PNWER Summit 2022 Resource Materials
The Pacific Northwest Building Resilience Coalition is a proud sponsor of the 2022 Summit of the Pacific Northwest Economic Region 2022 Summit taking place in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, July 24-27, 2022.
To he;p the many attendees of the Summit – both in-person and virtual – to better understand the mission and activities of the Building Resilience Coalition, we have assembled several papers and videos that are b readily available online for your review. Follow the links below, or take a picture of \the individual QR Codes so you can review this material at your leisure. Here is the complete program for the Pacific Northwest Economic Region 2022 Summit.
Handouts and Resource Papers
Building Back Better – Address by William Larson at the PNWER 30th Summit, August 2021
” Building Better and Resilient Buildings and Infrastructure in our communities to higher standards than are required by established building codes is critical to the future wellbeing of millions worldwide.”
Building Better Buildings, 2022
The construction and operation of buildings in the U.S. account for 40% of all U.S. GHG emissions. Any approach to combating global climate change must include a robust and comprehensive plan to reduce the built environment’s carbon footprint. So how to ‘green’ the built environment? Where are the possible energy savings, and how can we make the most impact?
Building-Resilience-Hazard-Mitigation
Natural disasters cause billions of dollars of damage to our nation’s infrastructure annually. While builders generally make decisions about materials and techniques with upfront costs foremost in mind, the long-term cost of repairs in hazard-prone communities can generate increased financial burdens for both building owners and communities. Factoring resilience into building design can help reduce lifetime repair and maintenance costs in hazard-prone areas and allow communities to recover more quickly from a disaster.
Carbon is Carbon -2022
Carbon Neutrality is the concept of achieving net zero carbon emissions by balancing an amount of carbon released with an equivalent amount sequestered or offset from reforestation – i.e. new growth. This accounting protocol is applied to biogenic sources of CO2 emissions and permits manufacturers to omit 100% of CO2 emissions from biofuels from the carbon footprint of their products.
Carbon Sequestration in Forest-Based Wood ProductsReducing
Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions associated with the built environment is now a significant issue in efforts to alleviate the impacts of climate change. Promoting the construction of more energy-efficient and climate-resilient buildings has become a critical public policy focus in many jurisdictions.
Concrete as a Carbon Sink Rethinking Carbon Sequestration in the Built Environment
It’s a mantra repeatedly accepted on faith as accurate: wood sequesters carbon, and concrete production emits carbon. As in most things, the truth is often lost in translation.
Ending the Loophole in Carbon Accounting – Update 2022
A suit filed in the European General Court in Luxembourg against the European Union could have consequences for forest management in North America. At issue is the EU’s rapid conversion of coal-burning power plants to burn wood pellets and chips, a process known as bioenergy. As has been noted in research fast-burning wood pellets for Europe are carbon neutral.
What is the Value of Mitigation Against Natural Disasters
Many homeowners and property developers remain uncertain about the value of designing buildings to withstand better the risks associated with potential hazards such as wildfires, floods or extreme weather events until it is too late. ______________________________________________________________________
Videos on Pathways to Resilience and Carbon Neutrality
Each of the six webinars in The Pathway to Resilience and Carbon Neutrality Series brings a different perspective to this challenge.
Webinar One – Building the Future – What, How, and What From, featuring Dr. Andrew Minson, Concrete and Sustainable Construction Director, Global Cement and Concrete Association, explores how construction practices in the future will affect what we build and how we build and what must the cement and concrete industries do to reduce CO2 and GHG emissions to address the impacts of climate change.
Webinar Two The Roadmap to Carbon Neutrality, featuring Richard Bohan – Vice President, Sustainability, Portland Cement Association, explores sustainability-related activities in the Association’s recently published Roadmap to Carbon Neutrality.
Webinar Three Decarbonizing Concrete – The Policy Levers, featuring Adam Auer, then Vice President and now President and CEO of the Cement Association of Canada, examines the entire built environment value chain from a circular economy perspective and outlines the low-Carbon Procurement Policies and Incentives needed for the future.
Webinar Four Concrete Innovations – the Environmental Impacts of Building Materials, featuring Tien Peng, Senior Vice President of Sustainability, Codes and Standards, National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, discusses current and future innovations of concrete that policymakers and design professionals should consider as they assess the environmental impacts of building materials to maximize resilience, performance and deliver lasting value.
Webinar Five Concrete as a sustainability solution, featuring Dr. Randolph E. Kirchain, Ph.D.., Co-Director of the Concrete Sustainability Hub at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, goes far beyond the use of concrete in construction and explores reducing emissions on our roads through greater fuel efficiency, using the thermal mass for heating/cooling our buildings, and the reflective characteristics of concrete. It also involves the natural reuptake of CO2 by exposed concrete surfaces to “permanent sequestration” of carbon dioxide.
Webinar Six, The Resilience Advantage: Economic and Environmental Benefits of Disaster Resilient Design, featuring Evan Reis, Co-Founder and Executive Director, U.S. Resiliency Council, explores the need for policies and incentives that promote resilience-based methods to ensure a more resilient future.
Each webinar is available on the Pacific Northwest Building Resilience Coalition YouTube channel here.