United Technologies Corp. Chairman George David will join other executives today in Paris to urge governments and industry to adopt building codes that will boost energy efficiency in buildings worldwide.
David, who retired last year after 14 years as UTC chief executive, remains chairman of the Hartford-based conglomerate that makes Otis elevators, Carrier heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems and other building components.
He will attend a forum in Paris that is expected to call on governments, building developers and others to cut energy use in buildings to slow global climate change.
“I’m going to really try to land hard,” David said. “There’s a lot of stuff that can be done now with financial paybacks today.”
Buildings account for 40 percent of the world’s energy use, emitting more carbon than do cars and other types of transportation, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development said in a report to be presented at the Paris forum.
David said the statistic may be surprising because cars are seen as the biggest polluters.
“We have to realize cars are a quarter of the problem,” he said. “But unlike cars where solutions are 10, 20 years in the future, the solution with buildings is now.”
David said he will press for energy efficiency codes for buildings similar to safety regulations that have been required for decades. The codes, which would define the maximum amount of acceptable energy consumption, could add 5 percent to the cost of buildings in the United States, he said.
The business council, an international organization of about 200 businesses led by CEOs to deal with business and environmental issues, said its research shows that energy use in buildings can be cut by 60 percent by 2050. (AP)
