Decarbonization has become the new buzzword of the built environment community. This is not to say the concept or concern is new, it’s just now coming to the forefront. Talk about a misunderstood concept. In full disclosure, I am one of them who did not clearly understand what it truly meant. Throughout my entire engineering career, I’ve always designed projects with energy conservation in mind, almost solely having dedicated the last decade and a half of my career to saving energy. In the new lexicon, I was completely focused on reducing operational carbon (OC).
I was recently asked to speak at the local American Institute of Architects (AIA) chapter on this subject. While preparing, or “cramming for the exam,” so to speak, I learned decarbonization is much more than just reducing the energy consumption of a building, or what I previously denoted as OC.