For decades, the focus of sustainable building has been to decrease the amount of energy that buildings use over their lifetimes for things like heating, cooling, lighting, and operating appliances. Building codes have required increasingly better-insulated buildings, manufacturers of heating and cooling equipment have improved the efficiency of their equipment (such as with highly efficient heat pumps), and lighting has become more efficient with the development of LEDs. There's also been a growing switch to renewable energy sources such as wind and solar. All of these changes reduce the amount of carbon released as a result of the energy used in the day-to-day running of buildings over their lifetime - known as their "operational" carbon emissions.
In recent years there has been an increasing interest in and acknowledgement of the importance of a building's "embodied" carbon - the emissions from harvesting, manufacturing and transporting the building materials used to construct it. Some materials, such as concrete, steel and aluminum, release a lot of carbon in their manufacture. Other materials, such as cellulose and timber, can actually store more carbon than is released in their manufacture. Architects can choose materials which have low or even negative carbon emissions and reduce the use of those with high carbon emissions.
Studies have shown that it can take 20 or more years for the cumulative operational carbon of a building to equal the carbon produced by its manufacture - its embodied carbon. Given the urgency to reduce our carbon emissions as soon as possible in order to reduce the catastrophic effects of climate change, it's become apparent that reducing new buildings' embodied carbon emissions is extremely important in addition to reducing their operational carbon emissions.
There are a growing number of resources available for estimating the embodied carbon of a building during the design process. One popular tool is the BEAM Estimator, a "pay what you can" calculator put out by the organization Builders for Climate Action. The BEAM Estimator can be accessed here: https://www.buildersforclimateaction.org/choice-to-contribute-to-beam-update.html.
And for a more in-depth explanation of the new emphasis on embodied carbon, here is a link to an article in Fine Homebuilding: https://www.finehomebuilding.com/project-guides/energy-retrofit/a-better-path-to-a-low-carbon-future
In recent years there has been an increasing interest in and acknowledgement of the importance of a building's "embodied" carbon - the emissions from harvesting, manufacturing and transporting the building materials used to construct it. Some materials, such as concrete, steel and aluminum, release a lot of carbon in their manufacture. Other materials, such as cellulose and timber, can actually store more carbon than is released in their manufacture. Architects can choose materials which have low or even negative carbon emissions and reduce the use of those with high carbon emissions.
Studies have shown that it can take 20 or more years for the cumulative operational carbon of a building to equal the carbon produced by its manufacture - its embodied carbon. Given the urgency to reduce our carbon emissions as soon as possible in order to reduce the catastrophic effects of climate change, it's become apparent that reducing new buildings' embodied carbon emissions is extremely important in addition to reducing their operational carbon emissions.
There are a growing number of resources available for estimating the embodied carbon of a building during the design process. One popular tool is the BEAM Estimator, a "pay what you can" calculator put out by the organization Builders for Climate Action. The BEAM Estimator can be accessed here: https://www.buildersforclimateaction.org/choice-to-contribute-to-beam-update.html.
And for a more in-depth explanation of the new emphasis on embodied carbon, here is a link to an article in Fine Homebuilding: https://www.finehomebuilding.com/project-guides/energy-retrofit/a-better-path-to-a-low-carbon-future
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