Event Description

Join us for the USGBC Virtual Technical Workshop: A Roadmap to Holistic Building Decarbonization

GBCI Credit: 1.0 CE hours

Basic level (Note: This workshop is for those already familiar and experienced with LEED. Focus is on using LEED to achieving carbon neutrality.)

Description

For years, the holy grail for buildings sustainability has been to reach the goal of Net Zero Energy and Net Zero Carbon (with similar goals for water, waste, and health). With the latest codes cycle updates, the shift to LEED v4.1, and the movement across the country towards grid decarbonization, we are as close as ever to the possibility of reaching that goal. However, the closer we get, the more expansive and nuanced the issue becomes. Does the time of use of when I use energy matter? Does adding more solar help if I’m in a grid region that has to curtail it? Can I call myself Zero Carbon if I use gas or if my building requires people to drive combustion vehicles to get there? How important are embodied carbon and refrigerant emissions relative to energy-related emissions? Is procuring offsite renewable energy just as good as making it onsite? What barriers exist that may prevent or make it difficult to do all of this? This session will examine the intricacies of reaching a comprehensive definition of Zero Energy and Carbon, show how LEED Zero supports this definition, and the highlight the new frontier of removing carbon from the built environment.

Learning Objectives

• How reach the goal of Net Zero Energy and Net Zero Carbon
• Options to get to the Zero Carbon goal
• Show how LEED Zero supports this definition of Zero Energy and Carbon

Presenter

Joshua Radoff, Senior Vice President, Built Ecology - WSP and LEED Fellow

Josh is a Senior Vice President with WSP and leads WPS’s Built Ecology practice. Josh works on a range of horizontal and vertical sustainable buildings and infrastructure projects, including those pursuing high level sustainability goals such as Net Zero Energy, WELL and LEED certification. Josh was a co-founder of the sustainability group YR&G, was a co-founder of the advocacy group GreenHomeNYC. He was co-chair of the ULI Colorado Healthy Places Committee and is a LEED Fellow. He holds Masters’ degrees in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm and Columbia University in New York. Josh teaches a class at the University of Colorado, Boulder on decarbonizing the built environment.

Thanks to our host-partner WSP