Circular Ecology giving keynote speech at BuildingEnergy Boston 2017

Dr Craig Jones of Circular Ecology will give a keynote speech and run a workshop at the BuildingEnergy Boston conference, 7-9 March 2017 at the Seaport Trade Center, Boston, USA.

BuildingEnergy Boston is a green building conference organised by the NorthEast Sustainable Energy Association.  It is the region’s leading event for professionals and practitioners working to build a more sustainable world. It brings over 2,500 industry leaders and emerging professionals together for three days to learn from and share ideas with each other.​ ​

Dr Craig Jones will give a keynote speech (plenary) and run a workshop – full details below.  To read more about the conference and Craig’s involvement, visit the NESEA website.

Plenary, Part I – Beyond Energy: The Concealed Environmental Impact of Buildings and Residents
Wednesday, March 08, 2017
8:30 am to 10:00 am

When it comes to environmental impacts of buildings, operational energy (and to some degree, carbon) attracts the most attention. This is likely because buildings currently account for one third of the world’s energy use, and this figure is projected to double by 2050 – presenting both a huge challenge and a great opportunity to improve the sustainability of the built environment. While the industry’s main focus on operational energy can be justified, it is important not to neglect the other environmental impacts of buildings and residents, including water, toxicity, smog, acidification, eutrophication. This presentation will give a visual overview of the wider environmental impacts of buildings on residents. Dr. Craig Jones will reveal big picture impacts and show how your own local consumption can have unexpected impacts – even on the other side of the world.

Embodied Energy and Carbon: Calculating the Life Cycle Impacts of Buildings
Tuesday, March 7, 2017 – 2:00pm to 5:00pm

It is becoming increasingly apparent that the impacts of buildings extend far beyond operational energy and carbon. As the thermal standards of buildings improve, attention will shift toward wider life cycle impacts including material production, transport, construction waste, on-site activities, material replacement, maintenance and finally the end of life of the building. These life cycle stages have a considerable impact, yet they are often neglected. This workshop will equip participants with the skills necessary to calculate the life cycle impacts of buildings (residential and commercial) through a series of hands-on exercises. These skills can also be used to compare different design options while reducing the embodied energy and carbon of a real building. The workshop will conclude with best practice case studies of projects that have reduced their embodied and lifecycle impacts without increasing cost. Content of this workshop is suitable for basic and intermediate level participants.