My last two columns have, instead, reviewed the critical modern technologies shaping our 2010s and 2020s built environment. It’s time to return to some actual projects.

As we prepare to welcome a new decade, let’s take a look back at the key clean building technologies that began to emerge in our industry — and that may be critical to our health and wellbeing in the future.

During Climate Week in New York City in late September, while millions of schoolchildren marched in the streets in more than 1,000 cities to protest lack of action on climate breakdown, their leader, 16-year-old Greta Thunberg, was in New York telling adults to stop acting like children. 

The decarbonization of buildings is no longer an aspirational idea. The biggest cities and most progressive states in America, and in the world, have begun to finalize concrete plans to phase out fossil fuels in building systems and on the electricity grid. 

Although the private sector is the primary landscape for economic and cultural disruption, we are becoming less naïve about the role of governments, especially local governments, as catalysts for the needed changes.

Crazy weather has become the norm everywhere, which is part of the reason for the Montreal Protocol and the Kigali Amendment, under which nations have agreed to move toward natural, global-warming-friendly refrigerants. 

We may soon hear a great deal more about geothermal heating and cooling systems than ever before. For the people working in this part of our business, the ups and downs of the last decade can only be described as a roller coaster ride.

There are two good reasons readers should be asking if our drinking water is safe. The obvious one is the responsibility we share to create healthy communities for our families and ourselves.

The technology is used in projects all over the country for reduced energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions.

Advanced controls can provide a contemporary path to energy savings, better comfort and reduced carbon emissions.