There was a great thread on biogenic carbon in the previous Basecamp platform titled “To Save Our Climate We Need Taller Trees Not Taller Wooden Buildings, Center for Sustainable Economy”. I can’t seem to find it here, so for now am creating a new post…but if it lives somewhere else, my intent is to build on it with two quick items:
1/ There was a good (if disturbing) article in the National Observer today on the sad state of affairs re carbon accounting (or rather, shell gaming) in Canada. Lots of graphs and good details. Worth the read.
2/ A friend (Andy Thomson) shared a great strategy hierarchy framework (a graphic he upgraded from the 2013 HM Treasury Infrastructure and Carbon Review, p23
HMT strategies and Andy’s corresponding shift in our ‘roles’ (says ‘Architect’ but could read as ‘Consultant’):
Build nothing:100% reduction potential. Architect as Strategic Advisor
Build less: 80% reduction potential. Architect as Planning Advisor
Build clever: 50% reduction potential. Architect as Structural Director - striving towards ephemerization
Build efficiently: Architect as Thermal, Cost and Quantity Accountant
Thanks for sharing these. Land use carbon accounting is a dangerous game, that is being exacerbated by a warming climate - the pine beetle attacks in BC have exploded as the winters are no longer cold enough to kill the beetles off, leaving large tracts of forest primed for forest fires. In Australia the warmer winters have hindered fuel reduction burning, with the result that last summers’ bushfires are estimated to have doubled the countries emissions. As we head into summer in the Northern hemisphere I am concerned about the fuel load built up, and what the current pandemic will mean for fire fighting efforts.
As @raphael.sperry rightly points out, forest use emissions dwarf processing, transport and construction emissions. The idea that all managed forests are carbon neutral needs to be re-examined; and an increase in FSC managed forestry adopted. Meanwhile the current pandemic has highlighted the fact that we can afford slowing down, building less and reusing what we have.
