Sustainable Design & Embodied Carbon

Sustainable Design & Embodied Carbon: What Structural Engineers Need to Know Structural engineers are responsible for delivering safe and economical buildings. Engineers have traditionally minimized material quantities in their designs to reduce project costs and help achieve economical buildings. This aspect of the SE profession has taken on a new importance as the AEC community works to reduce the environmental impact of building construction and operation. Every year, 66 billion square feet of buildings are constructed, resulting in approximately 3.8 billion metric tons of CO2 emissions. This amount of embodied carbon is roughly equal to the CO2 emissions associated with operating all existing buildings. Structural engineers can make a significant impact in embodied carbon emissions by understanding the sources of embodied carbon and going beyond simply reducing material quantities in designs. This webinar will give structural engineers a basic knowledge of embodied carbon and how to reduce the carbon footprint of structures. Life cycle assessment will be introduced as it relates to embodied carbon emissions. Industry initiatives such as SE 2050, SEI’s commitment to zero embodied carbon, will be discussed. Lastly, this webinar will serve as a launch of SEAOI’s Sustainable Design Committee. Learning Objectives -Identify sources of embodied carbon for structures -Understand how embodied carbon can be reduced through design and specifications -Learn how embodied carbon is reported and how to get involved with industry initiatives