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In the United States more than 40% of carbon emissions are the result of the construction and operation of buildings. Although much focus is paid on reducing the energy consumption involved in the operation of buildings, more attention needs to be paid to reducing the carbon cost of actual construction. On average it takes 20 years of a typical structure’s 100 year lifespan to pay off the carbon debt it took to construct it. Add to that the fact that if an existing building was demolished to make room for a new energy efficient structure the carbon debt of that new building would take an additional 35 to 50 years to pay off. While this seems to prove that the greenest building is the one that already exists, new construction can never be eliminated. However by using recycled building materials the carbon cost of new construction can be significantly reduced. This is because the use of previously manufactured products produces no new carbon, and, they are in essence carbon neutral building materials. Current LEED platinum standards require that only 5% of materials in a new building project be recycled. La Casa Zero will be built using up to 95% locally available reclaimed building materials in order to prove the viability of a strategy of increased use of recycled building products. Supplementing this lowered carbon cost of construction La Casa Zero will be a net generator of energy. This all electric building will be operated using photovoltaic arrays, energy saving glass, green roofs and passive heating and cooling to produce more energy than it uses. By reducing the carbon cost of construction and the carbon cost of operation, La Casa Zero can reduce its true overall carbon profile to zero, almost immediately, not decades from now.
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