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Over the past decade, reducing operational carbon impacts has become a common practice in the building industry—but what about its newly-emerging sibling, embodied carbon? Between now and 2050, embodied carbon will comprise at least 50% of greenhouse gas emissions incurred by new construction. Recognizing the urgency of climate action, this session will explore how four design firms go beyond research and adapt existing life cycle assessment (LCA) tools to translate data into action.

This session will describe the critical role of embodied carbon in the climate change puzzle, as well as reveal its potential to become a catalyst for the evolution of the building industry. Presenting firms will describe their respective internal approaches to adapting LCA tools to match the pace of design, as well as describe lessons learned through cross-firm collaboration in their local hub of the Carbon Leadership Forum (CLF). From data visualization to market engagement, speakers will share replicable workflows to understand embodied carbon and empower carbon-smart design decisions.

Join Mithun building performance analyst Claire McConnell for “Beyond Models: Embodied Carbon Accounting in Action” to learn how presenting firms apply LCA in practice, critically review data, package and communicate the results to project teams and ultimately improve our designs’ climate performance. Whether attendees are new to LCA, or are already involved in their own research, this session will provide a roadmap for climate action through a wide range of paths. The hope is to inspire practitioners of all disciplines and backgrounds to leverage LCA tools, step up to the challenge of embodied carbon, and enable collective action towards wide-spread implementation of Net-Zero Carbon building.

Claire’s co-presenters include Miller Hull Partnership research and design staff Alex Ianchenko, GGLO Design carbon research specialist Jessie Templeton and LMN Architects architect Justin Schwartzhoff.

Date Posted: 09.22.2021