Abstracts Book - IMRC 2018

• SF5-O048
CARBON EMISSIONS AND BUILDING DESIGN
Donna Kacmar 1
1 University of Houston, Architecture, United States.
We have recently completed carbon footprint analysis of two 300,000 square
foot office buildings in Houston, Texas commissioned by the same developer,
built by the same contractor, yet designed by different architects. We tracked
the carbon emitted from materials, workers transportation, energy use on site,
and waste.
We found the largest part of the carbon is from the embodied carbon from the
manufacturing of building materials and an estimated 20% of the overall
building carbon emissions is from the concrete manufacturing alone. This points
to areas of potential savings in carbon emissions for future projects. We also
noted the specificity required in documentation of materials, materials,
transport, ad even sequencing of construction to impact carbon emissions.
It is becoming increasingly important for designers to understand the
implications of their material choices and this study helps clarify some of the
results of design decisions.
Acknowledgment:
We wish to thank Skanska USA and their subcontractors who willingness to
supply information made this study possible.
Keywords: carbon, emission, design
Presenting authors email: dkacmar@uh.edu