The annual Global Climate Change Conference (also known as COP27), was just held in Egypt from November 6-18. The conference sparked global conversations around sustainability efforts and the role of the construction industry in reducing emissions. 

Dan and Annie sat down with the Enclosure Experts podcast to talk about all things net zero. Mostly, they discussed the concept of getting to net zero before the RFP, including questions to ask before writing an RFP and how project teams can approach net zero energy while working on a project.

Project teams are considering additional dimensions of carbon emissions resulting from a building project, including carbon emissions from water consumption, waste generation, occupant transportation, and the embodied carbon of materials used to build the project. 

According to the EPA, Sick Building Syndrome describes situations in which building occupants experience acute health and comfort effects that appear to be linked to time spent in a building, but no specific illness or cause can be identified. 

Lendlease, Rubicon Technologies, Mycocycle, and Rockwood Sustainable Solutions applied mycology to roofing shingles in what is believed to be a first-of-its kind sustainability study, emphasizing the importance of recycling, reuse, and carbon reduction.

With increasing evidence of a shifting climate, many building project teams are confronting the compounded threat of increasingly severe heat waves and the vulnerability of our country's electrical grid.

An ESG score calculation can help investors and other concerned stakeholders evaluate how companies are doing in areas like sustainability and social responsibility.

Rainwater mitigation and insulating goals can both be achieved in low-slope or flat roofs with optimized, project-specific tapered polyisocyanurate insulation panel designs and systems.

The developers are aiming for LEED Platinum Certification, as well as compliance with Toronto Green Standard (TGS) requirements. In effect since 2010, the TGS sets tiered energy, emissions, and sustainability benchmarks for new buildings to support Toronto’s goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. 

Despite evidence of changing climate, in the United States it is still common for building project teams to reference U.S. Climate Normals derived from three consecutive decades of historic data for broad-based climate analyses and to utilize Typical Meteorological Year datasets for building energy modeling exercises.