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Frontiers of Engineering Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2011 Symposium (2012) / Chapter Skim
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Challenges and Opportunities for Low-Carbon Buildings--John Ochsendorf
Pages 83-88

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From page 83...
... INTRODUCTION This paper outlines some of the key challenges facing the engineering of low-carbon buildings. Though buildings have major environmental impacts due to water use, raw material consumption, and other natural resource deple tion, it is useful to focus on greenhouse gas emissions due to the central role of buildings in mitigating climate change.
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From page 84...
... Clearly engineers have a major role to play in helping to reduce the carbon emissions of existing and new buildings, though a number of challenges exist. Several current initiatives in the United States provide targets for improved carbon performance of buildings.
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From page 85...
... In particular, most engineering schools do not directly address the design and operation of buildings, since the field of sustainable building design falls among the disciplines of mechanical engineering, civil engineering, and architecture. Though there are a small number of programs in architectural engineering, the number of architectural engineering graduates nationally is much lower than traditional engineering disciplines, and the coming decades will require more engineers in this field.
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From page 86...
... In addition to engineering expertise in heat transfer, thermal science, materials engineering, and other traditional building science disciplines, sustainable buildings require expertise in design thinking and creative problem solving. Furthermore, there is demand in the market for increased literacy in rigorous sustainability metrics and for expertise in lifecycle environmental and economic performance of buildings.
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From page 87...
... Some noteworthy examples for a range of different building types include • Residential building: BedZED, Beddington, England • School: Richardsville Elementary School, Richardsville, Kentucky • Office building: National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado • Cultural building: Mapungubwe Visitor's Center, South Africa In these and most other cases of sustainable buildings, the crucial design strate gies were developed by a collaborative team of architects and engineers early in the design process. By setting clear targets for energy consumption, these designs were achieved at similar costs as conventional construction, with significant lifecycle economic benefits due to reduced operating energy requirements.
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From page 88...
... 2008. A National Green Building Research Agenda, United States Green Building Council (USGBC)
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Key Terms

  • carbon reductions
  • sustainable buildings
  • building design
  • sustainable building
  • design stage

  • design software
  • conceptual design
  • greenhouse gas
  • green building
  • building performance

  • architectural design
  • improved building
  • gas emissions
  • building orientation
  • rapid feedback

  • architectural engineering
  • assembly bill
  • mckinsey consulting
  • energy consumption
  • building sector

  • glazing ratios
  • emissions due
  • environmental performance
  • integrated building
  • traditional building

  • building energy
  • improved carbon
  • building environmental
  • improved design
  • building research


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