Embodied Carbon Benchmarking, Policy, and Practice in Ontario
To meet Canada’s net zero by 2050 goal, there are many changes that need to be made to the building sector as it accounts for a large portion of the countries carbon emissions. As many of the buildings that will be around in 2050 have already been built, retrofits are required to reduce the emissions of existing buildings. A large focus has been on reducing the operational emissions of existing buildings through envelope renovations and improvements to mechanical equipment. However, the embodied emissions for buildings (those produced through the extraction, manufacturing, and transportation of materials) also need to be a part of the solution.
Low Carbon Materials for Building Retrofits
To meet Canada’s net zero by 2050 goal, there are many changes that need to be made to the building sector as it accounts for a large portion of the countries carbon emissions. As many of the buildings that will be around in 2050 have already been built, retrofits are required to reduce the emissions of existing buildings. A large focus has been on reducing the operational emissions of existing buildings through envelope renovations and improvements to mechanical equipment. However, the embodied emissions for buildings (those produced through the extraction, manufacturing, and transportation of materials) also need to be a part of the solution. Retrofitting buildings using materials with high embodied carbon emissions to reduce operational carbon can be counterproductive, and so it is important to categorize low carbon materials that are suitable for retrofits. A background on how embodied carbon for materials is determined and what materials are considered to be low carbon will be provided. Various low carbon materials will be evaluated in terms of their embodied carbon, material properties, hygrothermal performance, fire performance, cost, constructability, and technology readiness level.
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Presenters:
Dr. Hamish Pope, Natural Resources Canada
Dr Hamish Pope is an Advanced Building Envelope Specialist at Natural Resources Canada working on for Canmet’s Building Envelope research projects. His research is on improving industry confidence in novel, high-performance building envelope assemblies and prefabricated approaches to rapid retrofit. His research focuses on requirements for industrialized retrofits, as well as researching existing and novel low carbon building materials.
Jeffrey Mitchell, OAA, CPHD
Jeffrey infuses environmental design into every aspect of his projects by integrating sustainable technical, cultural, and material considerations that achieve efficient and elegant solutions for users. As Chair of Diamond Schmitt’s Sustainability Committee, his commitment to crafting beautiful and climate responsive buildings is channeled through innovation, and by empowering teams to set their own action-focused environmental goals. Jeff is a licensed architect and a Certified Passive House Designer. He received his Bachelor of Architectural Science and Master of Architecture from the Toronto Metropolitan University with a focus on architectural systems and their integration through contemporary and innovative building science practice. Joining Diamond Schmitt in 2012, he has led complex institutional projects across Canada, including academic, civic, healthcare, science, and residential buildings. His work includes a leadership roles in the comprehensive integrated user engagement and design for the Cameron Community Centre and Library in Burnaby, the Peter George Centre for Living and Learning building at McMaster University in Hamilton, the Fredericton Playhouse competition, and the Environmental Science and Chemistry Building at the University of Toronto’s Scarborough Campus.
Kelly Alvarez Doran, OAA
Kelly is senior director of performance and provenance at MASS, where he supports principals and designers to embed environmental objectives into all of the practice’s projects, as well as leads climate focused research and the training of the entire team. Previously, Kelly led MASS’s Kigali office overseeing the growth of the practice from a team of eight to 80 over a five-year period. He led the design and implementation of several of MASS’s projects across East Africa, notably the award-winning Munini District Hospital and Rwanda Ministry of Health’s Typical Hospital Plans, Nyarugenge District Hospital, headquarters for both One Acre Fund and Andela in Kenya, and the Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture. Kelly holds professorships at the Bartlett and at the University of Toronto where his Ha/f Research Studio is focused on the whole life carbon of the built environment. The outcomes of this research has informed the ongoing development of embodied carbon policy for the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.