for specific "whole buildings" programs is described as insignificant.
• The US construction industry significantly under-invests in R&D compared to other sectors and international competitors; US contractors spend 0.00125% of sales on research, while Japanese contractors spend over 300 times that amount.
• A "whole building" approach prioritizes the use of thermal energy from solar resources first, followed by solar electricity, to maximize energy and cost savings.
• Market barriers, such as a lack of verifiable information, mixed price signals between owners and tenants, and low energy prices, impede the adoption of energy-saving building technologies.

APA

Aitken, D. W. (1998). Whole Buildings. Union of Concerned Scientists. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/acf8qiehd.pdf

Chicago

Aitken, Donald W. Whole Buildings. Union of Concerned Scientists, 1998. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/acf8qiehd.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Aitken |first1=Donald W. |title=Whole Buildings |publisher=Union of Concerned Scientists |date=October 1998 |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/acf8qiehd.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{aitken1998whole, author = {Aitken, Donald W.}, title = {{Whole Buildings}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {1998}, month = oct, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/acf8qiehd.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }