Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator

Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator

Owners, designers, engineers and contractors are turning their attention to embodied carbon associated with building materials and seeking information on these products so they can make informed, smart choices. This task has been fraught with problems - from the lack of data to data too complex to evaluate. In response to this problem, this proposes a solution that would enable the building industry to easily access and view material carbon emissions data, allowing them to make carbon smart choices during material specifications and procurement.

• Grant Details

  Project

  Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator

  Grantee

  University of Washington

  Category

  Sustainability

  Subcategory

  Carbon Reduction

  Grant #

  06-18

  Award Amount

  $713,000

  Grant Period

  December 2018 - June 2020

  Grant Status

  Complete

  Principal Investigators

  Kathrina Simonen, Phil Northcott

  Industry Champions

  Don Davies, Magnusson Klemencic Associates; Stacy Smedly, Skanska USA; Katie Ross, Microsoft

  CPF Allies

  Alexandria Real Estate Equities, ACI (American Concrete Institute) Foundation, American Institute of Steel Construction, American Wood Council, Autodesk, BASF Corporation, BlueGreen Alliance, Brightworks Sustainability, CarbonCure Technologies, Coughlin Porter Lundeen, Interface, Inc., Kingspan Group, LeMessurier, Microsoft Corporation, MKA Foundation, Owens Corning, Perkins and Will, PCS Structural Solutions, Port of Seattle, Saint-Gobain/CertainTeed, Salesforce, SCS Global Services, Skanska USA, Thornton Tomasetti, Tk1sc, USG Corporation, Walter P Moore and Associates, Inc., and Webcor

  Research Deliverables

  The Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator (EC3) tool, is a free, cloud-based, easy to use tool that allows benchmarking, assessment and reductions in embodied carbon, focused on the upfront supply chain emissions of construction materials. The EC3 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 design and procurement phases of a construction project to look at a project's overall embodied carbon emissions, enabling the specification and procurement of the low carbon options. The EC3 tool also allows owners, green building certification programs and policymakers to assess supply chain data in order to create EPD requirements, and set embodied carbon limits and reductions, at the construction material and project scale. The tool and its subsequent effect on the industry is driving demand for low-carbon solutions and incentivizing construction materials manufacturers and suppliers to invest in disclosure, transparency and material innovations that reduce the carbon emissions of their products. About the Carbon Leadership Forum and the EC3 project: http://carbonleadershipforum.org/projects/ec3/ To register and use the EC3 tool https://www.buildingtransparency.org/en/ To learn more about embodied carbon and the EC3 tool https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPeIwsmA8ul3iazdy5M9i2w

• Resources / Downloads

  • About EC3 and Building Transparency
  • Embodied Carbon Facts and Figures
  • Key Features of the EC3 tool
  • EC3 Tool Product Brief
  • EC3 Tool Primer
  • EC3 Tool FAQ
  • EC3 Tool User Benefits
  • EC3 Tool Methodology Report - Beta Version
  • CLF Embodied Carbon Baselines for the EC3 tool - Beta Version

• Related Research

  • 04-16 Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for Low Carbon Construction
  • 05-11 Users' Guide to "Green" Concrete in Building Construction
  • 05-07 CSI GreenFormat Sustainable Product Reporting Guide
  • 01-08 Influence of Project Delivery Method on Achieving Sustainable, High Performance Buildings