How to Calculate the Wood Carbon Footprint of a Building

From an environmental perspective, it is widely known that buildings matter. Buildings consume nearly half the energy produced in the United States, use three-quarters of the electricity and account for nearly half of all carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. To engage in reducing a building’s carbon footprint in meaningful ways, you must first understand the methods used to measure the building material carbon footprint. What materials have the greatest impact, what tools are available to assess these materials, and what else do you need to evaluate in the specification process in order to enact real change. This podcast will address these and other questions by explaining the principal methods and tools that are used to assess carbon footprint in the context of building materials. We’ll talk about basic product terminology,  including life-cycle assessment (LCA), environmental product declarations (EPDs), carbon footprint, embodied carbon, and whole-building LCA (WBLCA) tools. Learning objectives: Explain what a carbon footprint is in the context of building materials. Describe the difference between life-cycle assessment (LCA), environmental product declaration (EPD), and whole-building LCA. Identify different whole-building LCA tools and how they can be used to develop a whole-building carbon footprint. Define what is and is not included in a wood EPD and why. Discuss the biogenic forest carbon cycle, and ways to track and assure forest sustainability in North America. 0.50 AIA LU/HSW Speaker: Andrew A. Hunt