From the floor of the American Institute of Architects' (AIA) Conference on Architecture & Design 2024, cove.tool's Co-Founder and CEO Sandeep Ahuja discusses with architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) professionals the importance of decarbonization and utilizing green building materials in projects.

Ahuja spoke with Bill Parsons, COO at Woodworks, and Stephanie Miller, Business Development Manager at Vetrotech Saint-Gobain, specifically about reducing carbon through whole building Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) and their respective sustainable building materials.

Watch and read along to discover the many paths to a greener future.

Whole Building LCAs & The Most Natural Sustainable Material

Sandeep Ahuja, Co-Founder and CEO at cove.tool:

Well, Bill, so nice to meet you. I love this gorgeous booth. Tell me about what it is that you guys are doing here at AIA.

Bill Parsons, COO at WoodWorks

Yeah, so this is kind of a combination of the wood industry here at the show. So, we have Think Wood and WoodWorks. We're going to work as co-partners on growing the wood industry and supporting designers and design teams, contractors and developers on any questions they have. Basically, showcasing kind of all of the different aspects of how we support.

Sandeep Ahuja, Co-Founder and CEO at cove.tool:

That's really exciting. I'm so curious, as you are expanding the wood industry, what does that mean to y'all, to you, in terms of carbon reduction?

Bill Parsons, COO at WoodWorks

Well, I think it means, you know, we kind of are focused on projects that are beyond the single-family houses, multi-family, commercial, and institutional projects, and using the natural, most sustainable material. Wood itself, grows with the sun, sequestering carbon, and using that material. And then there's other places where maybe it's not traditionally been used. And so there's a lot of questions that - How you go about using? How do you figure it out? And then, more importantly, what is the transparency of where does that data come from? And then, how do you do the math? It's a big thing for us. Not only are we good instructors, but, then, how do you do the math on the whole building LCAs without getting into the weeds?

Sandeep Ahuja, Co-Founder and CEO at cove.tool:

That definitely gets me excited. Just a little bit of shout out to Brian Campa from Cooper Carry, where we worked together on our mass timber project for Clemson University. So, go Bryan! They're doing what you have to figure out the hard way, and they're making it easy for other architects. So, basically what I'm gathering is that if an architect needed to get your help, how would they do that?

Bill Parsons, COO at WoodWorks

Yeah, there's a number of places that you can get help from - the website is also a Wood Institute which has learning modules and you can on and go through online, on-demand training. And then Woodworks, we have Woodworks.org where you can find all of the resources related to education. We have events happening pretty much all over the country, we have staff all over the country that can come to your office and help you on your project, and then hundreds of resources like examples about how you do open LCA, how you know the math works -- and that's all available on our website, and free

Sandeep Ahuja, Co-Founder and CEO at cove.tool:

Fantastic. I love it because the free part is the one that gets most architects most excited. Let's make wood easy.

Can We Decarbonize Buildings With Glass?

Sandeep Ahuja, Co-Founder and CEO at cove.tool:

So, the booth looks wonderful. What do you guys? What are you guys bringing new to the AI this year.

Stephanie Miller, Business Development Manager at Vetrotech Saint-Gobain

So, this is really exciting for us. Saint-Gobain is the largest producer of building glass in the world, and we have the three glass companies in North America: Metro Glass for fire-rated glass; SageGlass for electrochromic smart glass; and Saint-Gobain glass. We're asking the question, can we decarbonize with glass?

Sandeep Ahuja, Co-Founder and CEO at cove.tool:

Can you?

Stephanie Miller, Business Development Manager at Vetrotech Saint-Gobain

You absolutely can. There's lots of reasons that you should. It's the number three preserving body carbon in a building, and we're here talking about all the solutions that Saint-Gobain can offer not just in the products, but in the concepts behind them. [We're] talking about wellness, so we're so excited to have these conversations.

Sandeep Ahuja, Co-Founder and CEO at cove.tool:

That's incredible. I will say this is a transformation from just even a few years ago, and just how deeply a y'all are investing in decarbonization, but also spreading the word because of course, education is a big part of it. Why do you think that is?

Stephanie Miller, Business Development Manager at Vetrotech Saint-Gobain

Well, you ask us, Saint-Gobain, and Saint-Gobain's job is to build the world a better home. You ask me, and I think it's all of our responsibility. Embodied carbon is such a critical issue when it comes to climate change, and I, personally, want to be part of the solution, and I know, thank goodness, that [Saint-Gobain] does too. It's really, you know, it goes along well with what we do. But, at the end of the day, we have a responsibility.

Sandeep Ahuja, Co-Founder and CEO at cove.tool:

I couldn't agree more. You're preaching to the choir.