Introduction to Embodied Carbon
Photograph of the textured reclaimed brick facade
There’s much in the press about reaching ‘net-zero’ and the role the construction industry has to play. Something that is less often in focus is ’embodied carbon’.
What Is Embodied Carbon?
Embodied carbon is the inherent environmental impact of building materials in construction (including the energy used to extract, produce and transport materials). As opposed to ‘energy-in-use’ which is the energy used during a building’s lifetime to heat and cool it etc. Embodied carbon is measured in KgCO2e. The ‘e’ stands for ‘equivalent’ which encompasses a range of greenhouse gasses and not only carbon dioxide.
How Important Is Embodied Carbon?
The amount of embodied carbon in any building will vary from project to project and is usually somewhere between 30%-40% of a building’s whole life carbon. For a typical house in the UK, it is between 50-80 tonnes of CO2 – that’s equal to about 50 return flights to New York or an average UK person’s emissions for 14 years.
The UK government has made a commitment to decarbonise the UK’s power supply by 2035. This means that as a percentage of a building’s emissions, embodied carbon will soon become the majority.
Reducing Embodied Carbon In Architectural Design
Our practice focuses on making low embodied carbon buildings, whilst not compromising on excellent design quality. We work on both new builds and renovations. We are always looking for ways to:
Reduce the amount of material we use
Use reclaimed and recycled materials
Use materials that are either low in embodied carbon or store carbon (are carbon positive)
As signatories of both Architects Declare (a leading group of architecture practices committed to reducing the environmental impacts of our buildings) and the LETI (London Energy Transformation Initiative) we believe that we have a responsibility to significantly reduce the environmental impacts of making buildings. We don’t believe that this care for the environment should impact the architecture – for us it’s about doing more with less; better design that’s better for the planet.
Further reading
