Buildings and Carbon

This course will focus on climate impacts associated with carbon emissions from the built environment. It will emphasize the importance of goal setting and taking actions to manage building-related carbon emissions throughout a building’s life cycle.

The course will begin with an exploration of the context of climate emissions in the built environment, covering topics such as the global carbon cycle, whole building life cycle analysis, operational carbon, embodied carbon and the impact of building materials and practices, carbon storage and buildings as carbon sinks, the “time value” of carbon, and a series of solutions from material selection to policy engagement for addressing the climate impact of the built environment. In particular, the course focuses on the topic of embodied carbon, including the framing of the built environment in the global carbon cycle and the role of carbon storage, life cycle assessment and the time value of carbon, strategies for reducing embodied carbon throughout a building’s design, workflow strategies for integrating embodied carbon analysis into the design process, and a survey of tools, databases, and other resources available to conduct embodied carbon analysis and make actionable decisions to reduce the embodied carbon footprint of the building.

Next, the course will explore applied strategies in the context of a design practice, covering topics such as goal setting and defined metrics, defining core questions framing carbon analysis, carbon accounting tools, and workflow in the design process.

Finally, the course will guide participants through a workshop and facilitated discussion in which key barriers to and opportunities for implementing carbon reduction strategies in participants’ practices are identified, discussed, prioritized, and formulated into an action list for participants to reference moving forward to actualize real carbon reduction in their work.

Background photo by Clark Van Der Beken on Unsplash