{"id":2697,"date":"2022-07-26T15:00:48","date_gmt":"2022-07-26T19:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/?p=2697"},"modified":"2022-08-02T14:46:30","modified_gmt":"2022-08-02T18:46:30","slug":"what-is-embodied-carbon-and-why-does-it-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/what-is-embodied-carbon-and-why-does-it-matter\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Embodied Carbon and Why Does It Matter?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>What is Embodied Carbon and Why Does It Matter?<\/h1>\n<p>by NEHERS (Northeast Home Energy Rating System Alliance)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>When most people think about the carbon footprint of a building, they think about how much electricity or heat a building uses. The greenhouse gases generated to produce electricity or heat are known as <em>operational carbon emissions<\/em>. For the last 16 years, the HERS Rating Industry has focused on reducing operational emissions (and we\u2019ve done a great job!).<\/p>\n<p>However, the emissions from the extraction, manufacturing and transportation of the building materials themselves are known as <span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>embodied carbon emissions<\/strong><\/span> or \u201ccradle to gate\u201d emissions. These emissions actually account for <span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>60-90%<\/strong><\/span> of the total carbon emissions of the building\u2019s full life cycle and they already exist in the atmosphere at the time construction begins! Operational emissions accrue on top of this baseline.<\/p>\n<p>As we strive to build homes that are more energy efficient, we often use materials with high embodied carbon in order to achieve savings on operational emissions. Factoring in the embodied carbon of the materials themselves allows us to capture up-front carbon savings. This is a critical step if we want to reach the carbon targets needed to reverse climate change by 2030.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>If we want to be able to dial in on embodied carbon targets alongside operational targets, and design buildings that not only minimize embodied carbon, but actually store carbon in building materials, we need to establish an Embodied Carbon Index alongside the HERS Index. In order to do this, we must create a new RESNET Standard. And in order to show a broad base of support for the creation of such a Standard, WE NEED YOUR HELP!<\/p>\n<p>If included in the RESNET Standards, an Embodied Carbon Index would become part of what is already the gold standard for home energy assessments in the residential home market. It could transform the HERS Industry into an even more powerful engine for tackling climate change within the next 10 years and would help to ensure that we have a livable planet for generations to come.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>HOW YOU CAN HELP<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/r7GmBnC-qdI\">Watch our informational video<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/nehers.org\/letter-of-support\">Sign our letter of support<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Share these documents with your network<br \/>\n\u2022 \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/nehers.org\/Data\/Sites\/1\/media\/embodied-carbon\/2022-08-01-nehers-embodied-carbon-position-paper.pdf\">NEHERS Embodied Carbon\u00a0Position Paper<\/a><br \/>\n\u2022 \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/nehers.org\/Data\/Sites\/1\/media\/embodied-carbon\/embodied-carbon-built-environment-checklist-from-nehers.pdf\">NEHERS Embodied Carbon Built Environment Checklist<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Climate change is the existential crisis of our time and Embodied Carbon plays a major role. Learn about why it matters and how you can help make a difference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2705,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What is Embodied Carbon and Why Does It Matter? | Home Energy Raters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Climate change is the existential crisis of our time and Embodied Carbon plays a major role. Learn why it matters and how you can help.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/what-is-embodied-carbon-and-why-does-it-matter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What is Embodied Carbon and Why Does It Matter? | Home Energy Raters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Climate change is the existential crisis of our time and Embodied Carbon plays a major role. Learn why it matters and how you can help.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/what-is-embodied-carbon-and-why-does-it-matter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Home Energy Raters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-07-26T19:00:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-02T18:46:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/GLOBAL-EMISSIONS-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kaitlyn McKenna\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kaitlyn McKenna\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/what-is-embodied-carbon-and-why-does-it-matter\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/what-is-embodied-carbon-and-why-does-it-matter\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kaitlyn McKenna\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/#\/schema\/person\/047fabc86f140e09ebcca2d7cda975e3\"},\"headline\":\"What is Embodied Carbon and Why Does It Matter?\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-07-26T19:00:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-02T18:46:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/what-is-embodied-carbon-and-why-does-it-matter\/\"},\"wordCount\":391,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/what-is-embodied-carbon-and-why-does-it-matter\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/GLOBAL-EMISSIONS-1.png\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/what-is-embodied-carbon-and-why-does-it-matter\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/what-is-embodied-carbon-and-why-does-it-matter\/\",\"name\":\"What is Embodied Carbon and Why Does It Matter? | Home Energy Raters\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/what-is-embodied-carbon-and-why-does-it-matter\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/what-is-embodied-carbon-and-why-does-it-matter\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/GLOBAL-EMISSIONS-1.