Combating climate change: why don’t people talk about sustainable…

Combating climate change: why don’t people talk about sustainable architecture?

I understand vehicular pollution is one of the primary drivers of climate change, which is why our government is pushing hard for electric vehicles. It is also understandable why the government is promoting solar power plants.

What I don’t understand is why there is no push for sustainable architecture. Most buildings in Indian metros adopt designs suited for Nordic climates, completely covered in glass. Not only do they require an astonishingly high amount of energy for air conditioning, they are also unhealthy, as air conditioning does not support proper ventilation.

Just as the government is aggressively pushing people to abandon diesel cars in favor of electric ones, it should also penalize buildings with energy-inefficient architecture.

Interestingly, it’s not widely known that there are paints with an albedo of up to 0.9 (can reflect up to 90% of solar radiation). Every summer, my brother applies a locally available white paint on our roof, and it makes a huge difference. You can guess the albedo of our roof just by comparing it to the color of the barricade and our neighbor’s roof in the background.

I wonder why the government can’t make it mandatory for urban houses to adopt high-albedo paints. It would make a huge difference.

Any thoughts?