Environmental
By Luke Carothers UNDERSTANDING EMBODIED CARBON & AFFECTING CHANGE
that much of the progress in the Operational Carbon space, at least within their primary markets, has been a result of cities regulating operational carbon on projects, which has resulted in clients being active in mitigating operational carbon. Farnsworth is a Principal and Structural Engineer at Arup’s New York office, and has been a part of Arup’s team for over 25 years. Farnsworth began his career with Arup on the infrastructure side, working on bridge designs and big infrastructure projects. He switched to working on buildings around 20 years ago, quickly progressing to working on tall buildings all over the world. Farnsworth currently leads Arup’s Property Market business, which encompasses commercial office, residential, hotel, and retail spaces. While there has been significant progress within the space of Operational Carbon, Farnsworth believes that there is still progress that needs to be made from the perspective of Embodied Carbon, particularly within the United States. Currently, regulations on embodied carbon and building codes vary from place to place. Farnsworth notes that while incentives are a good start for pushing the conversation forward, local regulations need to be updated to both allow positive change and encourage it. A good illustration of the effect of code and regulation on sustainability is a project located in Washington DC: 80 M Street SE. Opened in September 2022, 80 M was the first commercial office building in Washington DC to feature a vertical extension constructed of mass timber as well as the first high-rise overbuild timber structure in North America. The unique 108,000 square foot addition was designed by Arup along with Hickok Cole and adds three full floors to the previously existing seven story concrete building. While 80 M now crowns Washington DC’s skyline with its sustainable biophilic design, Toth says the process of getting it designed and built required considerable passion from the design and contracting teams combined with perhaps a little bit of luck.
A major component of achieving carbon neutrality lies in identifying areas of our society that contribute the most to emissions. It is no secret that buildings make up a significant portion of yearly emissions, and this recognition has led to industry-wide efforts to find new ways to decarbonize and retrofit buildings. One of the companies at the forefront of efforts to achieve carbon neutrality is Arup. Their recent efforts within this space have included projects such as measuring the US’ progress in decarbonizing the commercial real estate sector, identifying carbon emissions savings through office-to-residential conversions, and advancing sustainable building materials. Linda Toth is an Associate in Arup’s Washington DC office, working with the Climate and Sustainability team. Her educational background is in Architecture and renewable energy, and her role at Arup allows her to do something she very much enjoys: solving technical challenges. Toth points out that, while Arup thinks about the way their company operates and the ensuing carbon footprint, they have a tremendous opportunity to make a wider impact through the projects they work on. Toth says that this understanding led them to begin measuring what is known as a “company handprint.” Part of this came with a commitment to measuring the embodied carbon of all of their projects within the buildings sector. Toth says this demonstrates a commitment to pushing the market forward while also pushing their own teams to understand the impact of embodied carbon. By understanding their own impact on carbon emissions, Toth notes that Arup’s teams are able to speak more intelligently about applicable design solutions for the issue while working across disciplines to find the best solution to influence positive outcomes. When it comes to addressing carbon concerns, there has been considerable progress in the operational carbon space as owners become more aware of how carbon emissions are connected to energy bills. David Farnsworth, Arup’s Americas Property Leader, believes
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Fall 2024
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