Whole building LCA and carbon analysis play a crucial role in promoting sustainable and low-carbon construction practices. By considering the entire life cycle of a building, these assessments help reduce environmental impacts and contribute to a more sustainable built environment. In this course we explore how project teams can use whole building LCA to reduce carbon for LEED v4.1 BD+C and ID+C projects.

Embodied carbon is the hidden impact embedded within construction materials and products and contributes significantly to our carbon footprint. By understanding the implications of your specification decisions, you possess the key to not only reducing embodied carbon, but also creating resilient and environmentally conscious structures. In this course, we explore how LEED v4.1 BD+C, ID+C, and O+M ratings systems address embodied carbon and help reduce environmental impacts.

Construction and demolition generate more waste by weight than every household and business in the country combined. LEED v5 responds with four requirements covering reuse, product selection, waste diversion, and recycling infrastructure—and carbon connects them all. This course explains how to satisfy each requirement, from zero-waste planning and material reuse to multi-attribute product selection and construction waste diversion.

LEED v5 puts carbon at the front of the design process. Before a project can pursue a single credit, it must complete a Carbon Assessment—and that assessment can fundamentally change design decisions. This course breaks down the Carbon Assessment prerequisite, the requirements that feed it, and how to use the results to identify the biggest opportunities for carbon reduction. Learn where carbon reductions have the greatest impact, how to bring carbon into early design conversations, and how to turn data into decisions that matter to owners, designers, and project teams.

California is the fourth-largest economy in the world and is experiencing many of the impacts of climate change at the same time. Extreme heat events are occurring earlier in the year and lasting longer. Snowpack is declining, wildfire risk is increasing, and several of the nation’s most polluted metropolitan areas are here.
At the same time, many Californians face rising housing and energy costs, with electricity prices among the highest in the nation.

Every building on the drawing board will operate for decades under changing energy prices, grid conditions, and carbon-related policies. LEED v5 responds by requiring projects to forecast operational carbon while the design can still change. This course breaks down the Operational Carbon Projection and Decarbonization Plan prerequisite—from energy modeling and carbon forecasts to building performance standards, potential compliance fees, and decarbonization strategies.

The impending climate crisis casts a looming shadow over our planet, and the responsibility to avert catastrophe falls upon us all. Design professionals can wield their creative powers to conceive sustainable, resilient, and regenerative solutions before it's too late. Diverting construction waste from landfills and promoting recycling, reuse, and responsible disposal practices can significantly contribute to reducing carbon emissions.

Measuring embodied carbon is now mandatory for LEED v5 projects. Reducing it is not. That gap is where this course begins. Meaningful reductions are available today using materials and methods already on the market. The challenge is turning those possibilities into project decisions—and making sure those reductions survive procurement and construction. This course breaks down the LEED v5 Reduce Embodied Carbon credit: all three achievement options, the reduction ladder, baseline requirements, whole-building impact categories, and documentation rules.