Embodied carbon is responsible for 11% of global GHG emissions and 28% of global building sector emissions.
Embodied carbon is the carbon emitted in the making of building products and construction. According to Architecture 2030, it is now estimated that embodied carbon will be responsible for almost half of new construction emissions between now and 2050. It is time to recognize the scale of this problem, but this is a tough fix.
It never used to be considered a big deal, because as recently as 20 years ago, one study found that "the energy of operation was between 83 to 94% of the 50-year life cycle energy use." Ten years ago, smart people were complaining that we should just focus on operating energy because "Scientific life-cycle energy analyses have repeatedly found that the energy used in the operation and maintenance of buildings dwarf the so-called “embodied” energy of the materials."
Between now and 2050, almost half of all global new construction CO2 emissions will be from embodied carbon: https://t.co/ks0LtU6xx4
Learn how to reduce the embodied carbon impact of your design through specifying #CarbonSmart materials: https://t.co/HuhX1vzIjI pic.twitter.com/e3NLBdOwX7
— Architecture 2030 (@Arch2030) September 21, 2018
But as buildings get more efficient, and their operating carbon emissions are reduced, the importance of embodied carbon goes up. As Architecture 2030 notes,
..as we trend toward zero operational emissions, the impact of embodied emissions becomes increasingly significant. It is therefore crucial to address embodied emissions now to disrupt our current emissions trend, and because the embodied emissions of a building are locked in once the building is constructed and cannot be taken back or reduced.
Most of the industry is still ignoring it, or actively dismissing and challenging it, but the issue is popping up on on the radar; Paula Melton of BuildingGreen wrote about it recently, and now the Architecture 2030 is making a really big deal about it. Beside their jazzy website that explains embodied carbon, they are promoting the Carbon Smart Materials Palette to help builders separate the high-impact from the carbon-smart materials.
There is interesting stuff in the palette, though I have a few serious bones to pick. They contort the English language to say that "Using less cement is the most impactful way to reduce the carbon footprint of concrete." Which isn't even true; The best way to reduce the carbon footprint of concrete is to use less concrete.
CarbonSmart Materials Palette/Screen capture
