Designing for Impact: Embodied Carbon and Climate Accountability
Learn more about the effort to reduce embodied carbon.
There is a lot going on in the world of sustainable design, planning, and construction these days. As we approach the 2030 deadline to reduce the world’s carbon footprint by 50%, set by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change at the Paris Agreement in 2015, the focus is changing. The effort to reduce the energy required to run buildings, known as operational carbon, has plateaued. About 2/3 of the reductions that can be achieved have been worked out, mostly with better building envelopes and mechanical systems. This is a considerable achievement, considering that more than 1/4 of the world’s carbon footprint comes from building operations. The remaining 1/3 of operational carbon emissions are more stubborn, difficult to reduce.
Now, the design and construction community is looking toward reducing this remaining stubborn 1/3 and lowering the carbon footprint of construction, known as embodied carbon. Lowering embodied carbon requires materials and construction techniques that use less fossil fuel and produce fewer greenhouse gases. As allied design professionals, we need to establish a competitive market that rewards manufacturers and contractors that can supply the lowest carbon materials and methods. Material scientists and building material manufacturers are exploring ways to reduce the energy used in extraction, manufacturing, transportation, and waste/recycling. Construction and maintenance equipment is going electric.
Source Left Chart: Simpson Gumpertz & Heger; Source Right Chart: Carbon Leadership Forum
This effort to reduce embodied carbon will call for the expertise of a larger circle of professionals, including landscape architects and planners, to create lower carbon sites and infrastructure. Decisions about paving materials – their heat reflectivity and carbon footprints – will be an important part of reaching this goal. Sequestering carbon through planting will be essential.
Source: The New Building Institute
As landscape architects and planners, we are committed to developing the new skills to join in this effort. The first is learning to create more out of less by designing the most compact hardscapes possible. The less area disturbed, the less construction required, the more carbon saved, and the more open space preserved. Second, we need to know the carbon footprints of all of our materials and how to design with the carbon-leanest products. Fortunately, Pathfinder software, developed by landscape architect Pamela Conrad, counts both the carbon saved by substituting lower carbon materials and the carbon sequestered through planting. This software displays a time horizon for when each project reaches the balancing point, when carbon sequestration exceeds carbon spent on construction, the Net Zero Carbon point for our projects. And third, US Green Building Council is changing the requirements of LEED v5 to include many aspects of site construction, including landscape operational and embodied carbon.
Project Example: Stead Park Recreation Center
The Stead Park Recreation Center, located in the lively Dupont Circle area of Washington, D.C., is a revitalized historic carriage house expanded to serve as a hub for community engagement and recreational activities. As the District’s first net-zero energy community center, it reflects the city’s strong dedication to environmental sustainability. MKSK was the Landscape Architect as part of a multidisciplinary team led by VMDO architects. Honoring the benefactor’s vision for Stead Park as a “playground for the children of Washington, D.C.”, the site features an accessible and inclusive playground, with two tiered play structures for group play, small children’s play, and a mounded rolling rubber surface. At the north end is a family area with swings for children of all ages, suspended from the building’s canopy, and a climbing wall. The center’s entry court features an overhead canopy with tiers of amphitheater seating on both sides, an accessible entry ramp, a small bosque of trees, and a sensory/stormwater detention garden.
Source Graphics: MKSK / Stead Park Photos (top of article and above): © Thomas Holdsworth
Our Commitment to Sustainability
MKSK is committed to designing the change our world needs, discovering new solutions and building new ways of working. Every project is an opportunity to address climate change and loss of biodiversity in the design and planning of communities, landscapes, and cities. MKSK can assist in the design and planning of carbon sequestering landscapes, to help fulfill the environmental stewardship goals of our commercial, institutional, industrial, and public clients.
Learn more about MKSK’s LAB for Climate & Biodiversity Resilience.