Brain Food: Building Decarbonization: Going Beyond Net Zero Energy Buildings

Decarbonization (or reducing carbon) is an emerging trend in building design, with many private companies and government entities making commitments to reduce their carbon footprint. For those interested in reducing their footprint, the first step is to understand carbon inventory in organizations. For most organizations, their buildings and facilities are some of the major contributors to their carbon footprint.

To decarbonize buildings and facilities, several steps shall be implemented in carbon design. This presentation will discuss a step-by-step approach to the decarbonization of buildings. Presenters will explain the two primary carbon sources in buildings: embodied carbon and operational carbon. The optimization of both carbon sources will be critical to reducing overall carbon in buildings. The optimization in embodied carbon usually consists primarily in material selections and structural systems, while the optimization in operational carbon usually focuses on reducing energy usage. However, both can correlate each other. The presentation will also review different energy storage options and how to offset carbon usage in buildings. 

Learning objectives:

1. Understand Carbon and different scopes in carbon inventory and their relationship with buildings, humans and environment
2. Differentiate between embodied and operational carbon in building design as well as their impact to the environment
3. Implement optimization in building design to achieve low/zero carbon design
4. Review different strategies in renewable energy, energy storage and how to offset carbon usage in the building to eliminate negative environmental impacts

Approved for 1 AIA LU|HSW