Buildings are where the majority people in modern societies spend most of their time, whether in homes, commercial buildings, industrial facilities or retail complexes. The design and construction of buildings require a large investment of time, money and other resources. Then they require additional resources for running costs and maintenance. Bad design can greatly increase energy consumption over the whole lifetime of the building. Fortunately, good building design can greatly reduce energy consumption during construction and ongoing throughout a building's life. - Description added by: David Lockie

Renewable and alternative energy sources are set to play an increasingly important role in providing the electricity, heat, cooling and fuels that society needs. There is a wide range of energy sources such as solar (both photovoltaic and solar thermal), wind, bio-fuels and biomass, hydro-electric, geothermal and heat pumps. - Description added by: David Lockie

Carbon is such a natural part of so many human activities that many different areas of policy making and decisions are now having to consider it. Planning, energy and economic policies are all being re-examined in many countries to reduce carbon emissions. - Description added by: David Lockie

Communities consist of homes, businesses and sometimes industrial concerns, with infrastructure like health care, transport, communications, government and utilities. Many decisions about low carbon need to be considered at the community level in order to ensure that ‘joined-up thinking’ is applied to the process. Click the picture to the right to explore our interactive community environment. - Description added by: David Lockie