Sunday, November 25, 2012

SEI Sustainability Committee Publishes White Paper on Carbon Footprint

The Sustainability Committee of the Structural Engineering Institute has published their white paper on the carbon footprint of various structural building products.  It is titled, Structure and Carbon: How Materials Affect the Climate. This is a great primer for structural engineers on the environmental impacts of the structures they design.  From their announcement:
The intent of this white paper is to serve as a primer on greenhouse gas emissions, the most important of which is carbon dioxide (informally referenced simply as “carbon”), for the structural engineering community and others with an interest in the carbon impacts of structural materials and systems. It explains:
  1. Why structural engineers must understand greenhouse gas emissions
  2. How the construction of building structural systems contributes to greenhouse gas emissions
  3. How we as a profession can help reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with structural systems.
The white paper is free to download from their Carbon Working Group webpage.  Kudos to Mark Webster, who spearheaded this project, and the rest of the members who helped author the paper.