Research Purpose:
Review and evaluate embodied carbon policies to limit the embodied carbon of structural materials used in State building projects.
About
On January 8, 2018, members of the Washington (WA) State House of Representatives introduced House Bill (HB) 2412 – Creating the Buy Clean Washington Act to the state legislature. Modeled after the Buy Clean California Act, HB 2412 proposed that WA state agencies awarding construction contracts require environmental product declarations (EPDs) for an eligible list of materials. Although the bill did not move forward for debate and voting in the 2018 legislative session, a modified version of the proposed study was included in the capital budget.
The capital budget authorized the UW College of Built Environments to collaborate with the Central Washington University (CWU) Construction Management Program and the Washington State University (WSU) Architecture and Engineering School to “analyze existing embodied carbon policy and propose methods to categorize structural materials and report structural material quantities and origins.” This resulted in the Buy Clean Washington Study.
The reports and resources produced by Buy Clean Washington Study are shown below.
| Resource | Description | Access |
|---|---|---|
| Report Summary |
High-level overview of key study information and findings | Download |
| Briefing to WA State representatives | Kate Simonen’s (CLF Director/Project Lead) presentation to the House Capital Budget Committee (2/22/19) | Watch Video |
| Full Report | Compilation of work generated in developing embodied carbon policy options and recommendations for the State of Washington | Download |