We built The Carbonator, a simple tool calculating building embodied and operational carbon emissions and it is now available so all Passive House designers can use it.
Visit sustainableengineering.co.nz/thecarbonator/ for a free download of the tool, to watch a recording of the webinar and download the slide deck.
Sustainable Engineering Ltd developed this spreadsheet-based tool in-house to assist with our Initial Design service. We’ve been using it for more than a year now. We wanted to provide a full picture of the operational and embodied carbon impacts of design choices—but it had to be super fast as clients didn’t want to pay much for that advice! The Carbonator is our attempt to build it into our Initial Design workflow, offering some insights in just a few minutes. That way we were able to include it in the existing scope.
It gave the team a huge jump start on a big project we did for Fletcher Living’s LowCO homes. The Carbonator is set up to follow the latest MBIE Building for Climate Change operational and embodied carbon guidance. We’ve checked it against LCAQuick, which we also use, but ours is much faster and easier to use as it refers to pre-built assemblies. You can add your own as well. It links to the PHPP design file and auto-calculates using inputs already detailed there.
The Carbonator is most useful for showing the carbon implications of different construction choices to your clients. Better windows? More insulation? Timber versus metal cladding? Quickly show how each of those choices reduces or increases overall carbon emissions, right now and into the future.
There are of course a number of assumptions built in, aligned with MBIE guidance. It uses assemblies to account for the embodied carbon and links to the PHPP file for operational energy use. It’s easy to add in internal walls and mid-floors or custom materials, the tool is Excel-based.
Trying out this tool will prepare designers for upcoming legislative caps on construction-related carbon emissions, as foreshadowed in the Building for Climate Change programme. Using it will illustrate common patterns of which material and construction choices have the greatest carbon impact. It’s not news that steel and concrete constructions are the heaviest offenders but there’s more to learn and options to improve these as well.
Comments 2
Kia ora,
Would this be a suitable tool for an architecture student?
Ngaa mihi
Kirsty
Hi Kirsty, this technical article goes into more detail about who it will be useful for. https://sustainableengineering.co.nz/how-to-analyse-carbon-emissions-when-designing-buildings/
It’s most useful for people who are already familiar with PHPP, the Passive House energy modelling software.