The small township of Douro-Dummer in Ontario is leading the way in North America by tackling the embodied carbon of building materials to meet their carbon reduction targets. Most building incentive programs focus exclusively on the operational carbon emissions associated with buildings, promoting more insulation and energy efficient retrofits, but usually this means even higher emissions being put in the atmosphere before the work is even done, during the manufacture of the building materials. Fortunately, as evident in this National Observer story, Douro-Dummer is showing how communities and builders can make better choices, and build better buildings that are energy efficient and healthy for the climate and people. Douro-Dummer is the first, but surely not the last municipality to take advantage of the embodied carbon reduction opportunity. – Melinda Zytaruk
“Chris Magwood of Builders for Climate Action, a coalition of builders, developers, policymakers and others focused on lowering carbon emissions from buildings, says there’s no single solution for cutting back on carbon in construction. Magwood, whose organization helped develop the township’s low-carbon construction program, says insulation is the leading source of building emissions, while cladding (the outside of a building) and concrete are two other main contributors.Building material manufacturing for new homes in Canada accounts for up to 10 million tonnes of emissions, says Magwood. That’s why programs like Douro-Dummer’s — which he says could reduce building emissions by 75 per cent in the near future, and perhaps completely eliminate them by 2040 — are so important.[…]”
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