Preface. One reason Paris is such a lovely city is that it was built to human scale, with buildings of five stories or less, because that was about as high as people were willing to climb, so not surprisingly, rents were highest on the first floor.  This post discusses tall buildings in light of the coming energy crisis. We really shouldn’t be building any more of them…

When I spent two weeks in New York City I remember feeling oppressed and anxious by the constant darkness, depressed by the coal stained concrete and metal buildings unrelieved by green parks, accompanied by an angry soundtrack of horns from desperate motorists trapped in an endless traffic jam.

Tall buildings won’t last long without fossil fuels. In North Korea, where the electricity is seldom on, the poor live in the penthouses and climb dozens of flights of stairs to get there.

Alice Friedemann  www.energyskeptic.com  Author of Life After Fossil Fuels: A Reality Check on Alternative Energy; When Trucks Stop Running: Energy and the Future of Transportation”, Barriers to Making Algal Biofuels, & “Crunch! Whole Grain Artisan Chips and Crackers”.  Women in ecology  Podcasts: WGBH, Jore, Planet: Critical, Crazy Town, Collapse Chronicles, Derrick Jensen, Practical Prepping, Kunstler 253 &278, Peak Prosperity,  Index of best energyskeptic posts

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Why only the poorest North Koreans live on the higher floors of skyscrapers (Anderson 2022, An et al 2022)

For those lucky enough to live in Pyongyang, which has power some of the time,  you’d better catch the elevator from 6 to 8 am, or 5 to 7 pm in the evening, or you’ll need to walk up the stairs, lugging jugs of water since there’s no electricity to pump water either.

North Korea has finished construction of an 80-story residential skyscraper complete with penthouses in the capital of Pyongyang, but only some of the least fortunate in the country reportedly choose to live on the top floors of the country’s high-rise apartments.

Defectors have said this is due a lack of working elevators, electric outages, lack of water, and poor safety due to the low quality of the buildings. Many of the new buildings going up lack windows, working water taps and more.

Two North Korean officials acknowledged to Reuters that the upper levels of the high-rises in one of Kim’s recently opened pet construction projects, on Mirae Scientists Street, had few takers, because of the worries over elevators. “No one wants to risk having to climb for an hour,” one said.

High-rises should have never been built: most are extremely energy inefficient

Dark interiors necessitate vast arrays of bright lighting, while hundreds of computers whir 24 hours, consumes a great deal of electricity. Which is why vertical farming is one of the dumbest ideas I’ve ever encountered.

Nor are buildings likely to be made more energy efficient. It cost $550 million to renovate the Empire State Building by replacing 6,500 windows, three million light bulbs and 67 elevators with more energy efficient ones. It will cost far more for modern glass-clad skyscrapers that began in the 1970s, one of the worst with one of the worst Donald Trump’s 58-story skyscraper on 5th avenue (Triomphe 2019).

Electricity use per square meter of floor area in tall buildings was nearly 2.5 times greater in 20+ story high-rise office buildings than those 6 stories high or less. The gas use for heating was about 40% more for tall buildings, and the total carbon emissions from these buildings was twice as high. It takes a lot of air conditioning to keep a glass tower cool in summer. Glass skyscrapers are the worst offenders. Large windows may provide magnificent views but they leak heat in cold weather; even triple glazed windows lose far more heat than a well-insulated brick wall. In hot weather, glass windows turn building interiors into ovens, and temperatures rise even further with the heat from people and computers in an office. It was only the development of modern air-conditioning that made the interior of glass buildings tolerable in summer, but carbon emissions from air-conditioned offices are about 60% higher than offices with natural or mechanical ventilation (Plester 2019).

Lifespan of tall buildings (Warner 2021)

As oil declines, it will increasingly be devoted to agriculture, not maintaining empty buildings, so as earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, and sheer lack of maintenance take buildings down, they won’t be rebuilt. Pollution and climate hazards like storms, harsh sunlight, heavy rainfall and snow take a toll on the structure over the years. Extreme winter weather conditions expose buildings and structures to conditions not typically encountered during the remainder of the year and can create maintenance challenges.

