Build Beyond Zero: New Ideas for Carbon-Smart Architecture

“Net Zero” has been a goal of the green building movement, to have every building generate at least as much energy as it uses.  Enormous progress has been made in recent years to improve the performance of new buildings, and in renovating existing buildings to improve their energy performance. 

Bruce King and Chris Magwood, co-authors of Build Beyond Zero: New Ideas for Carbon-Smart Architecture, joined the Smart Growth Network to provide a roadmap for re-envisioning the built environment by turning buildings into sites of net carbon storage. 

King and Magwood discussed the importance of examining which components, from concrete to solar photovoltaics, go into creating a climate-friendly building and why it is important to address carbon emissions during the entire lifecycle of a building, from the materials used for construction to the supply chains delivering products to job sites.