At the Carbon Leadership Forum we envision a transformed, decarbonized building industry—better buildings for a better planet—and this past month we’ve made some big steps towards that goal! A White House Fact Sheet (see below) listed several examples of our collective action network, industry initiatives, and partners. We’re busily hiring several new staff members. And we just returned from Greenbuild 2022 in San Francisco, our first in-person conference in almost three years! 

In addition to finally meeting many of our partners and volunteers in person at Greenbuild, we were excited that two CLF staff presented at Greenbuild. Allison Hyatt, Researcher, spoke at a session titled “The AIA-CLF Embodied Carbon Toolkit for Architects” on Wednesday, November 2nd. Megan Kalsman, Policy Researcher, joined a talented panel on “Local Policy Action Driving Embodied Carbon Reductions Across the US” on Thursday, November 3rd. 

In many Greenbuild 2022 panels and presentations, the topic of embodied carbon received prominent attention—a sharp increase from previous Greenbuilds, and a reflection of heightened focus throughout the building industry on reducing upfront carbon through building design and material selection, and the crucial role played by recycling, retrofits, and adaptive reuse.

Beyond doubt, the runaway attraction in the Greenbuild Expo Hall was the Building Transparency booth, shared by both CLF and the young, charismatic members of Girl Scout Troops 1477 and 1952 from Madison, Wisconsin who educated their many visitors about how to reduce the embodied carbon footprint of concrete! Have you seen their video?

Warm regards,

Meghan

The Carbon Leadership Forum Seeks Applicants for Several New Staff Positions

The Carbon Leadership Forum seeks applicants for several new staff positions

The Carbon Leadership Forum is hiring for several new positions that will support our mission to reduce embodied carbon reductions in the built environment, including for a new research initiative from the Department of Energy’s ARPA-E program, for which CLF will investigate the science and methods of carbon drawdown and storage, and develop a robust LCA framework and ecosystem of tools that can support the flow of data on novel materials into robust, comparative Whole Building Life Cycle Analysis (WBLCA) tools.

• Postdoctoral Scholar: Computational Methods for LCA Tools Development
• Buildings and Material Researcher (Research Engineer 2)
• Buildings and Material Researcher (Research Engineer 3)
• Buildings and Material Researcher (Research Engineer 4) 
• Research Coordinator 
• Postdoctoral Scholar: LCA Data analyst

Take a look at the details for all of our open and upcoming titles on our careers page.

Editor's Note: Jen is a recent addition to the Carbon Leadership Forum staff. Before joining the CLF, Jen worked for Sustainable Building Partners, a multi-disciplinary consulting firm in the DC-metro area supporting project’s in their green building certification, policy, and code compliance efforts.   

by Jen Wolf

I grew up always inspired by the built environment.  I drew too many homes and floor plans out of crayons as a child, took as many architectural and engineering-based classes I could in high school, and then graduated with a bachelors and masters in civil engineering.  I always thought I would be an architect or structural engineer, but ended up starting my career in the commercial construction industry.  I wanted to be on site and learn “how to build a building”; I wanted to engage with the trades to understand what it took to make design a reality.  After a few years laying the groundwork for my career I had the opportunity to work on a sustainable and high-performing high school project which launched my career as a green building consultant.

Take Action Now: Repost CLF's Story on LinkedIn!

The White House Fact Sheet issued on October 20 references several specific projects and initiatives of the Carbon Leadership Forum (CLF) and CLF partners, including the MEP2040 Commitment for building system design firms, SE2050 Commitment for structural engineering firms, and CLF Regional Hubs (local networks of building industry professionals collaborating to decarbonize projects and materials):

Biden-⁠Harris Administration Rallies States, Cities, and Companies to Boost Clean American Manufacturing -- White House “Buy Clean” Convening Spurs New Commitments to Reduce Industrial Emissions and Support Made in America Steel, Concrete, and More

"At a White House convening today, National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi and Council on Environmental Quality Chair Brenda Mallory will join state leaders to share knowledge and discuss opportunities to collaborate on expanding the purchase of lower-carbon materials made by American workers. Ahead of this convening, the Biden-Harris Administration is announcing a new set of public and private sector commitments aligned with President Biden’s Federal Buy Clean Initiative, which leverages the Federal Government’s power as the largest purchaser in the world to advance low-carbon construction materials across its procurement and funded infrastructure projects."

Time to Register for the December 8 Quarterly Forum!

As of the first week of November, 51 MEP firms have signed the Commitment, along with 24 additional organizations signalling their support, including architectural, construction, and structural engineering firms, and NGOs such as the AIA, Architecture 2030, and the Passive House Network. 

MEP 2040 signatories are publicly pledging their firms to decarbonize MEP systems, and commiting themselves and their firms to collective action, supported by transparent data, rigorous science, careful engineering, and thoughtful collaboration.

View recording of the September Quarterly Forum on the MEP 2040 website.

The 4th Quarterly Forum will be held on Thursday, December 8 at 8am PST. Please register in advance for this essential meeting. 

Register Here

For the fourth MEP2040 quarterly forum, we will be joined by policy-makers and analysts for a panel discussion on current and forthcoming initiatives related to holistic embodied carbon reductions, including the critical role of MEP systems. Our goal is to hear more about the work being done, what the obstacles and opportunities are, and how we can collaborate to support the development of integrated policy that helps us all achieve our decarbonization goals.

"It always seems impossible until it's done."
— Nelson Mandela

by Rahul Shendure, CEO of CarbonBuilt

CarbonBuilt is one of several companies exploring the frontier of how low we can go with embodied carbon in concrete. Our technology enables the production of ultra-low carbon concrete products, starting with concrete blocks (CMUs), that can profitably reduce embodied carbon by 70-100+% compared to conventional CMUs. 

Deploying now, we partner with concrete producers to retrofit existing plants in about six months with only a modest capital investment. We reduce their cost of raw materials by 10-30%, replacing cement with low-cost and widely-available commodity materials, most of which are the byproducts of other industrial processes that would otherwise be destined for a landfill. Local sourcing reduces the cost and emissions related to transport. Instead of natural gas-derived steam, we use waste biomass or DAC-derived CO2 to cure the concrete products. During curing, the CO2 is converted into a mineral, storing it permanently.