The New Carbon Architecture: Building to Cool the Climate

Praise for

The New Carbon Architecture

Truly, what a fantastic, timely, important book!

— Paul Hawken, author of Blessed Unrest and Drawdown

I cannot overstate the importance of Bruce King’s book at this critical time. We know that in order to effectively address climate change, we must go beyond building operations and address embodied carbon — phasing out carbon emissions in building materials and construction by mid-century; this book illustrates how.

— Edward Mazria, Founder / CEO Architecture 2030

That same carbon atom that’s wreaking havoc in the atmosphere is a building block for many great traditional and new building materials. The New Carbon Architecture shows us how in ways that are both practical and imaginative — truly a resource for our times.

— Nadav Malin, President, BuildingGreen, Inc.

Bruce King provides a valuable and unique reference for understanding how one-fifth of all carbon emissions from buildings are currently not being counted or even comprehended. Understanding embodied energy and incorporating it into design thinking and product development is the next frontier for green building practice. I recommend this book as a primer for anyone interested in combatting global climate change via building science.

— Jerry Yudelson, PE, LEED Fellow

The Godfather of Green — Wired Magazine

Author/Keynote Speaker/Sustainability Consultant

In The New Carbon Architecture, Bruce King delivers an emergent template for designing buildings in a future of climate uncertainty. The climate clock is ticking and we urgently need the ideas King and his colleagues present if we are to ensure comfort, safety, and resiliency in our next-gen built environment. The litany of no regrets practices King offers provides both adaptation and mitigation benefits in an industry not well known for offering either.

— David A. Schaller, retired EPA climate and sustainability coordinator

Bruce King and his crew of knowledgeable, enthusiastic authors have given us a great starting point for designing and (re-)creating our built environment. This is an important book for the entire design industry to read; from industrial designers and chemists to natural building craftspeople. It gives us all a starting point for the transformation of our infrastructure into one that is truly sustainable and healthy — while reducing the quantity of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by simply using them as building blocks instead of emitting them. All this, and they show us that we can have fun doing it!"

— Tim Krahn, P. Eng., Structural Engineer, Building Alternatives Inc

Copyright © 2017 by Bruce King.

All rights reserved.

Cover design by Diane McIntosh. Central cover image supplied by author.

Torn paper window © iStock

All text, photos and illustrations are by Bruce King unless otherwise noted.

Printed in Canada. First printing October 2017.

Inquiries regarding requests to reprint all or part of The New Carbon Architecture should be addressed to New Society Publishers at the address below. To order directly from the publishers, please call toll-free (North America) 1-800-567-6772, or order online at www.newsociety.com

Any other inquiries can be directed by mail to:

New Society Publishers

P.O. Box 189, Gabriola Island, BC V0R 1X0, Canada

(250) 247-9737

LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION

King, Bruce (Structural engineer), author

The new carbon architecture : building to cool the climate / Bruce King.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Issued in print and electronic formats.

ISBN 978-0-86571-868-5 (softcover).--ISBN 978-1-55092-661-3 (PDF).--

ISBN 978-1-77142-256-7 (EPUB)

1. Sustainable architecture. 2. Sustainable buildings--Design and construction.

3. Dwellings--Environmental engineering. 4. Building materials--Environmental aspects. I. Title.

New Society Publishers’ mission is to publish books that contribute in fundamental ways to building an ecologically sustainable and just society, and to do so with the least possible impact on the environment, in a manner that models this vision.

THIS BOOK is a project of the non-profit Ecological Building Network, or EBNet, which has been developing and promoting healthy, low-carbon building for 20 years. ecobuildnetwork.org

... in collaboration with the Embodied Carbon Network, which was convened in 2016 to provide a mechanism for individuals and firms to connect, conduct research, and promote awareness of embodied carbon in the built environment.

carbonleadershipforum.org/embodied-carbon-network

for women thank you

ONE CAN ASK what might it take to have an agriculture that does not degrade the soils, a fishery that does not deplete the ocean, a forestry that keeps watersheds and ecosystems intact, population policies that respect human sexuality and personality while holding numbers down, and energy policies that do not set off fierce little wars . . . We know that science and the arts can be allies. We need far more women in politics. We need a religious view that embraces nature and does not fear science; business leaders who know and accept ecological and spiritual limits; political leaders who have spent time working in schools, factories or farms, and maybe a few who still write poems. We need intellectual and academic leaders who have studied both history and ecology and who like to dance and cook. But what we ultimately need most are human beings who love the world.

