15 Sustainability Terms You Need to Know
Original photography posted at Unsplash by Pickawood.
Original article posted at Architectural Digest by Audrey Gray.
The former U.S. poet laureate W.S. Merwin, who designed his own home in a palm tree sanctuary he planted himself on the island of Maui, once said, “Our hope is not a thing in the future; it’s a way of seeing the present.” That’s a useful mindset at the start of 2021, as designers become ever more aware of their potential to sway clients toward environmentally gentle, lower-carbon living. So much can be done right now if you know some sustainability basics and how to explain them easily. In that spirit, we’ve put together this easy reference glossary you can put to use immediately in day-to-day conversations and projects, helping those around you see the opportunities right at hand.
Carbon Budget
Here’s the big picture: International scientists agree that unless we stop emitting vast quantities of Earth-blanketing greenhouse gases, it’s going to get way too hot for any kind of normal life. The planet has already warmed one degree Celsius, and we’ve seen the impact. If we heat up past 1.5 degrees, things get much worse. To help prevent this, scientists have calculated a “budget” for how much carbon we can emit this century to stay under that threshold. We only have 8% of that budget left, so every chance to avoid burning fossil fuels for energy or product manufacturing at this point is critical.
Sustainable Grid and Renewables
The easiest way to make a dent in fossil fuel use is to swap out our energy sources from oil and gas to sun, wind, and hydropower. Those cleaner, ever-ready sources are called renewables, and when community electric grids use more of them, emissions drop sharply. It’s a two-step formula: First, electrify buildings; then make sure electric grids are powered by renewables.
Net Zero
You’ll see this phrase a lot in the news—it’s usually about energy usage. Imagine a building with solar panels on its roof. When that building is providing as much power for itself as it’s taking from the grid, that building is “netting out” to neutral energy usage.
Lately, cities are talking about aiming for Net Zero Carbon too, referring to a dramatic reduction in emissions. You’ll also hear the phrase carbon neutral (even in interior design), which means that at the end of the day, you didn’t raise the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
Embodied Carbon
We typically cause emissions in two ways: by using oil and gas daily for energy, and by making stuff. Think of everything it takes to create a new home from scratch: all the oil and gas needed to manufacture and ship concrete, steel, furniture, paint, and other components. The emissions that result from the entire project are called that home’s embodied carbon, and many architects are using a new tool called EC3 to calculate it.
There are easy ways to get embodied carbon down—nearly every traditional building material has a lower-emissions alternative, and vendors have started to add those products to their lineups. Just ask!
Green Building Codes
Federal and local legislatures around the world are adopting new laws that require building owners to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, both during construction and in daily operation. For example, more than 40 cities in California have already banned natural gas (methane, which is even more planet-warming than carbon dioxide) hookups in new residential buildings. Green building codes are one way government leaders are trying to reach Net Zero goals.
Green Building Certifications
In addition to being the right thing to do, creating a building or design project that is easy on the environment can be great for marketing too. How do you prove it? With a badge. There are many respected certifications now, though they can be tough (and expensive) to earn. LEED is the most famous, but check out Passive House, Living Building Challenge, Energy Star, and WELL certifications, too.
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
An LCA is a summary of the environmental impact a product has from the moment it was created to the moment it has decayed. So, a life cycle assessment of a sofa would include its carbon footprint as it was manufactured, the chemical “new smell” it emits when it’s off-gassing, the amount of space it will eventually take up in a landfill, and more. A movement known as cradle-to-cradle has raised awareness about all these impacts.
Environmental Product Declaration (EPD)
An EPD is an authorized document that summarizes key data points about the way a product is made. It’s a great tool to help designers determine which brand of carpet has lower embodied carbon or is less polluting. One online platform that helps professionals search for and compare product EPDs is Mindful Materials.
Greenwashing
A lot of companies, including fossil fuel companies and product manufacturers, will have sustainability pages on their websites or social media messaging with positive, earthy photos and phrases. But green talk—or greenwashing—is still just talk. That’s why EPDs are so helpful: They provide facts.
Circular Economy
As homes and office buildings are remodeled, massive quantities of still-usable furniture and building materials get carted off to landfills. A circular economy tries to break that cycle of make-use-dispose with adaptive reuse, aiming to keep things out of the trash as long as possible. When you find ways to make things last longer or creatively give a used product a second life, that’s called diverted waste.
Biophilic Design
Humans respond warmly to things that look or feel like the outdoors, whether that’s a certain type of light, a natural color palette, or even a photograph of a tree. Biophilic design describes products or places that imitate and reflect nature. It also includes things like good views and indoor plants—anything that reminds us of our instinctual connection to living things.
Indoor Air Quality (IAQ)
This past year’s horrific one-two punch of a deadly airborne virus and rampant wildfire smoke has made us all hyper-aware of what exactly we’re breathing these days. IAQ measures the safety of a building’s interior spaces, evaluating the air for pathogens and pollutants (including VOCs) and the rate at which fresh air circulates.
Building Envelope
You can save a ton of energy by paying careful attention to the skin of any structure, often called its envelope. A sealed-tight envelope will keep heat in, which is great in winter. But operable windows can help save on utility bills in shoulder seasons when a natural cross-breeze is perfect—no need to hit the AC. Good envelope design accounts for all these possibilities, and deftly manages daylight too.
Bio-crete
Concrete is typically made of cement, a super high-emissions product, and water. But materials researchers are looking to history and nature for lower-carbon options. One is bio-crete, which uses natural fibers as filler in a cement-like mixture. See also hempcrete and rammed earth.
Mass Timber
Along with concrete, steel is another huge carbon problem. (In fact, according to Architecture 2030, iron, concrete, and steel together account for about 9% of the world’s annual greenhouse gas emissions.) So diversifying structural materials is sure to be a trend this year, and mass timber is one option. Multiple panels of solid wood are nailed or glued together, forming a super-strong skeleton for buildings short and tall alike. The process makes the wood stronger and more fire-resistant, but the best part is, your building becomes a storehouse for carbon, keeping it locked in (“sequestered”) and safe from being released into the atmosphere as trees die, burn, or decay.