Here are some estimates of building longevity:

Warner K (2021) What is the lifespan of a commercial building? Shingobee.com
http://www.shingobee.com/About-Us/News/entryid/191/what-is-the-lifespan-of-a-commercial-building-ask-the-expert

All structures need regular upkeep, maintenance, and renovation to keep their foundations strong. The lifespan of a commercial building on average ranges from 50 to 60 years and can go further depending on the preservation techniques employed by the owner and the way the building is utilized. The first 1-15 years the building has a limited maintenance budget. In years 16-30, the building needs complete overhauling to replace the deteriorating systems. From 31-49 years, more expensive asset renewal projects are undertaken. At 50 years, the building, which is now too old, comes back to the second stage of renovation to keep standing for another 10-15 years. Every structure is unique

Moisture in the internal air can lead to the growth of mold and fungi that can weaken the foundations of the building. Extreme humidity in the closed environment can lead to corrosion and condensation that may cause roof leaks and cracks in the walls. Faulty plumbing can lead to seepage and moisture laden walls. Excessive heat in the building can also have its share of consequences such as swelling, distortion, cracking of materials and components. Sometimes, a faulty design of the structure at the time of construction can cause disasters such as inadequate room for expansion and contraction, poor jointing, neglected weathering, the absence of proper drainage, and more.

All structures need regular upkeep, maintenance, and renovation to keep their foundations strong. The lifespan of a commercial building on average ranges from 50 to 60 years and can go further depending on the preservation techniques employed by the owner and the way the building is utilized. The first 1-15 years the building has a limited maintenance budget. In years 16-30, the building needs complete overhauling to replace the deteriorating systems. From 31-49 years, more expensive asset renewal projects are undertaken. At 50 years, the building, which is now too old, comes back to the second stage of renovation to keep standing for another 10-15 years.

There are a substantial number of installations in a building including mechanical and electrical, the HVAC systems, elevators, firefighting equipment, garbage disposal, sewage disposal, water pipes, and a plethora of other machines. These systems embedded in the structure are not meant to last a lifetime. They survive to their full capacity of 5-7 years and then start giving problems like cracks in pipes, breakage of wires, and more. These installations need to be repaired and replaced after a few years to increase the life expectancy of the commercial property.

BCI construction (2021) Which factors determine the lifespan of a building?

The strength and reinforcement of the structure will play a major role in the likelihood that major repairs will be necessary in 30, 50, or 100 years. Other factors such as the quality of construction also contribute to the building’s longevity. In general, the lifespan of a building based on building materials ranges anywhere from 30 to 50 years to hundreds of years in structures like cathedrals, churches, and government buildings. Of course, the skill of the tradesmen and construction crew developing the structure and the techniques used all play vital roles. The lifespan of a commercial building is typically 50 to 60 years without the need for major repairs or renovations. Most buildings have a clear function when they are constructed and are often not suited for significant adaptation.

Razorback Concrete Company (2020) What is the lifespan of concrete? For large scale projects like buildings, concrete should last up to 100 years if it’s properly cared for. Concrete projects that experience more wear-and-tear like sidewalks and driveways have an expected lifespan of about half that—50 years.

Above all, concrete doesn’t last forever as shown in the posts here.

The future of high rises in San Francisco (Arroyo 2022)

Before the covid-19 pandemic, office work downtown was responsible for a whopping 72% of San Francisco’s gross domestic product, a place where few people live. But only 26% of office workers have returned, and a quarter of office space is empty and unrented. Which in turn has reduced BART train ridership catastrophically, driven local restaurants, hotels, entertainment, retail, and other downtown stores out of business, which in turn drives down tourism, another major source of revenue for the city. If this continues, building values will drop, reducing the tax revenues and sales taxes the city depends on. Studies have shown that nationwide it isn’t likely businesses across the country will be able to get more their employees to come more than half a week. In San Francisco it’s more like 33 to 40% who might return. Adding to the problem are the record-breaking numbers of homeless, car break-ins, and drug users, making returning workers feel unsafe.

Will tall buildings be of any use in the future?

I imagine that the few people who manage to survive in urban landscapes despite their low carrying capacity will have done so by stockpiling years of food in the upper floors of tall buildings and collecting rainfall for storage tanks on the upper floors.  People will also live in high rises, despite having to trudge up stairs, because they are far easier to defend than single-family homes, as a friend who grew up in Mexico told me. He said that only the poor lived in single family homes since they were so easy to break into.

References

An S et al (2022) Penthouses in North Korea are mainly for the unfortunate few. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/penthouses-north-korea-are-mainly-unfortunate-few-2022-04-15/