Tool Tutorials: Dedicated Demos
Demos of the following tools will be provided during the CarbonPositive RESET! 1.5ºC Global Teach-In:
Autodesk: BIM 360
Reducing Your Footprint: Lowering Embodied Carbon in Construction Materials with EC3 and BIM 360.
Athena Impact Estimator for Buildings
The Athena Impact Estimator for Buildings is free LCA software provided by the non-profit Athena Institute and backed up with its expertise and data. This tool has been used by design professionals, sustainability consultants and students since 2002. In this session, we’ll talk about the principles of whole-building LCA and provide a demo.
Beacon
“Beacon” is an open source Revit plugin that automatically creates an Embodied Carbon assessment of your structural design with options to modify material GWP values and visualizes embodied carbon data by floor level and by framing component (floor, foundation, columns, ect).
Bimmer + SolarScore
Bimmer- 3D Context Modeling Tool
With just an address in all major urban centres, Bimmer can create a 3D model of building structures in file formats that can be uploaded directly to leading design programs. The value of bimmer is that it can save architects and designers time and money when developing context models and the tool pulls from many data sources to gather the most accurate information.
Bimmer can capture from a single building up to a large city areas in just a few seconds, and can be used for a wide variety of design, engineering and planning applications.
SolarScore – BIPV modeling tool
SolarScore is a cloud-based software that looks beyond just rooftops by analyzing entire building envelopes and provides the business case for monetizing all surfaces with Building-Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) technologies. The use of BIPV technologies allows the asset owner/developer to reduce the GHG emissions, and produce clean energy directly from the building’s skin, and utilize the vertical space that is otherwise unused.
SolarScore is used by engineers, architects and planners to inform project design from concept/initiation phase.
cove.tool
Cove.tool is an energy vs. cost optimization software for the AEC industry. It offers users the ability to simulate the material performance of a building in its context by assessing energy against cost over a given period of time. It empowers architects, engineers, contractors, and owners to make better decisions about building by presenting cost and energy information in a simple app, with the ultimate goal of helping buildings reduce their carbon emissions in an affordable way.
The tool also offers the foundations for a programmable library of materials whose construction and energy costs can be incorporated into the larger BIM workflow. Cove.tool is available as both a Revit and Grasshopper plug-in with dedicated development. It can hypothetically be integrated into the vast majority of medium-to- large scale AEC projects in which marginal savings on energy costs may represent millions of dollars over time and incentivize an increasingly sustainable building culture.
EC3
The Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator (EC3) tool, is a FREE and EASY TO USE tool that allows benchmarking, assessment and reductions in embodied carbon per material category, focused on the upfront (Stage A1-A3) supply chain emissions of construction materials. Now hosted and managed by Building Transparency, a new 501c3 organization, the EC3 tool was incubated at the Carbon Leadership Forum with input from nearly 50 industry partners.
The tool utilizes building material quantities from construction estimates and/or BIM models and a robust database of digital, third-party verified Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs). Powered by this data, the EC3 tool can be implemented in both the late design and procurement phases of a construction project to look at a project’s embodied carbon emissions per material category in EC3, enabling the specification and procurement of low carbon options. The tool is not intended to replace whole building life cycle assessment (WBLCA), but to fill the gap between early design assessments at the systems level using available WBLCA tools and the actual procurement of low carbon products and realization of embodied carbon reductions within each material category.
EDGE
The free EDGE software offers a measurable way to cut back on the resource intensity of your building design.
The EDGE software can be used for free to design a resource-efficient commercial or residential building in more than 160 countries. Enter as much of your building information as you can, then choose systems and solutions and watch your savings grow. Discover the advantages of smart building design by pinpointing which options have the best results for the least cost.
The EDGE software calculates the utility savings and reduced carbon footprint of your green building against a base case. Your dashboard shows how much extra it costs to build green – and how short a time it takes to earn back the money through operational savings.
Reach the EDGE standard when your project hits 20 percent less energy, water and embodied energy in materials, and your project is ready for EDGE certification.
The EDGE software suggests defaults for your project’s base case. As selections are made, EDGE reveals performance through color-coded graphs.
Rather than suggesting the perfect scenario, EDGE encourages exploration. Receive instant feedback to see what works best for your building’s local climate to anchor your actions going forward.
While the 20 percent goal remains constant, the EDGE standard is contextualized to local regulations, costs and available materials. All of the complexity of the energy simulation analysis is hidden beneath the user interface, making it easy to see how much extra it costs to build green – and how short a time it takes to earn back the investment through operational savings.
One Click LCA Planetary, free embodied carbon tool
One Click LCA is the world-leading construction life-cycle performance software. It allows buildings to optimize for carbon, LCA and LCC and comprises over 80 000 global LCA datasets. One Click LCA Planetary is a FREE embodied carbon tool for everyone, everywhere. It allows you to calculate cradle-to-gate embodied carbon impacts (A1-A3) and material efficiency of your building designs. You can use it to easily compare design options, different materials, manufacturers and products. It is available for free globally, and supported in APAC by Singapore GBC and Vietnam GBC. For more information and to get started with decarbonizing your construction projects, please visit: www.oneclicklca.com/planetary.
The Pathfinder
A web-based app called the Pathfinder is a landscape carbon calculator that guides designers on the path to meeting the goals of the Challenge and becoming Climate Positive. The user is directed to input the following quantities:
Sources. This includes approximately eighty different types of materials used in landscape projects such as paving, walls, fences etc. and their associated ‘embodied carbon’ from extraction, manufacturing, transportation, installation, use/maintenance and replacement. The data is derived from the Athena Impact Estimator.
Sinks. Trees, plants, wetlands and certain types of meadows/lawns capture CO2 from the atmosphere and sink carbon into the soil. All data used for calculating sequestration and decomposition for trees and shrubs is obtained from the US Forest Service.
Costs. Carbon Costs represent emissions associated with mowing/pruning performed using machinery and fertilizer use for trees and shrubs. These emissions occur regularly over the lifespan of the project and are often referred to as ‘operational carbon’.
SolarResilient
www.solarresilient.org This tool estimates the required rating and physical size of grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) and battery energy storage to provide power for extended periods during a large scale grid power outage. SolarResilient is designed for buildings that form part of a cities resilience strategy – it allows building owners and city departments to develop equipment sizing before embarking on more detailed studies. When used on a portfolio of buildings, optimum performing scenarios can be selected to provide a holistic energy security strategy for a city or county. This is a free tool that was developed by Arup under the Dept of Energy Sunshot program and is in widespread use nationally.