Benton Johnson does much more than walk the green talk—he bikes it. The 30-year-old structural engineer has pedaled more than 15,000 miles through rain, snow and frigid Chicago winters to his office at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP. He calculates that, over the four years of his SOM commutes, he has reduced his carbon footprint by 2.1 tons by not taking the train.
On his arrival at the office, Johnson checks his bicycle at the door. But that doesn't stop him from moving toward greater sustainability in tall structures, which is no easy task. A high-rise frame's embodied carbon is significantly higher per sq ft than a low-rise building's, due to greater imposed loads.