Learn the principles of carbon accounting and its application in design & construction.
This course introduces the process of carbon accounting. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is the tool used to quantify the carbon footprint and other environmental impacts of a material or assembly. Presenters define the basic terminology related to LCA as well as summarize the process of life cycle assessment. Overall, the course illustrates how the principles of carbon accounting can be applied to design and construction at all scales, using the breadth of data and tools available.
Presented by Virginia COTE with support from AIA Virginia’s Knowledge Community Grant program and the following sponsors:
Learn about the important role of procurement in facilitating your carbon reduction outcomes.
This course focuses on the role that contractors and builders can play in reducing the embodied carbon in their work. Speakers discuss opportunities for carbon reduction at multiple project stages, highlighting the importance of a collaborative design and project team (including client) for diverse construction practice types—including small design/build, mid-size local firm, and large international firm. They suggest strategies for incorporating embodied carbon reduction into everyday workflow—from the discrete (e.g. contracts) to the broad (workplace culture and commitments). Procurement is essential to the reduction of embodied carbon—ensuring what is specified for reduced carbon makes it into the project, among other things.
Presented by Virginia COTE with support from AIA Virginia’s Knowledge Community Grant program and the following sponsors:
Learn about the embodied carbon impact of interior products.
This course focuses on the impact of interior product selection on embodied carbon work with an overview of some specific product types that are typical to the interior scope. It includes an introduction to resources for interior product information—including embodied carbon impacts as well as materials health. The course also looks at strategies for lower-carbon interiors, including salvage and reuse, research, and goal-setting.
Presented by Virginia COTE with support from AIA Virginia’s Knowledge Community Grant program and the following sponsors:
Managing embodied carbon impacts? Don’t overlook your project’s MEPs.
Though mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) systems feature heavily in conversations about operational energy, they are an often-overlooked element in the embodied carbon conversation. Learn how MEP contributes to a project’s overall embodied carbon, including the impacts of systems of different scales and complexity, as well as the effects of MEP replacement cycles.
Presented by Virginia COTE with support from AIA Virginia’s Knowledge Community Grant program and the following sponsors:
Just how much-embodied carbon is your project’s structure accountable for? And what can be done to reduce the impacts?
Structure accounts for a significant portion of a project’s embodied carbon. In this course, a panel of structural engineers and researchers discusses the positives and negatives, with regard to embodied carbon, of using concrete, steel, and timber each as primary structural materials. Panelists share ways to reduce and measure the embodied carbon impacts of each structure material–-through material makeup and specification, material reduction, material sourcing, and reuse.
Presented by Virginia COTE with support from AIA Virginia’s Knowledge Community Grant program and the following sponsors:
Design your next façade system using embodied carbon strategies.
Envelopes are among the systems that have the largest embodied carbon impact on a building. Traditionally envelope systems and materials are chosen for aesthetics, cost, and operational energy, but embodied carbon is equally important. Learn how to apply embodied carbon strategies when designing your next façade system, including strategies for renovating existing buildings, insulation, and selecting cladding materials.
Presented by Virginia COTE with support from AIA Virginia’s Knowledge Community Grant program and the following sponsors:
Learn about using EPDs to reduce the embodied carbon impacts of a project.
Learn what environmental product declarations (EPDs) are—plus how to write them, how to read them, and how to they can be integrated into your work to reduce the embodied carbon impacts of a project. Get familiar with the Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator (EC3) tool, including its applications and the limitations posed by available EPDs. Learn what it takes to create an EPD—whether you’re a manufacturer or an advocate—and learn what to focus on when you’re deciphering EPDs that others have written. Get introduced to the concept of biogenic carbon and how biogenic carbon in EPDs can help you to select carbon-smart materials.
Presented by Virginia COTE with support from AIA Virginia’s Knowledge Community Grant program and the following sponsors:
Build and refine your literacy in embodied carbon.
This course features an expert panel of AEC practitioners and researchers who define the embodied carbon issue and key terms and concepts—including health and sustainability implications. They provide information on data resources and rating systems available to support and execute embodied carbon decisions during design, specification, and construction. The panel also discusses how information on the embodied carbon and environmental impacts of building materials and products can be incorporated into design decisions and influence project outcomes. They use case studies to illustrate different life cycle assessment (LCA) types, structural systems, and implementation of embodied carbon design decisions through construction.
Presented by Virginia COTE with support from AIA Virginia’s Knowledge Community Grant program and the following sponsors:
Are you a “carbon counter” in your firm? Holistically measuring the embodied carbon or CO2-equivalent emissions associated with a building’s materials is tricky — and vital to evaluating the highest-impact, most cost-effective solutions to reducing embodied carbon on projects. AIA Virginia’s Committee on the Environment (COTE) is looking for folks who are interested in sharing best practices, resources, suppliers, and tools.
The building sector is the single largest consumer of energy and producer of greenhouse gas emissions. The 2030 Challenge, adopted by the AIA, provides a path to reducing our sector’s negative impacts and reaching carbon neutral design as the standard practice. This series will inspire architects to meet the 2030 Challenge through design strategies, efficient technologies and systems, and applying renewable energy resources.
The design process is an important element in the creation of next-generation buildings that meet the 2030 Challenge targets. Explore the design processes to produce high-performance and carbon neutral buildings, including the Integrative Design Process (IDP). Then, hear collaborative strategies that can achieve low energy outcomes, and how these strategies can be used as a roadmap throughout the design process. In particular, we will examine defining core, early design decisions such as building form and orientation.
After that, join an interactive discussion about what can often be the biggest challenge making the business case for climate responsive design with your clients.
