The Challenge: Embodied Carbon Reduction in Buildings - No CE

The Challenge: Embodied Carbon Reduction in Buildings - No CE

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Beverly CraigBeverly CraigProgram Director at Massachusetts Clean Energy Center

Beverly Craig, LEED AP is a Program Manager at the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, a quasi-state government agency focused on economic development to supports Massachusetts' ambitious climate goals. Her policy work includes the Passive House Design Challenge, Embodied Carbon state policy, a grant program for MA concrete ready mix concrete climate transparency, and centralization of retrofit content in a Building Energy Exchange coming soon to Massachusetts. Ms. Craig comes from a background of directing energy efficiency retrofits and installing renewables in affordable housing portfolios and her work has included LEED Platinum deep retrofits on three income restricted properties and one new construction LEED Platinum multifamily development. Beverly holds a BA from the University of Southern California and an MPP from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

Meredith ElbaumMeredith ElbaumExecutive Director at Built Environment Plus

Meredith’s thesis at MIT, in 2003, recognized the disconnect between people and resources for a sustainable built environment. Since then, she pioneered the Director of Sustainable Design role at Sasaki, an international planning and design firm and then co-convened the first summit of Sustainable Design Leaders, now an ongoing professional network. She championed transparency as Interim Executive Director for the Health Product Declaration Collaborative and led the University of Missouri’s Climate Action Planning. She founded the USGBC MA Chapter and later, as Executive Director, transformed it to Built Environment Plus where, like a bridge, she makes connections, celebrates, educates and advocates, all to advance the green building industry. When she’s not trying to save the world you’ll find Meredith hiking, biking and swimming with her family.

Aurora JensenAurora JensenSenior Manager, Low Carbon Buildings at Carbon Leadership Forum

Aurora leads the Embodied Carbon team at Brightworks Sustainability and teaches Environmental Design at the Parsons School of Design. She is passionate about using design to address social and environmental crises by linking passive, active, and materials design decisions to climate -- ranging from electrification, to supply chain practices. In 2019 she led the LCAs on two USDA Wood Innovation Grants focused on evaluating the embodied carbon implications of mass timber construction. While at KieranTimberlake Architects, she helped author the LEEDv4.1 Guide for using the LCA tool, Tally, though she has used both Tally and OneClick LCA extensively in her project work. Aurora leads the Embodied Carbon Office Hours for Mass CEC and BE+'s Embodied Carbon Challenge and currently sits on the ILFI Energy and Carbon Technical Advisory Group.

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Description

We know that unlike operational carbon emissions, which can be reduced over time with building energy efficiency renovations and renewable energy, embodied carbon emissions from building materials have irreversibly entered the atmosphere as soon as a building is built. That means the upfront building material choices are critically impactful. And as new construction operations become more efficient, embodied carbon impacts become even more significant. On current trajectories, Architecture 2030 estimates embodied carbon will be responsible for almost half of total new construction emissions between 2020 and 2050. Our challenge is getting more people to consider embodied carbon at all phases of the building design and construction process.

In 2023, with a goal of accelerating the consideration of embodied carbon in the built environment, The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) engaged Built Environment Plus (BE+), a non-profit driving the sustainability of the built environment, to conduct an Embodied Carbon Reduction Challenge for new construction and major renovation projects in process or recently built in Massachusetts. Over the course of a year BE+ conducted multiple trainings, held office hours, facilitated LCA user groups and a communication platform. In addition, they provided participants with free access to Tally and OneClick LCA software programs to conduct whole building life cycle assessments.

Nearly 50 companies expressed interest in the challenge with cash prizes totalling $380,000. This session will showcase the winners selected by a panel of embodied carbon experts. The judging criteria were based on the project’s replicability and cost effectiveness, reduction in embodied carbon, and innovativeness. We’ll share lessons learned from across the entrants, innovative reduction strategies and trends common between them. Lastly, we’ll focus on the Challenge’s effectiveness as a tool for accelerating the reduction of embodied carbon in the building industry and thoughts on next steps to accelerate reduction even further.

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