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Architecture vocabulary · Sustainability and Environment

Embodied carbon

Meaning in architecture, with examples

nounAdvanced term

In architecture, embodied carbon means: The carbon emissions from producing, transporting and installing a building's materials, and later from maintaining and demolishing it, as opposed to emissions from its energy use.

In Turkish: gömülü karbon, yapıya gömülü karbon

How it is used

A fast-growing topic in sustainable design. Architects calculate, reduce and compare embodied carbon, often with a life-cycle assessment (LCA). Concrete and steel usually have high embodied carbon; timber and reused structures can lower it. The opposite is operational carbon.

Example sentences

  1. Keeping the existing frame avoided a large share of the embodied carbon of a new building.

  2. The client wants an embodied carbon report for each design option.

Common collocations

  • reduce embodied carbon
  • embodied carbon calculation
  • operational carbon
  • life-cycle assessment
  • sustainable designDesigning buildings to use less energy, water and materials, to reduce carbon emissions and waste, and to provide healthy places for people over their whole life.
  • timberWood prepared for building, used for structures, floors, cladding, windows and furniture; engineered products like cross-laminated timber are used in multi-storey buildings.
  • adaptive reuseGiving an old building a new use, such as turning a factory into a museum or offices, while keeping much of its original structure and character.
  • reinforced concreteConcrete with steel bars or mesh cast inside it; the concrete resists compression and the steel resists tension, which makes strong beams, slabs and columns possible.
  • LEEDShort for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design: a green building rating system from the U.S. Green Building Council that awards points for sustainable features.

More terms: Sustainability and Environment

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