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ALBION DISTRICT LIBRARY BY PERKINS + WILL IS A 2018 COTE TOP TEN RECIPIENT. IMAGE: DOUBLESPACE PHOTOGRAPHY

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The Committee on the Environment (COTE®) is an AIA Knowledge Community working for architects, allied professionals, and the public to achieve climate action and climate justice through design. We believe that design excellence is the foundation of a healthy, sustainable, and equitable future. Our work promotes design strategies that empower all AIA members to realize the best social and environmental outcomes with the clients and the communities they serve.

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Founding sponsors: Building Green
Premier sponsors: Sherwin-Williams
Sustaining sponsors: GAF Roofing, Milliken, Andersen Windows,
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  • 1.  Decarbonization Symposium

    Posted 04-13-2022 09:04 AM

    Pratt Institute's Housing Consortium has organized a Decarbonization Symposium for Earth Day 2022 (4/22/2022) from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. 

    The Decarbonization Symposium celebrates the release of the Housing Consortium's Housing in New York City In the Context of Carbon, Climate, and Social Justice, a compendium that includes two decarbonization policy briefs (NYC Local Law 97 and Mass Timber in NYC). Building on this effort, the Decarbonization Working Group has convened a series of panelists to critically expand on these topics and to offer informative and innovative perspectives. 

    The Decarbonization Symposium will be a deep dive into the challenges and opportunities of decarbonization of the built environment - with a special focus on efforts to reduce embodied and operational carbon emissions in New York City. 

    Participants will learn about the challenges of understanding embodied carbon in building materials and products - and why we must prioritize the reduction of embodied carbon emissions now, rather than merely focusing on lowering operational emissions. Specifically, the panel will address: 

    1. New perspectives on understanding, measuring, and specifying materials and products that reduce embodied carbon in retrofits and new buildings;
    2. How building professionals and policymakers should rethink embodied and operational carbon emissions, in order to slow the effects of climate change;
    3. New materials and technologies for reducing carbon emissions, in building retrofits and new construction;
    4. The emerging market for carbon-sequestering materials like mass timber and other bio-based materials that may transform the construction industry. 

    Participants will be able to apply this knowledge when planning, designing or developing sustainable new projects that can meet or exceed 2030/2050 carbon-neutral GHG emission goals.

    The Decarbonization Symposium, (free), April 22, 2022 - 9 a.m to 12:00 p.m. will be held via zoom:

    REGISTRATION LINK   After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

    Decarbonization Symposium Participants

    Welcome:

    • Frances Bronet, Pratt Institute President
    • Harriet Harriss, Pratt Institute, Dean of the School of Architecture

    Co-moderators:

    • Meta Brunzema, Architect, Collective for Community Culture & Environment, LLC, and Adjunct Associate Professor, Pratt Graduate Architecture & Urban Design
    • Fatou Jabbie, Sustainability Consultant, NYC Accelerator

    Panelists:

    • Gabrielle Brainard, Visiting Associate Professor at Pratt, UG Architecture, and Principal of Fabric First Architecture & Consulting, PLLC
    • Bill Caplan, Assoc. AIA, Author, Design Consultant, and Materials Engineer
    • Paul L. Crovella, Environmental Engineer, SUNY, Environmental Science and Forestry
    • Jay Gorman, Project Executive at F.J. Sciame Construction
    • Werner Morath, Architect, Loadingdock5


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    Bill Caplan, Associate. AIA
    Author of "Thwart Climate Change Now: Reducing Embodied Carbon Brick by Brick"
    Environmental Law Institute ELI Press, November 2021
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