Hi all,
Posting this topic to share the The BC Low Carbon Materials Sourcing Guide which fills a gap between project materials sourcing and low-carbon material databases. Often, designers or builders can locate low-carbon materials online but then are left to do the work to find out if they are available in the project’s region.
At the CLF British Columbia local hub, we are combing through EPD databases for low-carbon materials then contacting manufacturers, local suppliers, and reps. to check material availability within the province. The Guide shares where these vetted low-carbon materials can be sourced, and is updated semi-annually. We have tables for Insulation, Concrete, Rebar, and Cladding. We also didn’t want to exclude products we know are low carbon but don’t have EPDs (e.g., straw insulation), so have a Novel Materials table.
My hope in sharing this is to point to a hole in current databases and to share a stop-gap solution we’ve developed that could be duplicated by other local CLF hubs. Copy our homework!
We are open to feedback on the guide content, layout, and materials. One item we are hoping to add in the next revision is a material contact rep. including their phone number and email.
Thanks to the @MaterialsCarbonEmissionsGuide from Nelson that was a key inspiration.
Cheers,
Forest