— Gary Snyder, Back on the Fire 2007

Contents

All text, photos and illustrations are by Bruce King unless noted otherwise.

Acknowledgments

Preface: Buildings Made of Sky

Introduction

A Word about Carbon

1. Beyond Zero: The Time Value of Carbon by Erin McDade

A Global Carbon Limit

Buildings Are the Problem; Buildings Are the Solution

Zero by 2050

The Zero Net Carbon Gold Standard

Embodied Carbon: Getting to Real Zero

Emissions Now Hurt More than Emissions Later:

The Relative Importance of Embodied Carbon

Embodied Carbon in the Future

The Time Value of Carbon

Zero Energy in a Nutshell by Ann V. Edminister

2. Counting Carbon: What We Know and How We Know It by Catherine De Wolf, Barbara Rodriguez Droguett, and Kathrina Simonen

Building Carbon Neutral

The Relative Impact of Embodied Carbon in Typical Buildings

Comparing Structural Materials

Comparing LCA Methods

Concrete

Steel

Wood

Other Structural Materials

Nonstructural Materials

Comparing the Embodied Carbon of Buildings

Getting to Zero: Embodied Carbon

3. Rebuild: What You Build Matters, What You Don’t Build Matters More by Larry Strain

We Can’t Build Our Way Out of This

Reuse: A Complete Strategy

Reducing Embodied Carbon

Reducing Operating Carbon: Renovation + Upgrade

Upgrading to Zero

Retrofit Opportunities

Energy Efficiency Opportunities

Net-zero Opportunities

Saving Embodied Carbon Opportunities

4. Wood: Like Never Before

Mass Timber Construction by Frances Yang and Andrew Lawrence

The Carbon Argument

So How Tall Can Timber Really Go?

Enter Cross-laminated Timber (CLT)

Stiffness

Fire

Acoustics

Seismic Performance

Beyond Carbon

The Future

Seeing the Forests for the Mass Timber by Jason Grant

5. Straw and Other Fibers: A Second Harvest with Chris Magwood and Massey Burke

Straw Bales and Straw Bale Panels

Prefabricated Straw Bale Wall Panels

Straw Blocks

Straw Panels

Bonded Plant Fiber Insulation Systems

The Planet’s Sixth Carbon Sink: A Success Story by Craig White

6. Concrete: The Reinvention of Artificial Rock with Fernando Martirena and Paul Jaquin

What Is Concrete?

The Problem with Concrete

The Reinvention Is On

But First, Some Basics

Clay: The First Cement by Paul Jaquin

Historical Building Using Clay as a Binder

What Makes Clay Special?

Bonding in Clay

Sheets, Layers, and Assemblages

Sheets

Layers

The Assemblage

Friction

Suction

How Strong Is Clay Concrete?

Humidity Buffering and Thermal Mass

Future

Rethinking Cement by Fernando Martirena

More Ways to Reinvent Concrete

What About Reinforcing — Steel and More

7. Plastic: So Great, So Awful — Some New Directions by Mikhail Davis, Wes Sullens, and Wil Srubar

Introduction

Biopolymers and Bioplastics

Plant Biopolymers

Animal Biopolymers

Bacterial Biopolymers

The Bioplastics Dilemma

Existing Plastics in the World

The Scale of the Plastics Problem:

How Much Is Already Out There?

What To Do With All That Existing Plastic?

Barriers to Plastics Recovery and Recycling

Bright Spots for Plastics

What You Can Do: The Low-carbon Plastics Hierarchy

Guidelines: The Low-carbon Plastics Hierarchy

From Obstacles to Opportunities to Solutions:

Can We Redeem Plastic?

Trash to Treasure: Can We Harvest the Existing Plastic Pollution from the Environment to Make New Products?

Carbon-loving Plastics: Can We Produce Plastics that Capture or Store Carbon?

Paths to Bio-based Plastics

Regenerative Agriculture

GHG to Plastic

Carbon-plastic Composites:

Can We Put New Carbon into Old Plastic?

Closing the Loop: Can We Truly Manage Plastics in a Circular System?

