Don, all,
Appreciate your example on where the LCA tool is not working perfectly, Don. It is a good example and an easy one. Applicable to wood replacement buildings as well as concrete/steel replacement buildings. Adaptive reuse will most often be the very best place to start to build carbon negative/neutral! Sadly our 20th century replacement mindset is still with us, and ‘tear down’ is almost always deemed cheaper too…
But that is not the point.
We have got to use the tools we have right now. LCA science is a major help in quantifying what goes into our buildings, and where those materials come from and how they are made and transported to our buildings. It is a huge helpful roadmap to better understand. And it’s one of several major tools we have, including EPD.
But without accounting for biogenic carbon in wood, we lose the once-in-my-lifetime opportunity to go deeper into the supply chain - the forests, the soils, the timber industry and continue to help transition that timber industry into the 21st century. It is immensely valuable tool for change. Without it, we will default to ‘business as usual’ in the construction industry.
Tweaking concrete EPD’s is also an immensely valuable tool. Both EPD’s and LCA need to be employed as major strategies for lowering the damming carbon footprint of OUR industry - the construction industry. Let’s not pit these major advances in Building Science and Material Supply Chain Analysis against one another. They are not incompatible, and should be run in parallel as fast as possible to make the most impact they can.
Susan
Susan Jones, FAIA
architect, owner and founder
atelierjones LLC
911 Pine Street
Floor Two
Seattle, WA 98101