Project contact is Angelique Pilon at the University of British Columbia (Canada)
Summary
The pilot uses whole-building life cycle assessments (WBLCA) to identify major contributors to embodied carbon impacts. More importantly, the project conducts a critical analysis of the procedural requirements, information gaps, systemic barriers and other challenges for project teams seeking to use LCA as an effective tool in reducing their environmental impacts. The second phase of the Embodied Carbon Pilot project builds on the experiences and learning of Phase 1 while addressing a more common and replicable building typology. The first year, we used mass timber buildings at the University of British Columbia for the pilot LCAs and developed a protocol/strategy for adapting project information into the appropriate bill-of-materials (BOM) format for input into LCA tools, while identifying procedural challenges and barriers and variations of different material take-off methodologies and LCA tools. This second year, we will target mid-rise, multi-unit residential buildings (MURBs), a common and growing building type throughout British Columbia. Mid-rise MURBS are between 4 and 8 stories and typically use wood as one of the primary construction materials: stick-frame construction for projects under 6-stories or an increasing number of mass timber projects.
