以“碳意识”设计丨Sasaki

Designing with a Carbon Conscience｜Sasaki

项目陈述

PROJECT STATEMENT

“碳意识”是经过多年研究的成果，旨在帮助设计师在规划决策中充分考虑气候影响因素。该研究包含对400余篇文献的综述，涵盖建筑、工业、生态及景观领域的白皮书。“碳意识”是唯一经过同行评审的数据集和应用程序，将景观与建筑用地结合在一起，从整个项目生命周期评估的角度研究规划决策。目前，该工具正被整合至新一代Pathfinder、Landkit和EPIC工具中。“碳意识”倡导投资于自然生态系统，以实现碳吸收，并减少建筑环境中的固有碳排放。

Carbon Conscience results from a multi-year investigation into how designers can make informed planning decisions related to climate impacts. This work included a literature review of over 400 sources, including architectural, industrial, ecological, and landscape white papers. Carbon Conscience is the only peer-reviewed dataset and application that brings landscape and architectural land uses together to study planning decisions from a whole project life cycle assessment perspective. It is now being integrated into the next generation of Pathfinder, Landkit, and EPIC tools. Carbon Conscience supports advocacy for investing in living systems for carbon drawdown and reducing embodied carbon in the built environment.

▲以“碳意识”进行设计：“碳意识”是一个基于网页的全项目生命周期工具，将景观和建筑数据集整合，以指导规划决策，Design with a Carbon Conscience: Carbon Conscience is a web-based whole project life cycle tool that brings together landscape and architectural datasets to inform planning decisions.© Sasaki

项目说明

PROJECT NARRATIVE

“碳意识”整合了景观、建筑和生态领域的文献，构建了一个通用平台，使建筑环境可能带来的全球变暖影响变得易于理解和应对，特别是在设计早期阶段——这一阶段设计团队可以调整方向、优化框架，并有效推动低碳设计。

研究始于文献综述，旨在理解土地利用决策对全球变暖的影响——因为土地利用是规划和城市设计中最基本的决策单元。在研究初期，景观建筑研究人员发现，景观材料并没有明确的基准数据集。因此，研究进一步扩展，涵盖170多种在景观设计项目中指定使用的独特材料和产品类型。研究团队整合了生命周期评估（LCA）数据，并使用箱线图统计法报告每种类型的碳因子范围。

随后，研究团队基于典型项目制定了土地利用组合假设，涵盖220多种景观用地类型（以及200种建筑用地类型）。通过基于单位面积覆盖率应用这些假设，研究人员能够估算建造该土地利用所需的各种材料质量，并将这些数量乘以碳因子和运输成本，以计算出每种土地利用的低、中、高固有碳排放量。

团队采用整体生态系统方法来研究碳封存能力，分析宏观生态系统的碳封存速率和储存能力，并将其转换为土地利用预测。研究过程中，所参考的白皮书使用了不同的方法，因此团队开发了一种矩阵模型，将预测的生物量、平均年封存率、分解速率及外源碳假设进行统一整理。

这一研究揭示了碳封存能力的巨大差异——从低碳的干燥灌木丛到超高碳封存能力的红树林。团队发现需要采用不同的模型来适应这些差异，例如森林采用逻辑曲线模型，而湿地采用线性回归模型，并且需要考虑不同气候条件下的分解速率变化及土壤有机碳的长期累积能力。研究团队最终能够比较不同土地利用方式，例如估算多少英亩的温带森林修复可以抵消一座新建筑的碳排放，或分析受拆除威胁的红树林湿地的碳封存潜力。该研究的一大创新在于，它将建筑环境中的生物系统以与建筑和基础设施同等严谨的方式进行量化和分析。

