Glassy skyscrapers are bad for our planet. (Image via: The Conversation)

How to Stop Global Warming? No Glassy Skyscrapers

Yes, you read that right. When many people hear the phrase: “Global Warming”, the ideas that pop inside their head directly are fume, smoke, industrial waste, greenhouse effect, CFC, and many more.

However, there is a new Johnny-come-lately when it comes to global warming, the unexpected skyscrapers.

Who knew that skyscrapers also contribute in worsening global warming? Bill de Blasio – Mayor of New York City – knew it. He asserted that skyscrapers, made of glass and steel, should not be on Earth anymore. In other words, he stated that the building is not energy friendly; thus, it causes global warming.

Henrik Schoenefeldt also thought the same, based on his research on certain skyscrapers through ages and how they contribute to global warming on Earth: UN Secretariat Building (NYC), Crystal Palace (London), and Chicago Glass (Chicago).

In his findings, Schoenefeldt pointed out that glass used as one of the main materials for those skyscrapers was the key factor. The difficulty of maintaining temperature in glassy building – one of the main difficulties in building skyscrapers – did not stop those architects to build skyscrapers. The only way of maintaining temperature in a glassy building is by operating air conditioner in the whole building.

The effect was unstable temperature inside the building, and of course, global warming. The first architect to point out the problem was a Swiss engineer, La Corbusier, having criticized UN Building in NYC for being too unfriendly to New York’s climate. If Blasio’s idea comes true, then we can expect a eco-friendlier building with less glass.