Embedded Carbon at the Forefront of Decisions

LOUIS POLIQUIN, M. SC.

Embodied carbon reductions continue to play an increasingly significant role in decarbonization strategies; wood–a local, renewable material with a low carbon footprint–is gradually emerging as an obvious solution. This issue will discuss the government’s leadership toward the implementation of the Integrating Wood in Construction Policy, along with the progress made by government departments and agencies in conducting comparative analyses to assess the carbon footprint of buildings. Convinced that biobased insulation, made from sawing co-products or recycled wood, creates a real opportunity for growth in Quebec’s manufacturing sector, the issue will also present a comparative analysis of the carbon footprint of building envelopes that include these materials. The floor will then be given to construction professionals who will share their vision, motivations and methods when integrating decarbonization into their work. Their testimonials will shed light on the challenges they face and the solutions they propose when designing their projects. The issue will also call attention to projects whose design methods have helped reduce carbon in the construction sector, such as the PNE Amphitheatre, the WOOD project in Grenoble, and the Mont-Laurier Library. These projects have demonstrated the sector’s ability to combine environmental efficiency, architectural quality, and structural performance. Finally, this issue will address a topic that continues to draw attention from the scientific community, namely biogenic carbon, or carbon removed from the atmosphere by trees and stored in wood products. We hope that you will enjoy this issue which, above all, serves as a tool to help spread knowledge. I wish to extend my sincere gratitude to our collaborators for their contributions to the issue, and I wish you all happy reading!