(Editor’s note: Click here to read previous Climate Minutes from CFREE. The article below will illustrations can be found here.)
By Collette Sizer for CFREE
Upfront carbon emissions account for a staggering 13% of global CO2 emissions and require urgent action to address them. But most people know very little about them. What are they?
Upfront (often called “embodied”) carbon emissions are those caused by making, transporting, and installing materials in a product, like steel and plastic in a car or concrete and glass in a house. Upfront carbon emissions happen just once, when a material is created and incorporated in a product.
Upfront carbon emissions — greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide (CO2) — are emitted for every object we buy. Those emissions are enormous for cars and houses (in the U.S., 10-20 tons of CO2 for the average car and 30-40 tons for the average house) and contribute strongly to the climate crisis. (10 tons is equivalent to burning five tons of coal.) But mostly we aren’t aware that they are being released.
We’re all familiar with operating emissions — greenhouse gases created when we burn fossil fuels to run our car or house. Operating emissions are released throughout the life of the car or house. We’re already working to reduce operating emissions from our homes by improving insulation and switching from gas or oil heat to heat pumps. And more and more of us are buying electric vehicles (EVs) or plug-in hybrids. These are great steps. We all must work to reduce operating emissions from every aspect of our life to help slow the rate of global warming. But we must also reduce or prevent upfront emissions as much as possible, from now on.
Why? The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has defined a carbon budget for the planet — a fixed amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that we can emit before 2050 and still stay within 1.5 or 2° C. of warming. If we emit more than the budgeted amount, the risk of catastrophic warming, which may not be reversible, greatly increases. So, we need to go all out towards reducing both operating and upfront carbon emissions, for the benefit of ourselves, our children and grandchildren.
How can I reduce upfront emissions?
To reduce or prevent upfront emissions, we should select as many of the following options as are applicable to a purchase we’re considering:
- Skip the purchase if it isn’t necessary! It has been said that the house/car with the lowest upfront emissions is the one that isn’t built/made. That applies to any purchase we’re considering, from a T-shirt to a townhouse, since everything we buy has upfront emissions associated with it.
- Purchase a used car or an existing house. (he upfront emissions are already out there!
- If building or renovating a house:
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- Select materials carefully, opting for those with low global warming impact but also high durability. There are enormous differences in this area between materials that perform the same function. Here’s a visual that illustrates some of the key materials in a home that need to be evaluated. Work with your architect on this, as contractors will likely not be educated in this area yet.
- Choose used materials when possible. (e.g., doors from a used building supply store, polyisocyanurate rigid insulation from demolished commercial buildings – half the price of new)
- Decrease the quantity of materials involved by buying a smaller car or house.
- Buy durable products. Frequent replacement means higher long-term upfront emissions.
And, of course, as we weigh choices through the lens of upfront emissions, we also have to consider operating emissions. We have to work hard at reducing both! This is illustrated very clearly when buying a car. The Green Energy Consumers Alliance has these recommendations regarding the purchase of a car:
- Ask “Do I really need to buy this car?” f you can avoid it, do so.
- If you conclude that you do need to buy a car, get an EV or plug-in hybrid if at all possible. Lifetime emissions, including both upfront and operating, will be far lower than those of a gas-powered car. Charging issues and cost do sometimes make it difficult to own an EV, but long-distance charging is getting a lot easier for owners of non-Tesla EVs as more brands gain access to the extensive Tesla supercharger network. Most brands should have access this year. In addition, other charging networks are growing fast.
- Get the smallest car that will work for you. This will minimize both upfront and operating emissions.
In addition:
- If you absolutely must buy a gas-powered car, hybrids will have the lowest operating emissions. Buy the car used, if at all possible, to avoid new upfront carbon emissions. Same for an EV. There is a growing market for used EVs/plug-in hybrids.
- Consider an e-bike as a second vehicle. Overall emissions are a fraction of those for a car.
Although they are not yet widely known, upfront carbon emissions are a real threat. We can make a difference to our world by considering their impact, along with that of operating emissions, in every purchase we make.
CFREE (Carbon Free Residential – Everything Electric) is a subcommittee of the Lincoln Green Energy Committee (GEC). CFREE provides guidance on how households can reduce use of fossil fuels and decrease greenhouse gas emissions to help Massachusetts meet statewide emissions limits set for 2030, 2040, and 2050. It also provides information about state and federal incentives that help reduce the cost of such changes. For more information, visit lincolngreenenergy.org.
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