Buildings Can Lead Environmental Preservation and Sustainability

Beth Haider, Skanska’s chief sustainability officer/ (photo credit: Howard Wechsler, Wex Photo)

NEW YORK CITY—“We can make a huge difference because when it comes to emissions, buildings are the bad boys on the block. They are worse than transportation. They are worse than industry. Unlike cars, buildings are a long-term investment. What we choose to build today will have an impact for generations,” said Beth Haider, chief sustainability officer at Skanska, a multinational construction company based in Sweden, and ranked the fifth largest in the world by Construction Global magazine.

The existing US residential and commercial building stock is about 250 billion square feet. In 15 years, about 50 billion square feet of it will be demolished, and 150 billion square feet will receive major renovations. Another 200 billion square feet will be added.