AIA Pittsburgh's COTE Committee and CLF Pittsburgh co-present Embodied Carbon: Why it Matters and What to Do About It!
Session 1, Wednesday, October 2 from 11:30 - 1:00 PM, will be a virtual session that focuses on the principles of the role of embodied carbon, and using whole building life cycle assessment for reducing a building's carbon footprint. We will learn about the difference between embodied carbon and operational carbon, and what it means to consider whole life carbon. We will also learn about low carbon materials and review example project cases of innovations in embodied carbon reduction. 1.5 LU|HSW
Session 2, Wednesday, October 16 from 8:00 - noon, will be an in-person workshop focused on hands-on application of embodied carbon principles explored in Session 1. We will perform whole building life cycle assessment of the structure, envelope, and interiors for a prototypical building, practice identifying information about materials and assemblies needed to inform the whole building life cycle assessment, and demonstrate how different materials contribute to the carbon footprint of a building. Refreshments will be available. 4 LU|HSW
Session 1 presented by Rahman Azari, PSU College of Arts & Architecture Associate Professor of Architecture. Rahman Azari is an architect, associate professor, and the founding director of Resource and Energy Efficiency [RE2] Lab within the Department of Architecture. Azari is also a co-funded faculty at the Institutes of Energy and the Environment. Prior to Penn State, Azari served as an assistant professor (2017-2020) and the interim director (2018-2019) of the architecture doctorate program at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in Chicago, and an assistant professor (2013-2017) at the University of Texas San Antonio.
Azari’s research focuses on life cycle environmental impacts of built environments, innovative construction materials for energy production and carbon sequestration, and building energy and carbon efficiency. Azari was a recipient of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Upjohn Research Grant in 2019 and 2020, and a faculty sponsor to winning entries in the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) and AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE) Top Ten competitions in 2016 and 2017. In 2019, Azari was recognized as a Researcher to Know by the Illinois Science and Technology Coalition. In 2018, Azari co-edited the Energy and Buildings’ Special Issue on Embodied Energy and Carbon Efficiency. Azari’s research has been widely published in various journal venues such as Energy and Buildings and Building and Environment.
Azari holds a Ph.D. in the Built Environment from the University of Washington in Seattle.