该研究的直接成果包括一篇白皮书和一个完整、可复现的方法数据库。这一数据库已被转换为免费开源的“碳意识”平台，供任何设计师、机构或环保人士测试其想法。此外，该数据集正被整合到下一版本的Pathfinder、EPIC和Landkit的源数据中，并被北卡罗来纳州立大学教授Meg Caulkins即将出版的低碳建筑材料与设计书籍所引用。本研究揭示了许多未解问题和文献空白，但它极大地增强了景观建筑师应对建筑环境脱碳挑战的能力——通过集体努力，一个设计一个设计地推进变革。

▲在规划和概念设计阶段进行倡导：在规划和概念设计阶段，设计师可以与客户一起设定碳排放目标，从根本上定义和挑战项目框架，Advocate during planning and concept design: During planning and concept design, designers can set carbon goals with their clients, fundamentally defining and challenging the project framework.© Sasaki

▲理解建筑碳循环：本研究始于对建筑碳循环及现有研究固有碳的工具的调查，Understanding the construction carbon cycle: This work began by investigating the construction carbon cycle and existing tools to study embodied carbon.© Sasaki

▲材料文献综述：研究推动了对 170 多种独特的景观材料和产品类型的基准碳因子文献综述，Material literature review: Research led to the development of a baseline material carbon factor literature review for 170+ unique landscape material and product typologies.© Sasaki

▲预测土地利用组合：这些材料基于参考项目进行组合，以估算特定施工结构的平均土地覆盖情况，Projecting land use assembly compositions: These materials were combined based on reference projects for an average land cover of specific construction assemblies.© Sasaki

▲理解运输成本：对于许多常见的景观材料，近一半的项目总排放量可能来自运输环节，Understanding transportation costs: For many common landscape materials, almost half of the total project emissions can be in transportation.© Sasaki

▲开发全项目生命周期评估：数据被转化为全项目 LCA 方法论，涵盖 A 阶段（固有碳）、B 阶段（更换碳）、D 阶段（循环经济碳），Developing a whole project life cycle assessment: Data was translated to a whole project LCA methodology, accounting for phase A embodied, phase B replacement, and phase D circular economy.© Sasaki

▲自然碳循环：与建筑碳排放的线性特征不同，自然碳循环是一个封存与释放相互作用的循环系统，The natural carbon cycle: In contrast to the linear character of construction emissions, the natural carbon cycle is a circular system of sequestration and respiration.© Sasaki

▲基于生态系统的碳封存研究：不同生态系统的碳封存能力和碳承载能力存在巨大差异，并且其生长模式各异，An ecosystem approach to understanding sequestration: There is a huge range in carbon sequestration and carbon carrying capacity between different ecosystems, as well as different growth models.© Sasaki

▲计算生物基碳储存：可持续来源的生物基材料所储存的碳按照全建筑生命周期评估（Whole Building LCA）方法被计入负排放，Accounting for biogenic carbon: Breaking out carbon stored in sustainably sourced biogenic materials is accounted for negative emissions per Whole Building LCA methodologies.© Sasaki

▲构建建筑数据集：利用Carbon Leadership Forum提供的全建筑 LCA 数据库，并结合 DeQo 和 Tally 对结构和立面类型的修正数据，Creating the architectural datasets: Using aggregated whole building LCA inventories from Carbon Leadership Forum with modifiers for structural and façade typologies using DeQo and Tally.© Carbon Leadership Forum/Sasaki/MIT DeQo

▲整合数据集：结合建筑、景观和基础设施数据，评估固有碳、储存碳及碳封存潜力，Bringing datasets together: Combing architecture, landscape, and infrastructure to report on embodied, stored, and sequestration potential.© Sasaki

▲创建开源工具：开发基于绘图的免费网页应用，使用户能够在早期设计阶段理解气候影响，Creating an open-source tool: Creating a drawing-based free web application for using the datasets to understand climate impacts from early design phases.© Sasaki

▲支持迭代与精准调整：新版 Carbon Conscience 允许叠加土地利用数据，并支持编辑材料和运输假设，Enabling iteration and specificity: The new version of Carbon Conscience enables layering land uses and the ability to edit material and transportation assumptions.© Sasaki

