不要睡在含有碳的床上

A message for those of you working to reduce the carbon impact of our buildings and infrastructure – don’t sleep on embodied carbon. For nearly forty years our answer to the call to address global climate change has been to reduce energy consumption, 也被称为可操作碳. 正如人们所期望的那样，专注了四十年, we have made great progress – examples include high performance facade design, 机械系统的响应能力和效率, LED照明, 可再生能源的可用性, 以及健全的能源规范. But even if every building achieved operational carbon neutrality, we would still miss our 1.5摄氏度目标. 为什么? 体现碳. 

体现碳 is the greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the manufacturing, 运输, 安装, 维修和最终处置建筑材料. 就像我喜欢说的，是碳被烤进了蛋糕. Consider this: most of the embodied carbon footprint of a building is front-loaded, 这意味着碳已经存在于大气中. 而操作性碳可以被认为是未来的碳, 从第一天的零开始，然后逐渐增加. With 2030 not far off, embodied carbon offers a tremendous opportunity to make an impact now. An honest accounting of a project’s impact requires a view of the Total Carbon Picture – operational as well as embodied. 

碳有时间价值, meaning there are different levels of impact based on when we make reductions. 例如, if you have two buildings that reduced carbon by 50 percent over a 10-year timespan, a building that makes those reductions up front via embodied carbon has a significantly lower climate change impact than a building that cuts operational carbon 5 percent a year over 10 years. In a perfect world a project does both, but those unicorns are few and far between. 任何经历过完整计划过程的人, design and then construction of a building knows that tradeoffs are unavoidable. What we can do is inform those decisions using the Total Carbon Picture approach so that the tradeoffs made best align with the project mission and its overall carbon performance.

城市正在意识到这一现实. 在纽约, 亚当斯市长最近发布了一项行政命令, EO23清洁施工, calling on projects built with city funds to utilize low carbon concrete, 制定环保产品声明, 使用低排放施工车辆和设备. While city-funded projects make up a small percentage of total construction in NYC, the importance of this executive order is its signal to the market that embodied carbon is a priority. Many other cities and states are following suit with either local laws or statewide procurement requirements. Even the federal government is getting into the mix with new guidelines requiring carbon disclosures for vendors over $7.在通货膨胀减少法案的范围内. 而这些信号是不协调的，通常是沿海的, there are enough of them to prompt action for those looking at our future market through the lens of competitive advantage or risk management.

在lovesport爱博体育, our 施工管理 business has already begun preparing for this future by measuring embodied carbon on projects whether requested by the client or not. 我们知道, 有效地解决问题, 我们必须首先了解它, 但是在我们的例子中, we must understand it across a variety of project types in a variety of different markets. That means we are measuring the embodied carbon footprint of concrete and steel, 从竞技场到摩天大楼, 从纽约到加利福尼亚.

If understanding the problem is step one, doing something about it is an obvious step two. In parallel to our project measurement effort is a large sub-contractor engagement initiative. We recognize that our sub-contractor partners are critical in any effort to decarbonize the construction material supply chain. They have a sensitivity to cost premiums and material lead times that is extremely valuable and through this initiative our relationships are evolving to include discussions around carbon performance that have never happened before. Our goal is to engage with every sub-contractor in the top 50 percent of carbon emissions in our supply chain.

在项目范围的另一端, success will require clients to engage builders earlier than in the past. 在一些项目上, we are hired for pre-construction services where we are a voice at the table during design. 传统上, 这个角色一直专注于成本和进度, but now we are beginning to roll carbon into the decision-making process. 随着建筑商, we are in the unique position to quickly understand the cost and schedule impact of low carbon decisions. 也, 通过我们与分包商的关系, we can bridge any gaps between the low carbon aspirations of the design and what the market is able to deliver.

解决复杂, multivariate problems has been a hallmark of our work for decades and decarbonizing construction will be no exception. 只要我们齐心协力，我们就能完成任务.