New role of buildings as contributors to the infrastructure

Buildings can create a sense of community and add to the character of neighborhoods and cities. They can also support communities by either directly contributing to the infrastructure requirements of their neighbors, or by reducing their own demands and/or creating their own supply and treatment systems to create capacity for others in, for example, community energy and water systems. Buildings can also reduce wastage with its environmental and economic burdens by recapturing heat being lost through inefficient systems and by using municipal waste, especially bio-waste, as a fuel source. Building energy demands are a significant part of the challenge to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, save on resources, to cut emissions and mitigate the effects of climate change, while also representing opportunities to reduce the negative impacts on municipal infrastructure. This paper explains how buildings can mitigate such impacts while also acting as elements of infrastructure.