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Embodied Carbon Reduction in Buildings: Case Studies in LCA
Iterative life cycle assessment (LCA) through the course of design offers a powerful method for vetting embodied carbon reduction strategies. This session will walk through key priorities and examples of how to put LCA into practice during design and procurement. First, we will consider target setting, building certifications, scoping considerations, and structural system selection during early design. Then we will walk through practical examples of assembly comparisons and whole building life cycle assessment (WBLCA) on vastly different building types and scopes including offices, data centers, multi-family, and commercial fit-outs. These diverse case studies will offer insight into how LCA can be leveraged for decision making towards deep carbon reduction.
This course is taught by Aurora Jensen Brightworks Sustainability.
Meet your instructor
Aurora is a Senior Technical Specialist and the Embodied Carbon Lead with Brightworks Sustainability in New York City with a focus on materials and carbon, and a part-time faculty member at the Parsons School of Design. With her work she seeks to engage multiple scales of social and environmental concerns—from microscale heat flows to macroscale supply chains—by linking passive, active, and materials design decisions to climate. She uses her experience in high performance energy modeling and whole building life cycle assessment (WBLCA) to drive down the operational and embodied carbon of projects. She sits on the ILFI Energy and Carbon TAG, and co-leads the NYC chapter of the Carbon Leadership Forum. Aurora received her Masters in Design Studies in Energy and Environment with distinction from the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University.
Background photo by Luke Chesser on Unsplash.
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