Life Cycle Analysis of Mass Timber Building w/ Rooftop Solar Production

This project takes LEED certification even further by achieving a net-zero carbon building. Utilizing mass timber - where carbon is sequestered during tree growth and stored in the final timber material - instead of structural steel, we included rooftop and auxiliary solar arrays to offset the carbon emissions from building construction and operation.

The existing CSU Powerhouse is a LEED certified building, meaning certain sustainability requirements have been met in the construction and operation of the building. Throughout the design of Powerhouse II, the goal is to take this even further and achieve a net-zero carbon building. In short, this goal involves utilizing mass timber (where carbon is sequestered during tree growth and stored in the final timber material) instead of structural steel and including rooftop and auxiliary solar arrays to offset the carbon emissions from building construction and operation.

Our role on the project was to work closely with Bryan Wilson and Neenan Archistructure to quantify the embodied carbon for both the steel and mass timber building designs, to utilize building energy models to predict carbon emissions from building utility use, and to determine the size of the solar arrays required to reach net-zero carbon over the life of the building.