8. To Your Health: The Health Benefits and Impacts of Natural Building Materials by Pete Walker, Andrew Thomson, and Daniel Maskell

Health Benefits

Moisture Buffering Materials

The Breathing Wall Concept: Vapor Permeability and Capillarity

Controlling Volatile Organic Compounds

Health Risks

Radioactivity

Silica Dust

Handling Lime

Protective Treatments

Concluding Comments

9. Size Matters: Can Buildings Be Too Tall? by Ann Edminster

The Height Problem

Aspects of the Problem

Ground Zero: Height as a Driver of Embodied Carbon

Will Transit Catch Up?

Middle Ground, Perhaps

Livability

Resiliency

Conclusions

Editor’s Endnote

10. Technology and Localization: Trends at Play

Nanotechnology

Biotechnology and Biomimicry

Localization: The Convergence of Social and Technological Trends

Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, and 3-D Printing

11. Action Plan: Places to Intervene in a System

Places to Intervene in a System

Building Codes and Standards

Incentives

Research

Information Flows

A Price on Carbon

Necessary Afternote #1

Necessary Afternote #2

Necessary Afternote #3: Which System Are We Talking About?

Necessary Afternote #4: In Which the Republicans Make the Case

Afterword

Contributing Authors

Index

A Note about the Publisher

Acknowledgments

FIRST AND FOREMOST , profound thanks to the contributing authors to this book — for your many years of largely unrewarded and unappreciated work in this emerging field, and then for taking the time to provide your piece of this whole. The world is made better for your work. A particular shout-out to:

♦Ann Edminster for herding so many kitties, of both the human and conceptual kind, in defining and moving toward true net-zero architecture;

♦Ed Mazria for your tireless and effective work in alerting the world and our profession to the perils and promise of the built environment;

♦Kate Simonen for establishing, energizing, and guiding the Carbon Leadership Forum and its spinoff Embodied Carbon Network, and

♦Larry Strain for your untiring service and constant quiet leadership.

Many, many others have helped, directly and indirectly, in creating this book and in fostering and leading the emerging sciences of Life Cycle Analysis, Embodied Carbon, Biomimicry, just better building, and of course climate science itself. Thank you to:

David Arkin, Arup, Janine Benyus, Rachel Bevan, Marcial Blondet, Hana Mori Böttger, Nat and Sarah Cobb, Collins Products LLC, Columbia Forest Products, Denis Corbett, Sukita Reay Crimmel, Don Davies, Darrel DeBoer, Linda Delair, Kris Dick, David Easton, Everybody at Book Passage, Everybody at Peet’s Coffee in Northgate, Everyday Zen Sangha, Terry Gamble-Boyer, Jacob Deva Racusin, Jittery John’s Coffee, Leif Johnson, David Eisenberg, Pliny Fisk, Khosrow Ghavami, John Glassford, Min Hall (ILYM), Carol Hampf, Paul Hawken, Paul Holland, Interface, Bjørn Kierulf, Kenneth and Virginia King, Peter Kloepfer, Penny Livingstone-Stark, Ace McArleton, P. K. Mehta, Brad Roberts, Emily Rydell Niehaus, Graeme North, Elizabeth Patterson, Kirsten Ritchie, Holmer Savastano Jr., Siegel & Strain Architects, Dawn Marie Smith, Nehemiah Stone, David and Nancy Thacher, John and Carry Thacher, Anni Tilt, Linda Toth, Carol Venolia, Cameron Waner, David Warner, John Warner, Margery and Steve Weller, Tom Woolley, Linda Yates, and all of you who belong on this list and are only omitted due to my lapse.

Final and special thanks to my wife, Sarah, who without being asked jumped right in and provided a thousand forms of support from start to finish. Without you this just wouldn’t have happened. And to my children, Tyler and Lucy, I do it for you.

Any errors and omissions are mine.

Preface: Buildings Made of Sky

This would be easy if it weren’t so hard.

— Yogi Berra

RECENTLY I WAS DRIVING IN A MERICA and pulled up at a stoplight behind a Tesla. You know Tesla, right? The latest and most talked about electric car, renowned for its power, handling, and just overall coolness. I drove one once, and can attest: it was great!

This particular Tesla had a license plate that read ZEROCARB — meaning, presumably, that the owner was proud of his zero carbon emissions car. No climate villain here! There’s no way to know for sure, but I’d guess that this owner believed his claim, believed that his driving had no effect on the climate, unlike the rest of us bozos in our gas-powered stinkers.