▲简化报告：设计师现在可以在设计初期了解方案的气候影响，测试想法、草图、框架和概念，Simplified reporting: Now designers can understand the climate impacts of proposals early in the design process, testing ideas, sketches, frameworks, and concepts.© Sasaki

▲开发统一工作流程：将Carbon Conscience整合到Pathfinder的下一代版本中，以实现数据一致性，并明确未来的去碳化工作流程，Developing a common workflow: Integrating Carbon Conscience into the next generation of Pathfinder will enable common fidelity of data and a clear future decarbonization workflow.© Climate Positive Design

Project Narrative

Carbon Conscience brings together landscape, architectural, and ecological literature into a common platform to make the potential global warming impacts of the built environment easy to understand and address in the early design phases—when design project teams can change course, adjust frameworks, and most effectively advocate for low-carbon design.

The research started with a literature review to understand global warming impacts of land use decisions—since land use is the most fundamental decision-making unit for planning and urban design work. Early in the study, the landscape architect researcher learned that there were no clear baseline datasets for landscape materials. The investigation expanded to include over 170 unique materials and product typologies specified in landscape design projects. The team aggregated life cycle assessments (LCAs) and used box-plot statistics to report carbon factor ranges per typology.

The research team then developed an inventory of land use assembly assumptions based on representative projects, resulting in over 220 unique landscape (and 200 architectural) land uses. Applying these assumptions based on unit area coverage, the researcher was able to estimate the mass of the various materials required to build that land use and then multiplied those quantities by their carbon factors and transportation costs to provide projected low-, mean-, and high-embodied carbon per land use.

The team used a whole ecosystem approach to understand carbon sequestration capacity, studying the average carbon sequestration rates and storage capacity for macro ecosystems which could be translated to land use projections. The wide range of consulted white papers inevitably used different methods. To harmonize these citations into a common format, the team developed a matrix that correlated the projected biomass, average annual sequestration rates, decomposition rates, and allochthonous carbon assumptions.

This step uncovered a huge range of sequestration potential—from low-carbon dry chaparral to extremely high-carbon mangroves. The team discovered the need to differentiate its models to include logistic curves for forests and linear regressions for wetlands—and the need to account for variable decomposition rates based on climatic assumptions and capacity for accumulation of soil organic carbon over time. The team was now able to compare land uses, such as estimating how many acres of restored temperate forest could offset a new building, or understanding the sequestration potential of a mangrove swamp at risk of demolition. A unique innovation was representing the living systems of the constructed environment in the same manner and rigor as buildings and infrastructure.

The immediate products of this work included a white paper and dataset with a full, replicable methodology. This database is translated into the free and open - source Carbon Conscience platform for any designer, agency, or activist to test their ideas. The dataset is being integrated into the source data for the next version of the Pathfinder, EPIC, and Landkit, and is referenced in North Carolina State University Professor Meg Caulkins’s upcoming book on low - carbon construction materials and design. This research revealed many questions and gaps in the literature, but it significantly boosts how landscape architects can tackle the challenge of decarbonizing the built environment through a collective effort—one design at a time.

Project Credits

Michael Grove, FASLA, Sponsoring Principal

Chris Hardy, Lead Researcher

Michael Frechette, Research Team

Danielle DeCarlo, Research Team

Shuai Hao, Research Team

Alison Nash, Research Team

Ekaterina Trosman, Research Team

Tamar Warburg, Research Team

Chris Winkler, Research Team

Sydney Bittinger, Research Team

Ken Goulding (PIC), Product Team

Armin Akhavan, Product Team

Timothy Gale, Product Team

Patrick Murray, Product Team

Thiyagarajan Adi Raman, Product Team

Eric Youngberg, Product Team

Kelly Farrell, Editor

Anna Scherling, Editor