Fifty years ago, we were a divided country, but we also went to the moon by agreeing to work together on a common goal. That challenge required stepping out of our competitive silo’s and focusing on something that couldn’t be solved by any one entity alone. It also involved starting down a path before we had all of the answers in order to meet the goals. We did, however, know a direction we wanted to go in and we had a collective motivation to act.
What is our next moon shot? When looking at the “win at all cost” mentalities of our current politics, it is no doubt discouraging to people on all sides. We do, however, face daunting challenges today, and we could use more collective efforts where we chose to work together for a common cause. One of these next moonshot challenges is how we, members of the building community, respond to climate change.
Time is not our friend on this one. If we are to have success, we need to quickly move out of our individual silos and engage the collective of the building community: owners, architects, engineers, contractors, and material suppliers. If we can find common causes where we can work together, we can set forth thoughtful ideas, and scale their speed of adoption.
A recent example of how this can happen in the AEC industry is the development of the Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator (EC3). Nearly 50 industry partners came together to develop and deploy this groundbreaking cloud-based tool. It is free and open access. It helps building teams evaluate a project’s overall embodied carbon emissions during design and procurement decision making, making it easier to compare like materials, and enabling the specification and procurement of the lower carbon material options.
The tool and its subsequent impact on the industry is driving a growing demand for lower-carbon building solutions and incentivizing manufacturers and suppliers to invest in disclosure, transparency, and material innovations that reduce the carbon emissions of their products. (To understand how to integrate EC3 into a project’s workflow, check out the EC3 AEC industry primer.)
There are many partners that have helped bring the EC3 tool into existence, including Skanska and C Change Lab’s origin of the idea. For our part, the MKA Foundation as the lead funder to date, in coordination with the Charles Pankow Foundation, as both a funder and the collective grant manager, supported the Carbon Leadership Forum for the tool’s development.
Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator (EC3) Partners
CLICK HERE TO ENLARGE
One key to this effort’s success was the approach advocated by the Charles Pankow Foundation and the Carbon Leadership Forum, encouraging a culture focused on collective impact and collaborative actions--where self interests routinely are set aside so diverse groups of leaders can engage, challenge conventional wisdom, and reshape the conversation.
This approach led to peers and competitors alike being able to engage in a common space, including for the structural community, the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC), the American Concrete Institute (ACI), and the American Wood Council (AWC), each providing funding and technical input. Getting these three main material-focused organizations to agree to work on a common effort that was bigger than any one of them has been a major collective action accomplishment.
The model deployed by this project raises the bar for how the design and construction industries can come together to work on collective initiatives that are in all our interest. Through collective action, it is already paving a way to address the carbon reduction goals for our industry.
We hope that this project will inspire our industry to do more of the same. If you have an idea worthy of a collective action initiative, we invite you to engage this same model and seek out partners that are willing to invest and engage with you to bring your idea forward. When we choose to work together, many things are possible. Even ideas as ludicrous as going to the moon.
Related Stories
| Sep 7, 2012
Net-zero energy pioneers on the el-hi frontier
Getting to net-zero is not easy, but the promise of eliminating energy bills and using state-of-the-art technology as a learning lab can make a compelling case to reach for net-zero.
| Sep 7, 2012
The keys to success in the K-12 school market
When educators and school administrators describe their vision for new K-12 school buildings as ‘21st-century learning spaces,’ they’re not exaggerating. Many new schools are truly different in concept from their counterparts of only a few years ago.
| Jul 25, 2012
Contract awarded for Gaillard Municipal Auditorium renovations in Charleston, S.C.
Seeking LEED Silver certification, the project will begin in August and is slated for completion in December 2014.
| Jun 25, 2012
Living green wall planned for InterContinental Chicago
Project, with price tag of $2 million to $3 million, needs council approval.
| Jun 14, 2012
Sustainability consultant’s keynote highlights the evolution of LEED green building in Spain
Sustainability planning, green building and water efficiency consultant, Jerry Yudelson keynoted the celebration of Spain’s first LEED Platinum Municipal Green Building.
| Jun 13, 2012
Free webinar on Designing and Building Green Schools scheduled for June 20
USGBC Center for Green Schools and other experts to present practical tips.
| Jun 8, 2012
Living Building Challenge wins the 2012 Buckminster Fuller Challenge
The Living Building Challenge was chosen from a pool of 122 of entries from around the world.
| Jun 8, 2012
Nauset Construction completing sustainable dorm for Brooks School
Student input on green elements provides learning experience.
| Jun 7, 2012
Stantec publishes 2011 corporate Sustainability Report
Stantec's fifth annual Sustainability Report was prepared in accordance with the internationally recognized G3.1 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines, developed by the Global Reporting Initiative.
| Jun 1, 2012
New BD+C University Course on Insulated Metal Panels available
By completing this course, you earn 1.0 HSW/SD AIA Learning Units.