Life Cycle Impact Reduction
How commercial interiors projects can demonstrate embodied carbon reductions.
There are several ways for commercial interiors projects or renovations to demonstrate embodied carbon reductions–-through the reuse of nonstructural elements of the existing building, the reuse of furniture and furnishings, and/or a design that embraces flexibility and adaptive reuse.
Reused nonstructural elements often include existing finished ceilings, flooring, interior wall partitions, doors, exterior and party walls and built in case goods. There are approaches based on surface area or cost to demonstrate that a significant percentage of these existing materials were retained rather than replaced with new products.
Furniture can play a role in these strategies through refurbishment or direct reuse. Calculations for this category are generally cost based and demonstrated by a percentage of total FF&E budget. There are also low emissions advantages to reusing furniture that has already offgassed.
Designing for flexibility of the future space is also an effective approach. There are many ways to minimize future material replacements, as the needs of the new tenant space or renovation change over time. Accessible or demountable floors, ceilings or partitions are popular. Plug and play lighting and power systems that allow workspaces to be reconfigured. Specifying products like carpet or acoustical ceiling tiles with take back systems, also known as extended producer responsibility, ensure that these materials can be returned at the end of their useful life to the manufacturer for disassembly and recycling.
And the newest LEED rating system v4.1 also offers a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) model option which is focused on the interior scope of work rather than the building envelope. However, LCA software with data sets that can handle furniture, finishes and interior assemblies are still in the early stages.