How can the building industry mobilize to achieve 40% reduction in embodied carbon by 2030? This is the bold target set not only by the City of Vancouver, but now adopted by the World Green Building Council in their call to action report Bringing Embodied Carbon Upfront. Achieving this will require bold action across all industry stakeholders, which is why we have put together a diverse panel of experts representing different industry stakeholders. This discussion will cover a range of topics relating to embodied carbon, including policy, research, manufacturing, design, construction, data, and tools. All of these elements will play a critical role in enabling our industry to achieve significant reductions in embodied carbon — join us to find out how.
Panel discussion with stakeholder viewpoints from:
Government (Municipal): Patrick Enright (City of Vancouver)
Government (Federal): Geoffrey Guest (National Research Council)
Contractor: Stacy Smedley (Skanska)
Designer: Yury Kulikov (Fast+Epp)
Material Manufacturer: Matt Dalkie (Lafarge)
NGO / Network / Researcher: Zahra Teshnizi (UBC & ZEBx) – Moderator
[ BOMI 1 CPD ∙ AIBC 1 Core LU ∙ 1 HSW Hours IDCEC Approved ∙ 1 CPD BC Housing Recognized ]
ROOM 217
Panelists
Anthony Pak
Principal, Priopta & Founder, Embodied Carbon Network Vancouver
Anthony is the Principal at Priopta, one of the first firms in North America to provide Parametric Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) consulting services for buildings.He is also the founder of ECN Vancouver-the first local chapter of the Embodied Carbon Network-which organizes local events that empower building industry professionals to champion the topic of embodied carbon on their projects and within their firms.
Anthony serves on the Technical Committee for the National Research Council’s Low-Carbon Assets through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)² Initiative.He has a Masters in Industrial Ecology from NTNU-a leading LCA research group in Norway-as well as experience completing a range of Whole Building LCA studies using software tools such as Athena Impact Estimator, Tally, and One Click LCA.
Matt Dalkie
Technical Services Engineer, Lafarge Cement
Matt has worked in the cement industry for his entire career, and is currently a Technical Services Engineer for Lafarge Cement. Prior to this position, he held process engineering positions in manufacturing plants and technical centers in New Zealand, UK, France and Canada and has a detailed knowledge and understanding of cement manufacturing. In his current position, Matt has developed an in depth understanding of cement and concrete products in relation to sustainable construction. Matt holds a degree in Chemical Technology, is a LEED Accredited Professional in Building Design and Construction and holds a variety of NRMCA certifications. He is active on CSA Concrete (CSA A23.1/2), Cement (CSA A3000), and lab testing (CSA A283) standards development committees, chairing the sustainability subcommittees, ACI committees for Concrete Sustainability, Alternative Cements, and Soil Cementing and is chair of the ConcreteBC Technical Committee. Matt is a registered Professional Engineer in BC and Alberta.
Patrick Enright
Green Buildings Engineer, City of Vancouver
Patrick Enright is a Green Building Engineer with the City of Vancouver’s Sustainability Group, where he works on green building policy and code updates for large new buildings. Current priorities include the implementation of the Zero Emissions Building Plan, and creating a policy to reduce embodied emissions in the construction sector. Patrick is a professional engineer with years of experience in the building industry, including a number of years with a Vancouver firm in mechanical design and energy modeling. Before moving to Vancouver, Patrick worked in the national project management office of Defence Construction Canada located in Ottawa.
Geoffrey Guest
Life Cycle Analyst and Research Officer, National Research Council Canada
Within the Construction Research Centre at National Research Council, Geoff works alongside leading researchers on projects that tackle climate change mitigation, building resiliency, core public infrastructure, all from a life cycle perspective. Geoff is the founder and technical lead for the Low-Carbon Assets through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA^2) Initiative. The LCA^2 initiative is a collaboration between the NRC and other federal government departments, academia, non-government organizations, industry partners, and low-carbon asset experts from across Canada. The initiative will establish a centralized Canadian Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) database. This will allow for fair comparison of new projects, both for life cycle greenhouse gas emissions and the total cost of asset ownership. The initiative will also support the development of guidelines, benchmarks, and enhanced tools (asset-specific) that will help measure, evaluate and track the full life cycle of the carbon emissions of built assets. These guidelines and benchmarks will leverage the LCI database, stimulate innovation in low-carbon materials, technologies and design, and contribute to aligning capital investment decisions with sustainability policies across Canada.
Stacy Smedley
Director of Sustainability, Skanska USA
At Skanska, Stacy leads sustainable initiatives and opportunities, and is considered a subject matter expert in LEED and Living Building Challenge certifications, with a passion for reducing materials toxicity and carbon emissions associated with construction. She is the co-creator of the Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator (EC3), an industry wide, open source tool for quantifying and reducing the carbon of building materials. Stacy has a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from the University of Washington, and 15 years experience in the architecture and construction professions. Her resume includes the first LEED for Homes Platinum certified project in Washington State as well as the first project in the world to be certified under Living Building Version 2.0 standards. Stacy is committed to educating and engaging the AEC community on sustainable design and construction, and has served in various advisory and leadership roles, including: Chair of the Washington Businesses for Climate Action; Advisory Board Member for the University of Washington Carbon Leadership Forum; Construction Taskforce Chair for the Embodied Carbon Network; Advisory Group Member for AIA Materials Working Group; and Emerging Professional Regional Chair for USGBC. She is an experienced speaker, and a 2012 Living Building Challenge Hero.
Yury Kulikov
Associate, Fast+Epp Yury is an Associate at Fast+Epp, an internationally recognized structural engineering firm with a team that prioritizes creativity and simplicity. Fast+Epp helps create a safer, more efficient and more sustainable construction industry by designing structures that are easy, fast and economical to build. Fast+Epp is known for their deep expertise in mass timber design, including multiple world-class mass timber projects. Yury has gained an extensive project experience at Fast+Epp working on major residential, recreational and public projects. At his company, Yury contributes to the suitability aspects of the design process. Yury believes in professional and personal responsibility to protect nature around us. He is an avid surfer and traveler.