DESIGN
Architecture
COP26
Strategies for decarbonization and impact on the built environment BY JOHANNA COLLINS
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There is a direct relationship between carbon dioxide emissions and global warming. It is of great importance therefore to get carbon dioxide emissions to zero. The real estate industry makes up 49% of global carbon emissions when accounting for construction and building performance. Most carbon-reduction efforts in the building sector have focused on operational carbon — the carbon dioxide emitted when a building or systems are in operation — so that properties consume as little energy as possible. And while these efforts have advanced the industry's goal of getting buildings closer to net zero operationally, we can no longer ignore that building materials account for half of a building's total lifetime carbon footprint.
document product global-warming potential.
At COP26 – UN Climate Change Conference, Gensler, a global architecture, design and planning firm, with offices in Phoenix, announced its green-materials initiative – a move that has the larger goal of shifting the real estate value chain towards net zero carbon emissions. This year marked the first time the annual conference had a showcase on buildings; and only the second year where an entire day was dedicated to discussions on the built environment and real estate development.
REPOSITIONING – STRATEGIES AT SOUTH MOUNTAIN COMMUNITY COLLEGE (SMCC) – LIFE-SCIENCES/ PHYSICAL-SCIENCES (LS/ PS) PARTIAL RENOVATION AND NEW ADDITION While knowing that reusing an existing structure is an important first step in lowering carbon emissions associated with our work, we wanted to quantify the amount of carbon diverted from the atmosphere by preserving an existing structure. We were interested in studying the carbon footprint associated with each material, in the existing structure, as well as the new addition.
Enlai Hooi, the Copenhagen-based head of innovation at Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects, said, “An architect who creates just three typical buildings over their career will be responsible for carbon emissions equivalent to the lifetime emission of 162 typical Americans.” This illustrates the critical role and responsibility architects, engineers and anyone in the real estate and construction sector carry in combating climate change.
STRATEGIES FOR DECARBONIZATION IN BUILDINGS During a typical lifespan of a building 72% of carbon emissions are associated with operational carbon and 28% are associated with embodied carbon. This is the carbon emitted during the sourcing and production of a material and ending with the completion of construction. To lower this number, materials must be selected and specified by evaluating their life cycle and look at environmental product declarations (EPDs) for specific products or product categories, which
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We must also work with our clients and partners and strive to reuse whenever possible, right-size and build only as much as we need. By building only when we need to, at Gensler, we reduced 95% of embodied carbon emissions in 2020. By building only as much as we need to, by working with our clients and employing strategies to truly understand how they use their space, we achieved 60% of space savings that same year.
