Carbon natural school

courtesy : Carbon natural school

Considering Invested Resources

Quantifying carbon opens the door to recognizing the significant contributions of building reuse and adaption. The carbon associated with building construction is responsible for 11% of our annual global carbon emission. The carbon required to build a new building can be equivalent to the carbon needed to run the building for ten to twenty years, or more. Revitalizing existing buildings is the most sustainable and climate-positive approach.  The impact is significant when we think of not just one building but the huge number of existing buildings. In the state of Maryland, for example, there are 141.9 million square feet of existing school facilities. What is already built is an invested resource. For example, if we were to demolish and replace all the school facilities in Maryland, that 141.9 million square feet would represent roughly 3.8 million metric tons of carbon or the emissions equivalent of consuming 422 million gallons of gasoline.  It’s important to try to avoid those impacts while also designing school renovations that create high-quality educational environments and reinforce connections with communities.

#Considering Invested Resources

Operational Carbon

There are two categories of carbon impacts associated with buildings: operational and embodied carbon. Operational carbon is associated with keeping a building running. It is the amount of carbon required to create the energy to heat, cool, power, and keep the lights on in buildings. Buildings with renewable energy are much lower in operational carbon than buildings that run on fossil fuels. Buildings with low energy use intensities require less operational carbon than high intensity energy use. Operational carbon is ongoing. Every day that we use a building we are adding to the overall carbon footprint of that building. Reducing operational carbon remains critically important.

Best practices to reduce operational carbon include:

1. Improve the building envelope performance
2. Restore or enhance traditional passive design features
3. Upgrade energy-consuming equipment (HVAC, lights, appliances)
4. Eliminate natural gas and fossil fuels
5. Install on-site renewables
6. Source clean energy

#operational and embodied carbon

Embodied Carbon

Embodied carbon, on the other hand, is a finite investment made at a fixed point in time. It takes a lot carbon to manufacture all the materials in our buildings, transport them to the site, and construct the buildings themselves. New construction requires a large carbon investment while subsequent renovations and modifications have much smaller carbon impacts. The walls, floors, and foundations of a building typically account for more than 50% of the total embodied carbon. Simply reusing these structural components of an existing building can avoid a huge amount of carbon as compared to new construction.

#Embodied carbon

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