Building Science Basics: Embodied vs Operational Carbon

What is the impact of buildings on the planet?

The answer is much more complicated than just "energy consumption and materials sustainability"“ In fact, energy efficiency is a small portion of the overall impact of a building on the planet for several to dozens of years, depending on how energy efficient that building was designed to be when operational.

In fact, the energy used to operate a building is called "Operational Carbon," while "Embodied Carbon" is the energy used to mine and smelt the metals, harvest the wood, transport the oil, fabricate the foams, and transport each material to the job site, are actually much more energy intensive than just heating and cooling the building. In this video, we will explain the difference between each and why you should care deeply about both whenever you buy something for your home, your family or yourself.

Interested to learn more? Check out this video from our “Building A Better Way” YOUTUBE channel featuring our CEO, Dr. David Edwards!