Ep. 14. 15 Minutes on The Structural Engineer’s Influence

In this episode, host Amy Hattan talks with Jackson Pitofsky, a structural engineer in Thornton Tomasetti’s Denver office, and co-leader of the firm’s embodied-carbon community of practice assessments working group. Jackson shares practical strategies structural engineers can use to dramatically reduce embodied carbon in the buildings they design. He discusses the impacts of structural system selection and “optioneering” – comparing different systems like steel, concrete, and mass timber material optimization – as well as the importance of specifying low-carbon materials, including cement replacements, and using environmental product declarations (EPDs) to verify embodied-carbon reductions. The conversation covers the importance of collaboration with clients, architects, and contractors for setting clear targets and meeting carbon reduction goals.

Om Podcasten

Amy Hattan, Corporate Responsibility Officer at Thornton Tomasetti, talking with experts from Thornton Tomasetti, which is an engineering and consulting firm with more than 1,600 people worldwide. At Thornton Tomasetti, we’ve been focused on embodied carbon since 2012.  We’ve spent over a decade building a roadmap our planners and designers can use to achieve the greatest reductions in greenhouse gas emissions on their projects. This series will share some of the paths we take.