THE BASICS:

WHAT IS EMBODIED CARBON?

When most people think about the carbon footprint of a building, they think about how much electricity or heat a building uses. The greenhouse gases generated to produce electricity or heat are known as operational carbon emissions. For the last 16 years, the HERS rating industry has focused on reducing operational emissions. (And we’ve done a great job!) However, the emissions from the extraction, transportation to the facotry and the manufacturing of the building materials themselves are known as embodied carbon emissions or “cradle to gate” emissions...

CLICK HERE to read more about what embodied carbon is, why it matters, and what needs to happen next.

THE DETAILS:

FOR THE BUILDING SCIENCE ENTHUSIASTS AMONG US!

CLICK HERE for all of the details about how we think this might work (AKA: everything including the carbon sink!)

TAKE ACTION:

STEP ONE: WATCH OUR VIDEO (1 RESNET PDH - Register for Quiz)

STEP TWO: SIGN THE LETTER OF SUPPORT

• Read the Letter of Support for the Embodied Carbon Initiative
  • Sign the Letter of Support
  • See Who Else has Signed

STEP THREE: SHARE WITH YOUR NETWORK

• NEHERS Embodied Carbon Position Paper
• NEHERS Embodied Carbon Built Environment Checklist

RESOURCES:

EMBODIED CARBON CALCULATORS AND LIFE CYCLE ANALYSIS TOOLS

GLOSSARY

ORGANIZATIONS

VIDEOS AND PODCASTS

SPECIAL THANKS:

• Chris Magwood –RMI and Builders for Climate Action (the BEAM Tool)
• Jacob Deva Racusin – New Frameworks
• Andrew Frederick – Croft House
• Stacy Smedley –Building Transparency (the EC3 Tool)
• Erik Bowden –Builders for Climate Action
• Jacob Kamen – Ekotrope
• David Goldstein – NRDC and RESNET Standards Management Board
• Bill Spohn – TruTech Tools and RESTalk Podcast Host