Embodied Carbon Reduction in New Construction: Reference Guide

Technical Report · Thu Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 2024

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/2336716· OSTI ID:2336716

The U.S. Department of Energy launched the Advanced Building Construction (ABC) Initiative in 2019 to modernize and streamline building renovation and construction processes that facilitate the integration of high-performance and low-carbon solutions in the U.S. building stock. There are four attributes of ABC that are the focus of the Initiative: affordable, fast, appealing, and low carbon. Substantial improvements have been made to reduce operational carbon emissions of buildings through efficiency and electrification. However, to achieve low-carbon new construction buildings, increased efforts to reduce the embodied carbon of buildings are needed. Embodied carbon emissions in buildings come primarily from the manufacturing of building envelope materials such as concrete, steel, lumber, and glass, among others. Recent studies show that construction and renovation of buildings account for 5% of energy use and 10% of carbon emissions globally.

• Research Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EE), Washington, DC (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Energy Efficiency Office. Building Technologies Office
• DOE Contract Number: SC0001234
• OSTI ID: 2336716
• Report Number(s): DOE/EE--2812
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
ABC
Building renovation and construction
advanced building construction
building envelope
efficiency
electrification
emissions
high performance
low carbon