Dynamic Accounting of Carbon Uptake in the Built Environment

Van Roijen, Elisabeth; Kane, Seth; Fan, Jin; Olsson, Josefine A.; Bose, Baishakhi; Hendrickson, Thomas P.; Nordahl, Sarah L.; Kendall, Alissa; Scown, Corinne D.; Miller, Sabbie A.

doi:10.1021/acs.est.5c00080

Dynamic Accounting of Carbon Uptake in the Built Environment

Journal Article · Tue Mar 25 00:00:00 EDT 2025 · Environmental Science and Technology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5c00080· OSTI ID:2538719

^[1]; ^[1]; Fan, Jin ^[1]; ^[1]; ^[2]; Hendrickson, Thomas P. ^[2]; ^[2]; ^[1]; ^[3]; ^[1]

University of California, Davis, CA (United States)
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); University of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)

Transforming building materials from net life-cycle CO₂e emitters to carbon sinks is a key pathway towards decarbonizing the industrial sector. Current life-cycle assessments of materials (particularly “low-carbon” materials) often focus on cradle-to-gate emissions, which can exclude emissions and uptake (i.e., fluxes) later in the materials’ life-cycle. Further, conventional CO₂e emission characterization disregards the dynamic effects of the timing of emissions and uptake on cumulative radiative forcing from processes like manufacturing, biomass growth, and the decadal carbon storage in long-lived building materials. This work presents a framework to analyze the cradle-to-grave CO₂e balance of building materials using a time-dependent global warming potential calculation. We apply this framework in the dynamic accounting of carbon uptake in the built environment (D-CUBE) tool and examine two case studies: concrete and cross-laminated timber (CLT). When accounting for dynamic effects, the long storage time of biogenic carbon in CLT results in reduced warming, while the slow rate of uptake via concrete carbonation does not result in significant reductions in global warming. The D-CUBE tool allows for consistent comparisons across materials and emissions mitigation strategies at varying life-cycle stages and can be adapted to other materials or systems with different lifespans and applications. The flexibility of D-CUBE and the ability to identify CO₂e emission hot-spot life-cycle stages will be instrumental in identifying pathways to achieving net-carbon-sequestering building materials.

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Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); University of California, Davis, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER). Biological Systems Science (BSS)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231; AR0001625

OSTI ID:: 2538719

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 2553916
OSTI ID: 2555755

Journal Information:: Environmental Science and Technology, Journal Name: Environmental Science and Technology Journal Issue: 13 Vol. 59; ISSN 0013-936X

Publisher:: American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
carbon sequestration
concrete
construction
cross-laminated timber
greenhouse gas emissions
life-cycle assessment
materials
time-adjusted warming potential

Dynamic Accounting of Carbon Uptake in the Built Environment

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References (52)

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