Features
Buildings as a Solution? Exploring the Potential for Carbon-Storing Materials
Introducing a Summary Report from the Carbon Leadership Forum Authors The research team from the Carbon Leadership Forum at the University of Washington College of Built Environments: Julie Kriegh, PhD, AIA, Research Scientist, Carbon Leadership Forum, Department...
Introducing Meghan Lewis
Senior Researcher, Carbon Leadership Forum, University of Washington Meghan Lewis is a Senior Researcher at the Carbon Leadership Forum, where she leads research on procurement of low carbon materials and how public and private embodied carbon policy can support...
Introducing Stephanie Carlisle
Senior Researcher, Carbon Leadership Forum, University of Washington Stephanie Carlisle is an architect and environmental researcher whose work investigates the interaction between the natural and built environment, including embodied carbon, life cycle assessment...
Introducing Monica Huang
Research Engineer, Carbon Leadership Forum, University of Washington Monica Huang is a research engineer with experience in environmental life cycle assessment (LCA). Recent projects include the Wood Carbon Seminars, LCA of Katerra's Catalyst Building, LCA of...
Introducing Andrew Himes
Director of Collective Impact, Carbon Leadership Forum, University of Washington Andrew Himes is a program specialist working on collective impact initiatives to reduce embodied carbon emissions in new building construction. He is a partner in Carbon Innovations...
Looking Ahead to Embodied Carbon Policy Action in 2021
As the tools and expertise available to measure and reduce embodied carbon have expanded, the urgency has shifted necessarily away from basic understanding of the importance of embodied carbon to taking bold steps towards meaningful action and reductions. Policy is...
Learning About Forests, Carbon, and Wood
Wood Carbon Seminars: A CLF Learning Series by Monica Huang Research Engineer, Carbon Leadership Forum In April 2020 we launched the Wood Carbon Seminars, an 8-week webinar series that invited wood experts to answer the building industry’s common and critical...
Renee Cheng: Change Agency, Value Change
Amid the pandemic, economic crash, and social justice outcries awaits a collision that will reveal new questions for the design profession, writes the renowned educator, researcher, and current dean of the University of Washington's College of Built Environments....
Origins: Embodied Carbon Benchmark Study
"We sought to develop a database of existing building embodied carbon studies to discover trends and establish better ways to reduce uncertainties in data collection." By Stefanie Barrera Architectural Staff at SMR Architects, Seattle, WA The College of Built...
EC3 Tool Continues to Transform Markets for Building Materials
Nine months after its November introduction in Atlanta, GA at Greenbuild 2019, the Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator (EC3) tool is rapidly becoming an essential resource for architects and engineers aiming to design low-carbon buildings. The EC3 tool is a...
Decarbonization and Social Equity
Environmental Stewardship and Social Responsibility: We Can Do It All By Donald I. King FAIA Eco-consciousness and the selling of green design For many of us who have worked in low-income communities for decades, combining green building applications with a concern...
Introducing Anthony Hickling
Managing Director, Carbon Leadership Forum, University of Washington Anthony Hickling has experience in environmental and social sustainability as well as nonprofit management and fundraising. His foundations in sustainable building are informed by experience at...
Our Mission is Transformation
by Kate Simonen Founding Director of the Carbon Leadership Forum We’re living through an extraordinary moment in human history, as though the 1918 flu epidemic, the 1929 market crash, and the 1963 March on Washington during the civil rights era were to occur...
The Nehemiah Initiative
Building Beloved Community While Working to Decarbonize Buildings by Mark Jones with Andrew Himes The Central District is an historically Black neighborhood in Seattle. Its proximity to downtown Seattle, its affordable homes and tree-lined streets have made it an...
Building Green: Re-forming the Building Industry: Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
People from marginalized communities are shockingly underrepresented in the U.S. building industry. It’s past time to change that. by Paula MeltonOriginally published by BuildingGreen December 20, 2019 This is part one in a two-part series on equity,...
Structural Engineers Challenged to Eliminate Embodied Carbon by 2050
In 2019, the Carbon Leadership Forum issued the SE 2050 Challenge: "All structural engineers shall understand, reduce and ultimately eliminate embodied carbon in their projects by 2050.” Recognizing that structural materials account for at least 50% of the carbon...
The Delacorte Review: The Baller
Can attitude help save the planet? A frightened climate reporter meets an ex-basketball player with a serious game plan. By Audrey Gray Teammates surrounded Mazria in Los Angeles...bumping elbows instead of shaking hands as they gathered at the Intercontinental...
Impact-Driven, Carbon-Storing Architecture
MASS Design is on a mission to research, build, and advocate for architecture that promotes justice and human dignity Feature story by Tina Dilegge Surrounded by gardens, terraces and courtyards on a hillside overlooking the rolling green landscape of northern...
CarbonCure Odyssey: Inside the Movement to Reduce Embodied Carbon
by Christie Gamble, Senior Director of Sustainability, CarbonCure TechnologiesAs the Senior Director of Sustainability at CarbonCure Technologies and a Board Member of the Carbon Leadership Forum, I have found myself at the forefront of a rapidly growing movement...
Massachusetts Teenagers Take the Lead on Embodied Carbon
The Waring School’s Brickwolves Robotics Team developed a Student Carbon Calculator Curriculum to empower students with information about embodied carbon by Charlie Pound (8th grade), a member of the Waring School Brickwolves, a team of 14- and 15-year-olds...
Foundations Critical to the EC3 Tool’s Development
Since its beta release at Greenbuild in November, the EC3 tool has generated interest and enthusiasm across the industry, leading to multiple news articles, testimonials, and meetups of industry professionals exploring use of the tool to dramatically decrease...
Building a Carbon Smart Community with Legos
by Andrew Himes, Carbon Leadership Forum What can a team of 6th-graders from Redmond, Washington tell us about climate change, embodied carbon emissions from building construction, and the potential for hard work and innovative thinking to transform an industry? A...