As I sat there pondering for a few moments behind that license plate, this book was born. Because I was thinking what you’re maybe thinking: Huh? That Tesla doesn’t get recharged by twinkle fairies, and didn’t appear by magic in the world — and neither do ovens or shoes or buildings. By some estimates, the energy required to make a smartphone, just for one example, is more than 70 times the energy it takes to charge it for a year — not to mention all the waste products, water, and emissions of many sorts that are involved. There is work and energy and rearrangement of some stuff into other stuff to make a Tesla — or a building. To believe otherwise is ignorance, to pretend otherwise is disingenuous and even somewhat dangerous. That Tesla moment sparked me to focus even more on the so-called embodied carbon of buildings, and on the many emerging technologies that will turn buildings from climate villains (which they now very much are) into climate champions that can soak carbon out of the air: buildings made of sky. The New Carbon Architecture was born, or at least conceived.

I might have been able to bang this thing together by myself, but where’s the fun in that? For a quarter of a century, I have been noodling around with so-called green and natural and alternative building, and for that have been rewarded, if not with gold and silver, with friendships and correspondence with an extraordinary panoply of like-minded folks all over the world. If I had called on them all, this book would have hundreds of authors, so to stay sane, I kept it to the 20 or so who have really made a mark in advancing one or another aspect of the New Carbon Architecture. It saved me a lot of extra work and research, and results in a much better book for you, reader.

I guess I should add: this could have been a much bigger book. It might have been a dense 400-page tome, fully reporting the state of the art with tables, graphs, and other hallmarks of good science, or it could have been shaped as an academic textbook. But it seemed better to get the idea out into the world, as simply and readably as possible, beyond the few thousand people in the world already aware of this emerging and exciting notion of building with carbon. These colleagues of mine are not lightweights, and it took some persuading to get them to provide just the elevator pitch summaries of their respective work in their respective fields, laboratories, academia, and the unforgiving marketplace. If you want to dig deeper, we offer some pointers. Know that this is a very fast-developing subject that will look different — guaranteed — in a year or five or twenty. Consider this book to be a sort of heads-up, a shout-out for a very cool thing emerging on Earth.

Please enjoy, and please let us — the Ecological Building Network — know what you think: ecobuildnetwork.org

Introduction

The primary task of any good teaching

is not to answer your questions,

but to question your answers.

— Adyashanti, The Way of Liberation

IMAGINE:

YOU WALK INTO A BRAND NEW BUILDING and immediately sense something is different. The structure is all exposed wood — columns, beams, even floor and roof are all great curving slabs of timber elegantly joined together from smaller pieces. The skin and insulation, which you can also see, are straw bound into shapes that shed rain and insulate walls. The foundation is soil from the site transformed by invisible microbes into strong concrete to hold everything up, and the warm, leatherlike floors need no additional covering. It somehow looks like a barn but smells like a forest, and feels more like an inviting bedroom or an elegant museum. It’s nicer than any building you’ve ever been in before.

And it’s not a handmade house in the woods — it’s a new downtown office building, nine stories high, full of people and filling half a city block. It gathers all the power and water it needs, is elegantly lit by daylight, and processes all of its own water and wastes into soil for the courtyard gardens. And, though you can’t see this, compared to what might have been built a decade earlier, its construction put thousands of tons less carbon into the air — and pulled hundreds more tons out of the air to serve as its walls, floors, and roof.

The New Carbon Architecture: a building made of sky. For the first time in history, we can and should build pretty much anything out of carbon that we coaxed from the air. We can structure any architectural style with wood, we can insulate with straw and mushrooms, we can make concrete — better concrete — with clay, microbes, smoke, and a careful look in the rearview mirror and the microscope. All of these emerging technologies and more arrive in tandem with the growing understanding that the so-called embodied carbon of building materials matters a great deal more than anyone thought in the fight to halt and reverse climate change. The built environment can switch from being a problem to a solution. And it doesn’t matter whether or not you accept that climate change is anthropogenic: all the technologies described in the pages to follow make sense for a host of reasons, not least that they are much nicer buildings to occupy, and just happen to pull carbon out of the air.

But to back up a bit . . .

Human beings started building about eight thousand years ago with the dawn of the agricultural revolution, and that extended worldwide moment was arguably the most disruptive in history for us and the rest of life on Earth. Rather than hunt and forage about the landscape for our food, we grew it in one spot, and next thing you know, there was architecture, political states, wealth and poverty, Gutenberg and Einstein, global tension, Lady Gaga, and drive-thru