We learned about it in middle school science class: the earth is comprised of carbon-based lifeforms. However, there is a name for the carbon that all living things embody: biogenic carbon.

Companies have several options for decarbonizing cement. About 20 percent of the reduction will come from improved operational measures such as energy efficiency. The rest of the reductions will come from technological innovation.

We have a carbon equivalent of an EUI. Now, we need to be more aware, explicit, and consistent regarding the units we are using for operational and embodied carbon.

Governments and legislative bodies are targeting net zero carbon emissions in building operation and construction. For architects, targeting net zero carbon means that analyzing projects’ environmental footprints is more important now than ever.

NEU: An ACI Center of Excellence for Carbon Neutral Concrete announced the appointment of Dean A. Frank, P.E., to serve as executive director of NEU.

Project teams are considering additional dimensions of carbon emissions resulting from a building project, including carbon emissions from water consumption, waste generation, occupant transportation, and the embodied carbon of materials used to build the project. 

Saint-Gobain has started up operations at its new electrical powerhouse on its flagship manufacturing campus in Worcester, Massachusetts, which is projected to reduce the site’s carbon dioxide emissions by 50%.

Trees are also a tremendous carbon sink and may contribute significantly to reducing the lifecycle carbon intensity of any site development. Better yet, we have the tools to quantify the carbon sequestration potential of trees.

The Cold-Formed Steel Engineers Institute will host a webinar on “The SE 2050 Commitment Program: Committing to Net-Zero Embodied Carbon” on Thursday, June 30, 2022 from 3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. EDT. The webinar is designed for architects, engineers, building officials and contractors. Participants are eligible for 1.5 PDHs.  

The Spring 2022 edition is jammed packed with technical articles describing the challenges of meeting increasingly stringent standards to support energy-efficient building construction.