How should acousticians tackle building decarbonization? An academic perspective on solutions to mitigate global warming while achieving high acoustic performance

Acousticians are becoming increasingly aware of the need to reduce the carbon footprint of buildings. Practical solutions, such as incorporating life cycle assessment in the acoustic design process and the implementation of low-carbon and acoustically viable building products, are becoming more common in acoustic consulting. Despite these decarbonization pathways, many acousticians are still grappling with knowing how to best tackle building decarbonization efforts. To this end, this presentation summarizes the acoustic-decarbonization strategies published in academic papers over the last 25 years. Specifically, this talk will highlight the most common and practical solutions published in academic articles to reduce the embodied carbon and operational carbon emissions of a building while achieving high acoustic performance. This talk will also highlight the specific design contexts that these solutions are most appropriate for. Lastly, opportunities for future research at the intersection of architectural acoustics and decarbonization will be discussed. Overall, this presentation continues the conversation of how acousticians can curb global climate change through the implementation of low-carbon and carbon negative acoustic design solutions.