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-07-26T19:00:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-02T18:46:30+00:00\",\"description\":\"Climate change is the existential crisis of our time and Embodied Carbon plays a major role. Learn why it matters and how you can help.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/what-is-embodied-carbon-and-why-does-it-matter\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/what-is-embodied-carbon-and-why-does-it-matter\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/what-is-embodied-carbon-and-why-does-it-matter\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/GLOBAL-EMISSIONS-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/GLOBAL-EMISSIONS-1.png\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":628,\"caption\":\"Total Carbon Emissions of Global New Construction from 2020-2050\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/what-is-embodied-carbon-and-why-does-it-matter\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What is Embodied Carbon and Why Does It Matter?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/\",\"name\":\"Home Energy Raters\",\"description\":\"Building Performance Testing\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Home Energy Raters\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/2021-logo-update.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/2021-logo-update.png\",\"width\":709,\"height\":113,\"caption\":\"Home Energy Raters\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/#\/schema\/person\/047fabc86f140e09ebcca2d7cda975e3\",\"name\":\"Kaitlyn McKenna\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What is Embodied Carbon and Why Does It Matter? | Home Energy Raters","description":"Climate change is the existential crisis of our time and Embodied Carbon plays a major role. Learn why it matters and how you can help.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/what-is-embodied-carbon-and-why-does-it-matter\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What is Embodied Carbon and Why Does It Matter? | Home Energy Raters","og_description":"Climate change is the existential crisis of our time and Embodied Carbon plays a major role. Learn why it matters and how you can help.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/what-is-embodied-carbon-and-why-does-it-matter\/","og_site_name":"Home Energy Raters","article_published_time":"2022-07-26T19:00:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-08-02T18:46:30+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":628,"url":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/GLOBAL-EMISSIONS-1.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Kaitlyn McKenna","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kaitlyn McKenna","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/what-is-embodied-carbon-and-why-does-it-matter\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/what-is-embodied-carbon-and-why-does-it-matter\/"},"author":{"name":"Kaitlyn McKenna","@id":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/#\/schema\/person\/047fabc86f140e09ebcca2d7cda975e3"},"headline":"What is Embodied Carbon and Why Does It Matter?","datePublished":"2022-07-26T19:00:48+00:00","dateModified":"2022-08-02T18:46:30+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/what-is-embodied-carbon-and-why-does-it-matter\/"},"wordCount":391,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/what-is-embodied-carbon-and-why-does-it-matter\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/GLOBAL-EMISSIONS-1.png","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/what-is-embodied-carbon-and-why-does-it-matter\/","url":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/what-is-embodied-carbon-and-why-does-it-matter\/","name":"What is Embodied Carbon and Why Does It Matter? | Home Energy Raters","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/what-is-embodied-carbon-and-why-does-it-matter\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/what-is-embodied-carbon-and-why-does-it-matter\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/GLOBAL-EMISSIONS-1.png","datePublished":"2022-07-26T19:00:48+00:00","dateModified":"2022-08-02T18:46:30+00:00","description":"Climate change is the existential crisis of our time and Embodied Carbon plays a major role. Learn why it matters and how you can help.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/what-is-embodied-carbon-and-why-does-it-matter\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/what-is-embodied-carbon-and-why-does-it-matter\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/what-is-embodied-carbon-and-why-does-it-matter\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/GLOBAL-EMISSIONS-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/GLOBAL-EMISSIONS-1.png","width":1200,"height":628,"caption":"Total Carbon Emissions of Global New Construction from 2020-2050"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/what-is-embodied-carbon-and-why-does-it-matter\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What is Embodied Carbon and Why Does It Matter?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/","name":"Home Energy Raters","description":"Building Performance Testing","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/#organization","name":"Home Energy Raters","url":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/2021-logo-update.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/2021-logo-update.png","width":709,"height":113,"caption":"Home Energy Raters"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/#\/schema\/person\/047fabc86f140e09ebcca2d7cda975e3","name":"Kaitlyn McKenna"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2697"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2697"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2723,"href":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2697\/revisions\/2723"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.energycodehelp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}