A team of ten engineers and scholars of practication and civil and civilian academics has launched an effort to identify and prioritize the provisions in current construction codes and standards, which, if it is properly modified, will lead to a substantial reduction in the embodied carbon.
A carbon reduction committee embodied independently met while attending the summit and symposium “towards Zero Carbon 2025” of the Institute of Structural Engineering on the Boulder campus of the University of Colorado from 26 to 27 June.
“This committee is a first collaboration between all associations representing structural engineers,” says President and CEO of Magnusson Klemencic Associates, Ron Klemencic, who conceived the initiative and helped raise $ 200,000 to support the first phase of the Committee’s work, which will take place over the next 12 months.
“What can engineers do [about global warming]? It is clear to me, “says Klemencic. The code is full of things that can be adjusted.”
The group will examine the three primary structural codes of the US – ASSE 7, ACI 318 and the AISC Steel manual – in order “see what to rethink, recalibrate, reproach,” says Klemencic. The Committee will prioritize the identification of code changes that affect the largest number of buildings and building materials.
“ The aim of phase 1 is to prioritize the lists based on both their potential impact and their ability to make the change and the amount of additional research that will make this change, ” says Ian McFarlane, a senior partner with Magnusson Klemencic, who, together with CU CU Structural Engineering Professor, will coordinate the work of the Committee.
“This will expose a roadmap for future research. Our hope is that we find a fruit with little to start, some easy and shocking changes, which the wheels were faster, but this involves more research throughout the target of embodied carbon reduction,” says McFarlane. “Although the initiative is motivated by sustainability and reducing carbon, inherently embodied in order to reach less material, making many of these provisions reduce construction costs,” he says. “There is a winning opportunity here that makes it nice to more people.”
In the members of the recruiting committee and the search for subsidies, Klemencic and his team offered examples such as reconsidering the live loading table Asce-7. The requirements of this table promote the fundamental design requirements, and translates directly into the amount of carbon embodied in the construction structures. Properly reducing some of the values contained in this table will occur directly and immediately a less incarnated carbon.
Another example includes the prescriptive disposition at ACI318 that requires concrete mix designs to guide -at 1,1F’C + 700 PSI when there is no sufficient test data. This requirement can drive the amount of cement included in the mixture and, therefore, the embodied impact of carbon.
The Charles Pankow Foundation is the leading funder of the initiative and runs the $ 200,000 grant with MKA Foundation, American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Institute of Steel Institute, National Council of Structural Engineers Associations, American Concrete Institute and Cu Boulder.
In 12 months, the Committee will launch phase 2 to focus on specific research research that will be needed for the change of code, with the funding of “we hope that an expanded group,” says Klemencic.
“We have a wide and deep team that can help us make this list of the most shocking things we can work on,” adds Liel. “The result is that the proposals for change sent to ASC7, ACI or AISC show the change, demonstrating the support of the change, showing that it does not affect the things that are the basis of our construction codes, we still do what we have to do, protecting the safety of life, etc. and showing the amount of packaged carbon can be reduced by some of these simple changes.”
“Most of the time when you write construction codes, you are solving a problem or adding a new disposition or a new way of approaching design; this is a different lens. It has not been a lens that we have looked at the building code before, and especially from a holistic perspective,” says McFarlane.
“Many things have changed in the 50 years since the codes were written, the materials we build, the reliability analysis that entered the construction codes, and with this lens it is a good opportunity to take a new look at things,” he adds.
“We acknowledge that we have colleagues doing incredible work on carbon embodied from materials and other perspectives, but we can [also] Do something with changing the rules of the game through the building code, things that would make a lot of sense and have a great impact, we have not done it yet and I think this is what is really exciting here, “says Liel.
Klemencic claims that the group hopes to work parallel with international organizations to provide equally significant code changes worldwide as the initiative grows in the coming years.
“Most civil and structural engineers in the world believe that our fundamental position is to use the world’s resources efficiently and efficiently to improve the human race. And, therefore, as a fundamental guide, this is what we try to do,” adds Klemencic.
