Anthony Pak

Principal at Priopta | CLF British Columbia Founder | Embodied Carbon & LCA Expert

[Anthony Pak @anthonypak]

I made a rap song called "Embodied Carbon Hustlers". Enjoy!
https://t.co/BtrEhlW8Nb

#embodiedcarbon

[Anthony Pak @anthonypak]

Nearly three years ago, I developed an Augmented Reality (AR) visualization of the embodied carbon emissions of a building, during an online AEC Hackathon event in 2020.

For most people, it's difficult to relate to carbon emission statistics and their scale. What does 1 kg, 1 tonne, or 1 megatonne of CO2 look like?

Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality (AR/VR) can enable us to visualize important but invisible things. This opens up new possibilities for storytelling with data.

With this weekend project, I prototyped a way of visualizing the Whole Building Life Cycle Assessment (wbLCA) results of one of our projects using Apple's AR features, creating an AR experience that could run on any iPhone or iPad. Note that the WBLCA results in the AR visualization are not related to any of the buildings shown in the background of this video.

Here’s the video demo of this AR visualization and the YouTube video of the original demo I did at the AEC Hackathon event.
https://t.co/aawto6jSMF

Although I never shared this publicly at the time, with the rumoured upcoming launch of @Apple's mixed reality headset next week at WWDC, I thought I'd share this in case it inspires you to develop new ways to visualize data around important topics like carbon emissions and climate change.

Comment below if you have any ideas for how we could visualize embodied carbon emissions in a compelling way!
#embodiedcarbon #augmentedreality #mixedreality #apple #wwdc2023 #carbonemissions #climatechange #datastorytelling

[Anthony Pak @anthonypak]

Just played around with OpenAI's new #ChatGPT model and asked it to write a poem about embodied carbon in buildings. This is what I got...

Try out ChatGPT
https://t.co/vaov2Ttluo

#embodiedcarbon #poetry

[Anthony Pak @anthonypak]

Congrats to @CityofVancouver for passing the ambitious Climate Emergency Action Plan, which includes what I believe is the most ambitious #embodiedcarbon policy in North America (perhaps globally)!

See Appendix K for the embodied carbon part of the plan.
https://t.co/F8jKNkIaxG

[Christine Boyle @christineeboyle]

Vancouver just passed an ambitious, comprehensive Climate Emergency Action Plan, based on science, and rooted in justice.

Huge thank you to everyone who worked to make this possible!

More on the plan here: https://t.co/p1i8pYSsXB

Such a great win to celebrate tonight! #vanpoli

[Anthony Pak @anthonypak]

In case you missed it, here is the first article I published last year, titled "Embodied Carbon - The Blind Spot of the Building Industry". https://t.co/6atBj59Z48

[Anthony Pak @anthonypak]

My second article on #embodiedcarbon just published in @CdnArch! I discuss key factors that impact the embodied carbon of construction materials such as concrete, steel, aluminum, wood, and insulation. I also touch on blind spots within embodied carbon.
https://t.co/gSkkzoEmA7

[Anthony Pak @anthonypak]

@Tesla releases Life Cycle Assessment results for Model 3, including manufacturing and use phase carbon emissions. Results show significantly lower lifetime carbon emissions compared to conventional vehicles over a 200,000-mile lifespan. https://t.co/EpU7FgdIXj #ElectricVehicles

[Anthony Pak @anthonypak]

First time being interviewed on a podcast, where I share my personal journey in raising awareness on the importance of embodied carbon in the building industry. Check it out!
#embodiedcarbon

iOS: https://t.co/cjCZTXS80a
Android: https://t.co/GHQLR9uhEY
https://t.co/DaoR5vJIOc

[Anthony Pak @anthonypak]

Interested in Embodied Carbon and live in New York? Join us for the kickoff to ECN NYC, a new local chapter of the Embodied Carbon Network on Sept 19. I'll be co-facilitating this session and giving a talk on EC later that evening.
https://t.co/nBw9vofktC
https://t.co/0wJHQF5TF2

[Anthony Pak @anthonypak]

With the new IPCC report release on land use and agriculture, it reminded me of a data visualization I developed on the Environmental Impacts of Food Production, analyzing 40 agricultural goods from 119 countries and 38000 farms. Data from Joseph Poore. https://t.co/GrLBV8nWsu

[Anthony Pak @anthonypak]

Two exciting updates:
1) Embodied Carbon Catalyst is changing its name to ECN Vancouver. We are proud to become a local chapter of the Embodied Carbon Network! https://t.co/pXx0puD8eT
2) July 31st event on "Design Strategies for Reducing Embodied Carbon". https://t.co/Tm3jFdG9I8

[Anthony Pak @anthonypak]

Grateful to have the @WorldGBC share my article. I'm looking forward to see their call to action report on embodied carbon in September!

[Anthony Pak @anthonypak]

@lloydalter @CdnArch @TreeHugger Thanks for bringing more exposure to my article @lloydalter! Regarding LCA, I don't see how it is at odds with the time perspective. LCA is how we quantify and evaluate strategies to reduce embodied carbon, where most impacts happen "upfront" in construction.

[Anthony Pak @anthonypak]

My article on Embodied Carbon is published in Canadian Architect magazine! @CdnArch #embodiedcarbon https://t.co/ynPxeAQgf2

[Anthony Pak @anthonypak]

@MoreOurselves @ElrondBurrell @mgarchitecture @patrick_enright @CityofVancouver Hi Andy, you can learn more about the City of Vancouver's climate emergency response plan here. Embodied carbon is one of the six "big moves". https://t.co/MHA4Z7yMos

[Anthony Pak @anthonypak]

It's great to see so much interest in embodied carbon now within the industry! Special thanks to @mgarchitecture for hosting our Embodied Carbon Catalyst event and to @patrick_enright for giving a great talk on the @CityofVancouver's ambitious target for embodied carbon.

[Anthony Pak @anthonypak]

Join us at our next Embodied Carbon Catalyst event on May 21st 6-9pm at @mgarchitecture, where we will discuss the @CityofVancouver's ambitious embodied carbon target as part of the Climate Emergency Response. #embodiedcarbon #ClimateEmergency https://t.co/azg3bfoHxr

[Anthony Pak @anthonypak]

Great to see @CityofVancouver focus on embodied carbon as one of the six big moves in the #ClimateEmergency report, recommending a 40% reduction in embodied carbon by 2030 relative to a 2018 baseline!

[Christine Boyle @christineeboyle]

Big Move 5: Lower carbon construction materials and designs. Means shifting toward more timber construction, which also reduces building costs, improves affordability, supports BC’s #Forestry sector, and improves seismic resilience. Win-win-win-win-win.

[Anthony Pak @anthonypak]

@ebb_boards @ElrondBurrell However, extending the building lifespan doesn't do anything to reduce the embodied carbon of the current building, as those emissions already took place irrespective of building lifespan. So it's very critical that we reduce embodied carbon right now from a time perspective.

[Anthony Pak @anthonypak]

My very first blog post is out! It's about embodied carbon, a topic that has been mostly ignored within the buildings industry for far too long. We need to rapidly raise awareness and take action on embodied carbon. https://t.co/YNfK3CaW7w

[Anthony Pak @anthonypak]

@ebb_boards @ElrondBurrell I really do appreciate your question and thanks for pointing that out! I see that my LinkedIn comment wasn't clear. The point I was trying to make in my original LI comment was that extending lifespan is good from a lifecycle perspective, which you also mentioned.