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Interesting article. Since the article focuses on Switzerland and I live there I have another angle to present that I find very interesting. In our local regio

Interesting article. Since the article focuses on Switzerland and I live there I have another angle to present that I find very interesting. In our local region one problem is that the 'city' is heavily concreted. There's a distinct lack of green in many areas. In the summer and in particular this year, but other heatwaves as well, this becomes punishing in the city: concrete absorbs the heat during the day and radiates it at night, making the city even hotter. See the sibling comment about whether the CO2 numbers make sense, but I also think with warming environs locally we're going to have to get a lot smarter about how we build to manage heat as well. There was a fascinating article on HN a while ago about the London Underground and the troubles they're having cooling it... The Swiss build a lot with concrete in their cities and there's going to be a corresponding difficulty of keeping them cool.

ouchjars 4y ago
Traditional masonry construction has the same results in terms of thermal mass. More so, if it's denser and thicker. With the right shading and ventilation it's useful for both temperature extremes. See vernacular architecture in warmer/more extreme climates, or what Federation Square in Melbourne achieves with concrete: https://blogs.unimelb.edu.au/sciencecommunication/2013/09/22/federation-square-a-thermal-labyrinth/ https://blogs.unimelb.edu.au/sciencecommunication/2013/09/22... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBWYe99ERqM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBWYe99ERqM Considering active heating/cooling as well as passive, the more thermal mass we have in buildings, the better they can act as thermal batteries for surplus renewable energy.