Supporting innovative low-carbon materials and technologies is one smart way to meet construction demand while minimizing environmental impact. The concepts of “operational carbon” and “embodied carbon” have been adopted by the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) community to distinguish between carbon reduction stemming from material choice and building operation. Incorporating new technologies like Isobloc ZÉRO into new construction projects can help reduce both operational and embodied carbon for optimized environmental performance.
Operational carbon, which stems from a building’s direct energy consumption for heating, lighting, etc., can be addressed through incorporating energy efficiency into a building’s design, or through reducing energy consumption with retrofits and smart operational choices over the course of a building’s lifetime.
On the other hand, embodied carbon represents the emissions directly resulting from the manufacturing and processing of a building’s materials. Embodied carbon can only be reduced through optimizing the materials chosen in a building’s design and construction phase, and is considered “locked in” before a building is ever in use. Reducing embodied carbon is a limited-time opportunity that requires the introduction of innovative materials in the earliest phases of a construction project.
Reducing both operational and embodied carbon is critical for reducing the overall environmental impact of the built environment. A Swiss study recently found that “while the average share of embodied GHG emissions from buildings following current energy performance regulations is approximately 20–25% of life cycle GHG emissions, this figure escalates to 45–50% for highly energy-efficient buildings and surpasses 90% in extreme cases.”
In 2025, Quebec construction technology innovators CarbiCrete and Isobloc partnered to create Isobloc ZÉRO, a new insulating masonry block that combines Isobloc’s innovative design principles with CarbiCrete’s first-of-a-kind cement-free concrete technology. Isobloc ZÉRO incorporates an insulating polystyrene core with CarbiCrete’s carbonation-cured low carbon concrete. This reduces a building’s energy demand through providing insulation in the building envelope and makes use of a steel slag concrete mix that significantly reduces embodied carbon.
Isobloc ZÉRO is a revolutionary product, with the capability to lower a building project’s operational and embodied carbon with just one smart design choice. In addition to the cost savings from improved energy performance, the carbon savings from utilizing an insulated masonry product made with cement-free concrete have a major impact on the immediate and long-term emissions associated with a new construction project.
Isobloc ZÉRO is currently produced by Patio Drummond and ready to be deployed in projects in Quebec and beyond. With the active selection of innovative materials like Isobloc ZÉRO, the AEC community can transform the construction sector from an emissions problem to a trailblazer in sustainability. For more information on Isobloc ZÉRO and how you can utilize it in your next project, consult Isobloc’s website.
