Mapping Carbon Emissions in Construction

 (Flickr photo of  The Seattle Public Library built by Hoffman Construction by nick88 )

Host intro: This month, Northwest Public Radio looks at green building practices in a special on-air and online series.  We know that the construction industry is a major contributor to carbon emissions.  However the  industry is just beginning to tally the energy and emissions that go into construction materials and assembly. Correspondent, Mary Hawkins spoke with architect, Sadie Martin, about her study called “Constructing a Carbon Conscienceness”.

Listen to the feature here.

Mary Hawkins:  Sadie Martin, a recent graduate of the WSU masters in architecture program, is passionate about  “CO2”  reduction in her field of building design and construction. She recently set out to help map the carbon footprint of the construction industry – by studying one site in Bothell, Washington: the Cascadia Community College ’s Center for Global Learning and Arts.

(photo: Cascadia's new, Gold LEED-certified Center for Global Learning and Arts).

Her goal is to help identify all of the carbon emissions or “embodied carbon” in the building process. Embodied carbon is the total energy consumed during extraction, transportation, manufacturing and fabrication of a product – in this case, a building. 

Sadie Martin: If we can track materials better from the raw extraction point to the construction site, we’ll have a much better idea of exactly what the impact of that material is.

Hawkins:  Last summer, Sadie Martin set out to track one construction material at one job site: concrete. Cement, the key ingredient in concrete, is one of the most energy intensive of all industrial manufacturing processes, and a significant industrial polluter.

Her work technique was very simple.

Martin: I showed up on the job site and I had a stopwatch and I timed how long it took for mixers to deliver a load and how many loads we’d get in a day and then observed what other kind of equipment was running at the same time that the concrete was being delivered.

Hawkins: Martin and another Hoffman Construction  intern tallied hundreds of hours of travel and idle time for a number of vehicles, including large diesel pump trucks.  Each pump truck or mixer consumes about 6 gallons of diesel each hour, which means 133 pounds of CO2 emissions. The total of what they call “delivery emissions” for concrete on that job is estimated at 180 metric tons of CO2.  According to one carbon calculator, it would take a 45 acre forest one year to absorb that much CO2.

That’s a 45 acre forest to offset just the jobsite delivery emissions of concrete for ONE project.

To minimize transportation emissions, the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED certification criteria specifies a 500 mile radius for materials to be determined as “sustainable”. Sadie Martin’s building site in Bothell performed pretty well with one notable exception…

Martin: We had ingredients coming from south Seattle, Everett, Arlington, and then…China. (laughs)

Hawkins: And so you had things that were from 50 miles away and some things that were from several thousand miles away?

Martin: Yes.

Hawkins: I don’t know how many miles away China is...?

Martin: It’s about 5,000, I approximated.

Hawkins: How did you know it was from China?

Martin: Because I called the concrete manufacturer and I asked them where they were getting their cement. He told me from China…and so I did some research on major cement processing locations in China and I had to make an assumption about the distance it was going… but…when it’s being processed over there and you have no information exactly where or who’s doing it, you don’t know where the lime is coming from or the other ingredients that you need to make the cement. …that’s a whole ‘nother addition to the embodied carbon of concrete.

There’s a sense of depression late at night when I’m calculating these numbers. But one of the things that I had to keep telling myself is that our industry will always contribute to the atmospheric CO2. But being in an industry with so much control over our natural resources, we have the opportunity to become the leaders in the fight against climate change.

Hawkins: Architect Sadie Martin works for Miller Hull in Seattle.
Using local materials in construction not only reduces carbon emissions, it could strengthen our strapped regional economy. Other carbon reduction solutions include: providing offsetting fees, requiring low-carbon materials, minimizing the footprint of buildings, making equipment operations more efficient and creating aggressive legislation regarding carbon emissions.

For more information about CO2 and the construction industry, go to “Our Northwest” at N-W-P-R dot org.  For Northwest Public Radio, I’m Mary Hawkins.

Comments

[Property]

Excellent read, I just passed this onto a colleague who was doing a little research on that. And he actually bought me lunch because I found it for him smile So let me rephrase that.

[Betonschade herstel]

That article is so interesting and makes a very nice image in my mind. That is very much helpful in nominating the board of directors.

[Study in UK]

It looks beautiful in the first pic, where the library is well-lit

[web development company dubai]

so maybe we can look forward to greener buildings now.

[lawn & garden equipment]

We must do something about carbon emissions.

James Ferris

[rough Terrain forklifts]

Cement is the key ingredient in concrete, is one of the most energy intensive of all industrial manufacturing processes, and a significant industrial polluter.

Keith

[Air Jordans]

It's so lucky for me to find your blog! I am very glad, and welcome you visit mine.

[cheap kamagra]

this blog is very interesting! thanks for the information! I think we should take good care of our natural resources as they are limited and very important for our welfare! A CHANGE FOR ALL FIGHTS! Greetings!

[Gucci Shoes]

Fantastic and inspirational posting. I love your blog and judging by the commentary you have a great list of followers. Will bookmark this site and keep updated..cheers!

[colon cleanse]

It is important to maintain good eating habits and do exercises routinely, not only because it makes us physically see more slender and attractive, but because our internal organs work better and feel very well what will be reflected in the appearance and obtain a total welfare.

[Gehoorbescherming muzikanten]

I like this concept. I visited your blog for the first time and just been your fan. Keep posting as I am gonna come to read it everyday.

[Betonreparatie bedrijf]

This blog is very nice and informative. it is pretty hard task but your post and experience serve and teach me how to prepare for the vintage designe I make.
Betonreparatie is er in vele vormen. ECO REMAIN repareert beton op vele manieren. Betonreparatie via kathodische bescherming is een van onze specialiteiten. Voor meer informatie over betonreparatie, neem dan contact met ons op.

[RamonGustav]

Have you been turned down by other lenders?

[truck rental]

So sad...20 years ago I really believed that we won't ever say the word "carbon" again, and all cars income and outcome systems will be other..but..no :(

[Buy_Viagra]

I think you are not quite right and you should still studying the matter.

[Passing Urine Drug Test]

Thanks for subj. Added to favorites.

[buy viagra]

Since I built my house I became interested in the structures, buildings and as it was developing all housing project. In reality, the construction of buildings or house in a very apasioante office that you can only fully appreciate when everything is finished

[Music_master]

Do you desire a house but you lack enough cash to acquire it?

[Hot_cialis]

cialis soft generic cialis soft order cialis soft tab description cialis soft tab india cialis soft tablets cialis soft tabs 10 mg cialis soft tabs bestseller cialis soft tabs online cialis soft top cialis softabs cialis softabs generic cialis softtab how works cialis softtabs online

[cheap nike]

Very very helpful article content. Thank you for sharing the article . It let me know something I didn't know .You write well, I have bookmarked, I will wander back

[Nike Sb Dunks]

Thank you for sharing the article . It let me know something I didn't know .I hope everyone here can find his or her dream ,then make it come true !

[RX-order]

cialis soft generic cialis soft order cialis soft tab description cialis soft tab india cialis soft tablets cialis soft tabs 10 mg cialis soft tabs bestseller cialis soft tabs online cialis soft top cialis softabs cialis softabs generic cialis softtab how works cialis softtabs online

[Antivirus_man]

I liked your site, you are very interesting to write. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

[logo desgin]

I was searching and found your site. I never knew about this issue. Thanks for putting this post together. Very valuable for your readers.

[JOBS_frend]

Hi, I congratulate you on Merry Christmas!