Carbon Footprint

One of the causes of unfavorable climate changes is the excessive emission of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, generated at all stages of the life cycle of buildings, from the production of building materials, through the construction process itself, the operation phase, and ending with the utilization of the facility at the end of its useful life.

Construction sector has the largest share of CO2 emissions in global gas emissions. 11% is made up of the very process of producing building materials; another 28% is the stage of use of facilities, which generates a larger footprint than transport taken globally (23%) [1]. Construction sector therefore has great potential to reduce environmental impact and optimize energy consumption.

In order to inhibit greenhouse processes, it is necessary to minimize energy consumption and emissions throughout the entire life cycle of facilities. This is not just a long-term pro-ecological action – reducing your carbon footprint brings many direct benefits that translate into the current economic bill:

• reduction of primary energy consumption,
• higher standard of the facility,
• the possibility of applying for subsidies that require taking into account the carbon footprint in the characteristics of the investment,
• gaining a competitive advantage in the field of estimating the emissions of activities and promoting the approach to reducing the carbon footprint in accordance with ISO 14064 and ISO 14067,

Responsible selection of construction materials and devices used in construction facilities is extremely important from the point of view of emissions. It is worth emphasizing, however, that emissions are also measurable costs of energy spent. Thus, the reduction of the carbon footprint means the reduction of the facility’s maintenance costs, and in the macro scale it reduces the risk of the costly impact of climate change on the economy.

Databout performs LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) analyzes, in which it is possible to estimate and optimize CO2 emissions during the facility’s life cycle, both for existing and planned facilities. In particular, the use of LCA analysis to optimize design solutions allows for a significant reduction of the CO2 footprint.

Detailed analyzes include a comparison of various design and operational variants in the following scope:

• CO2 footprint of building materials We offer LCA analysis of buildings based on the list of building materials included in the project. Based on alternative design variants, it is possible to perform comparative analyzes and then select the most environmentally friendly construction technology for the facility
• CO2 footprint of the construction phase
• CO2 footprint of the operational phase, taking into account the equivalent energy expenditure for heating and air conditioning for various technologies of heat or cold sources (comparative analysis for several variants of the heat source).
• CO2 footprint of the decommissioning of the facility.

Detailed analyzes include a comparison of various design and operational variants in the following scope:

• CO2 footprint of building materials
• CO2 footprint of the construction phase
• CO2 footprint of the operational phase, taking into account fuel or electricity consumption for means of transport,
  performing a comparative analysis for the established communication variants.
• CO2 footprint of the decommissioning of the facility.

The basic scope of the report includes:

• presenting the results of calculations with the division into individual structures of the facility for one or more predefined scenarios
• descriptive report indicating the most environmentally friendly technology.
• a proposal of optimization activities for each of the analyzed facs of the life cycle
• estimation of the impact of emission optimization on the plant life cycle costs or on the costs of the selected phase.

LCA analysis is performed on the basis of the following input data:

• indication of the location of the object,
• CO2 footprint of the construction and decommissioning phase: XLS material list or BIM model,
• CO2 footprint of the operation phase based on the characteristics of the heat / cold source and insulation parameters of building partitions: CAD, technical description,
• CO2 footprint of the operation phase based on energy profit and loss analysis based on the object model: IFC BIM

The prepared analysis complies with the guidelines contained in ISO 14067: 2018 (Greenhouse gases – Carbon footprint of products. Requirements and guidelines for quantification)

In order to determine the detailed terms of cooperation and to evaluate the analysis, please contact us.